Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 11
General Calendar p. 22
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 22
Observing p. 25
Observing p. 25
Useful
Links p. 26
About the Club p. 27
Club News & Calendar.
Club Calendar
About the Club p. 27
Club News & Calendar.
Club Calendar
Club Meeting Schedule:
1 Nov
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CANCELLED: AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Cancelled due to D8 Open House
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(A1/1735)
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6 Dec
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Holiday Chocolate Tasting Party & Presentation by Mark
Clayson
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(A1/1735)
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AEA
Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st Thursdays at 11:45 am. For 2018:
Jan. 4 in A1/1029 A/B, Feb. 1 & March 1 in A1/2906 and for the rest
of 2018 (April-Dec), the meeting room is A1/1735.
Club
News:
The Oct. 11 JWST tour at NGC was attended by 20 of us, and the Oct. 30
tour by another 10. The first group saw the shrouded bus readying for environmental test,
and both groups saw the mirror assembly.
Very impressive. Tour guides were
young, enthusiastic engineers.
The club table in Sept. at the AEA showcase, and the booth at the
Oktoberfest, were highly successful. About 20 people signed the register expressing interest.
Still waiting to hear if we will get our FY19 AEA budget request, including software for our new laptop (Starry Night Pro Plus 7 &
Maxim DL Pro Suite), a new portable GoTo MCT (Meade ETX-90), an Android tablet
& Sky Safari 5 Pro app, SkyFi III wireless scope controller, another Mt. Wilson
night, quarterly pizza parties, Astronomical League group membership &
Observer’s Handbook.
The Hubble Optics 16-inch ultralight/portable Dobsonian has been ordered, and should be here any day, now (long production & shipping lead
time from China). Along with a large
array of accessories, including digital setting circle. We’ve also got a new 15-inch laptop for the
club, and will begin loading it up with software (Starry Night, software with
our various scopes and cameras, etc.).
We need volunteers to help with:
·
Populating
our club Sharepoint site with material & links to the club’s Aerowiki
& Aerolink materials
·
Arranging
future club programs
·
Managing
club equipment
Astronomy Video(s)
& Picture(s) of the Month
(from Astronomy
Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
The Scale of the Universe - Interactive https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181007.html
Animation Credit & Copyright: Cary & Michael Huang
Explanation: What does the universe look like on small scales? On large
scales? Humanity is discovering that the universe is a very different
place on every proportion that has been explored. For example, so far as we know, every tiny proton
is exactly the same, but every huge galaxy is different. On more familiar scales, a small glass
table top to a human is a vast plane of strange smoothness to a dust mite -- possibly speckled with cell boulders. Not all scale lengths are well explored -- what happens to the smallest mist droplets you
sneeze, for example, is a topic of active research -- and possibly useful to
know to help stop the spread of disease. The featured interactive flash animation, a modern version of the classic video Powers of Ten, is a new window to many of the known scales of our universe. By moving the scroll bar across the
bottom, you can explore a diversity
of sizes, while clicking on
different items will bring up descriptive information.Animation Credit & Copyright: Cary & Michael Huang
VIDEO: Sun
Dance https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181010.html
Video Credit: NASA, SDO; Processing: Alan Watson via Helioviewer
Explanation: Sometimes, the surface of our Sun seems to dance. In the
middle of 2012, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic
Observatory spacecraft imaged
an impressive prominence that seemed to perform a running dive roll like an acrobatic dancer. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the featured time-lapse video covering about three hours. A looping magnetic field directed the flow of hot plasma on the Sun. The scale of the dancing prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing arch of hot gas. A quiescent prominence
typically lasts about a month,
and may erupt in a Coronal Mass
Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. Unlike 2012, this year the Sun's surface is
significantly more serene, featuring fewer spinning prominences, as it is near the
minimum in its 11-year magnetic cycle.Video Credit: NASA, SDO; Processing: Alan Watson via Helioviewer
Hyperion: Largest Known Galaxy Proto-Supercluster
Visualization Credit: ESO, L. Calçada & Olga Cucciati et al.
Explanation: How did galaxies form in the early universe? To help find
out, astronomers surveyed a patch of dark night sky with the Very
Large Telescope array in Chile to find and count galaxies that formed when our
universe was very young. Analysis of the distribution of some distant galaxies (redshifts near 2.5) found an enormous conglomeration of galaxies that spanned 300 million light
years and contained about
5,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dubbed Hyperion, it is currently the largest and most massive proto-supercluster
yet discovered in the early
universe. A proto-supercluster is a group of young galaxies that is
gravitationally collapsing to create a supercluster, which itself a group of several galaxy clusters, which itself is a group of hundreds of galaxies, which itself is a group of billions of stars. In the featured visualization, massive galaxies are depicted in white, while regions
containing a large amount of smaller galaxies are shaded blue. Identifying and
understanding such large groups of early galaxies contributes to humanity's
understanding of the composition and
evolution of the universe as a
whole.Visualization Credit: ESO, L. Calçada & Olga Cucciati et al.
Explanation: Apollo 12 was the second mission to land humans on the Moon. The landing site was picked to be near the location of Surveyor 3, a robot spacecraft that had landed on the Moon three years earlier. In the featured photograph, taken by lunar module pilot Alan Bean, mission commander Pete Conrad jiggles the Surveyor spacecraft to see how firmly it is situated. The lunar module is visible in the distance. Apollo 12 brought back many photographs and moon rocks. Among the milestones achieved by Apollo 12 was the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, which carried out many experiments including one that measured the solar wind.
Cherenkov Telescope at Sunset
Image Credit & Copyright: Sarah Brands (University of Amsterdam)
Explanation: On October 10, a new telescope reflected the light of the
setting Sun. With dark horizon above and sunset colors below, its segmented
mirror inverts an image of the beautiful evening sky in this snapshot from the
Roque del Los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma. The
mirror segments cover a 23 meter diameter and are mounted in the open structure
of the Large Scale Telescope 1, inaugurated as the first component of the Cherenkov
Telescope Array (CTA). Most
ground-based telescopes are hindered by the atmosphere that blurs, scatters,
and absorbs light. But cherenkov telescopes are designed to detect very high
energy gamma rays and actually require the atmosphere to operate. As
the gamma rays impact the upper atmosphere they produce air showers of high-energy particles. A large, fast camera at the
common focus images the brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov
light, created by the air shower
particles. The flashes reveal the incoming gamma ray timing, direction, and energy.
Ultimately more than 100 Cherenkov telescopes are planned for the CTA at
locations in both northern and southern hemispheres on planet Earth.Image Credit & Copyright: Sarah Brands (University of Amsterdam)
The Falcon 9 Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Haidet
Explanation: Not the Hubble
Space Telescope's latest view
of a distant planetary nebula, this illuminated cloud of gas and dust dazzled even casual U.S. west coast skygazers on October
7. Taken about
three miles north of
Vandenberg Air Force Base, the image follows plumes and exhaust from the first
and second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rising through southern California's early evening skies. In
the fading twilight, the reddish smoke drifting in the foreground at the right
is from the initial ascent of the rocket. The expanding blue and orange
filamentary plumes are from first and second stage separation and the first
stage boostback burn, still in sunlight at extreme altitudes. But the bright
spot below center is the second stage itself headed almost directly away from
the camera, accelerating to orbital velocity and far downrange. Pulsed
thrusters form the upside down V-shape at the top as they guide the reusable
Falcon 9 first stage back to the landing site.Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Haidet
Skygazers on the Beach
Image Credit & Copyright: Jack Fusco
Explanation: Kona, a young boxer, is a dog who loves splashing in the
waves along Solana Beach near San Diego, planet
Earth. But he paused here, at least
briefly, during an early evening romp on October 7. Along with two people
friends he gazes skyward in this
snapshot, dazzled by the flight
of a Falcon 9 rocket. Their seaside
view is of the sunlit exhaust plumes from the rocket's first stage thrusters as
it returns to Vandenberg Air Force base, its launch site over 250 miles to the north.Image Credit & Copyright: Jack Fusco
West Coast Launch and Landing
Image Credit & Copyright: John Kraus
Explanation: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch dazzled viewers along the
U.S. west coast after sunset
on October 7. Rising
from Vandenberg Air Force
Base, California, planet Earth, the Falcon 9's first stage then returned to a
landing zone some 400 meters from the launch site less than 8 minutes after
liftoff. Both launch and first stage landing (left) are captured in the frame of this two image
stack, recorded by a stationary, sound-activated camera set up on a nearby
hill. This Falcon 9 rocket delivered its payload, an Earth-observing satellite developed by Argentina's national space
agency, to low Earth orbit. Of course, the Falcon 9 first stage had flown before. Following a launch from Vandenberg
on July 25 it was recovered after landing on the autonomous drone ship Just
Read the Instructions.Image Credit & Copyright: John Kraus
Light Pillars over Whitefish Bay
Image Credit & Copyright: Vincent Brady
Explanation: What's happening in the sky? Unusual lights appeared last
week to hover above Whitefish Bay on the eastern edge of Lake Superior between the USA and Canada. Unsure of the cause, the Michigan-based
astrophotographer switched
camera lenses -- from fisheye totelephoto -- and soon realized he was seeing light pillars: vertical lines of light over a ground source that reflect from falling ice crystals. As the ground
temperature was above
freezing, the flat crystals likely melted as they approached the ground, creating
a lower end to the vertical light pillars. The red ground lights
originated from wind
turbines on Ile Parisienne, a Canadian Island visible across the bay.Image Credit & Copyright: Vincent Brady
Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey
Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle
Explanation: Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants
of Hurricane Florence passed over the Jersey Shore, New Jersey, USA last month, the Sun came out in one direction but something quite unusual
appeared in the opposite direction: a hall of rainbows. Over the course of a next half hour, to the delight of
the photographer and his daughter, vibrant supernumerary rainbows faded in and out, with at least five
captured in this featured
single shot. Supernumerary
rainbows only form when
falling water droplets are all
nearly the same size and
typically less than a millimeter across. Then, sunlight will not only reflect from inside the raindrops, but interfere, a wave phenomenon similar to ripples on a pond when a stone is thrown in. In fact, supernumerary rainbows can only be explained with waves, and
their noted existence in the early 1800s was considered early evidence of light's wave nature.Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle
Astronomy
News:
(from
https://www.sciencedaily.com
)
This Is How We Know There Are Two Trillion Galaxies In The Universe
ScienceThe Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
When you gaze up at
the night sky, through the veil of stars and the plane of the Milky Way close
by, you can't help but feel small before the grand abyss of the Universe that
lies beyond. Even though nearly all of them are invisible to our eyes, our
observable Universe, extending tens of billions of light years in all directions,
contains a fantastically large number of galaxies within it.
Just how many galaxies are out there used to be
a mystery, with estimates rising from the thousands to the millions to the
billions, all as telescope technology improved. If we made the most straightforward
estimate using today's best technology, we'd state there are 170 billion
galaxies in our Universe. But we know more than that, and our modern estimate
is even grander: two trillion galaxies. Here's how we got there.But in practice, that won't work. Our telescopes are limited in size, which in turn limits how many photons they can collect and the resolutions they can achieve. There's a trade-off between how faint an object you can see and how much of the sky you can take in at once. Some of the Universe is obscured by intervening matter. And the more distant an object is, the fainter it appears; at some point, a source is far enough away that even observing for a century won't reveal such a galaxy.
We collected data for hundreds of orbits, across a multitude of different wavelengths, hoping to reveal galaxies that were fainter, more distant, and harder to see than any we had detected before. We hoped to learn what the ultra-distant Universe really looked like. And when that first image finally was processed and released, we got a view unlike any other.
But there were other limits. The most distant galaxies are caught up in the expansion of the Universe, causing distant galaxies to redshift past the point where our optical and near-infrared telescopes (like Hubble) could detect them. Finite sizes and observing times meant that only the galaxies above a certain brightness threshold could be seen. And very small, low-mass galaxies, like Segue 3 in our own backyard, would be far too faint and small to resolve.
Stacking everything together into a single image revealed something never-before seen: a total of approximately 5,500 galaxies. This represented the highest density of galaxies ever observed through a narrow, pencil-like beam in space.
In fact, you can get a spectacular number by doing so: 5500 multiplied by 32 million comes out to an incredible 176 billion galaxies.
But that's not an estimate; that's a lower limit. Nowhere in that estimate do the too-faint, too-small, or too-close-to-another galaxies show up. Nowhere do the galaxies obscured by the neutral gas and dust appear, nor do the galaxies located beyond the redshift capabilities of Hubble. Yet, just as those galaxies exist nearby, they ought to exist in the young, distant Universe as well.
·
the ingredients that
make up the Universe,
·
the right initial
conditions that reflect our reality,
·
and the correct laws
of physics that describe nature,
we can simulate how such a Universe evolves. We
can simulate when stars form, when gravity pulls matter into large enough
collections to create galaxies, and to compare what our simulations predict
with the Universe, both near-and-far, that we actually observe.Perhaps surprisingly, there are more galaxies the early Universe than there are today. But unsurprisingly, they're smaller, less massive, and are destined to merge together into the old spirals and ellipticals that dominate the Universe we inhabit at present. The simulations that match best with reality contain dark matter, dark energy, and small, seed fluctuations that will grow, over time, into stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies.
Most remarkably, when we look at the simulations that match the observed data the best, we can extract, based on our most advanced understanding, which clumps of structure should equate to a galaxy within our Universe.
As of today, two trillion galaxies should exist within our observable Universe.
Yet, that number is so remarkably different from the lower-limit estimate we came up with from the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field image. Two trillion versus 176 billion means that more than 90% of the galaxies within our Universe are beyond the detection capabilities of even humanity's greatest observatory, even if we look for nearly a month at a time.
The next step in the great cosmic puzzle is to find and characterize as many of them as possible, and understand how the Universe grew up. Led by the James Webb Space Telescope and the next generation of ground-based observatories, including LSST, GMT, and the ELT, we're poised to reveal the hitherto unseen Universe as never before.
Astrophysicist and author Ethan
Siegel is the founder and primary writer of Starts With A Bang! His
books, Treknology and Beyond
The Galaxy, are available wherever books are
sold.
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.
1 Nov
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CANCELLED: AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Cancelled due to D8 Open House
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(A1/1735)
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2
Nov
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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: TBA
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Nov. 8 & 9 The
von Kármán Lecture Series: 2018
Deep Space Network
How
does NASA capture the faint whispers of spacecraft voyaging to far flung
destinations across the solar system and beyond? The answer involves giant
radio antennas, global cooperation, and a LOT of careful planning. NASA’s Deep
Space Network is a vital lifeline between Earth and the spacecraft that extend
our senses outward. This panel-style discussion will share how the network
turns radio waves into science and engineering data, along with plans for the
DSN’s future.
Speaker:
Les Deutsch – Deputy Director, JPL Interplanetary Network Directorate
Amy Smith – DSN Aperture Enhancement Project Manager
Michael Levesque – DSN Project Service Management & Operations Manager
Les Deutsch – Deputy Director, JPL Interplanetary Network Directorate
Amy Smith – DSN Aperture Enhancement Project Manager
Michael Levesque – DSN Project Service Management & Operations Manager
Location:
Thursday, Novemeber 8, 2018, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Friday, November 9, 2018, 7pm
Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium
1200 E California Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Thursday, Novemeber 8, 2018, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
Friday, November 9, 2018, 7pm
Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium
1200 E California Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
› Directions
19 Nov.
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LAAS General Mtg. 7:30pm Griffith Observatory
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4 Nov.
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EXPLORING YOUR UNIVERSE 2018
SCIENCE OUTREACH
Location: UCLA campus - Court of Sciences
Time: 12PM
Exploring Your Universe is UCLA’s annual science festival,
educating and inspiring over 7,000 visitors each year! Launch bottle rockets,
make comets, do chemistry and physics experiments, touch brains, see fossils,
and much more! Exploring Your Universe will also offer planetarium shows,
science talks, and telescope viewings! Exploring Your Universe is free and
appropriate for all ages! For more information, visit
https://www.exploringyouruniverse.org/
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2 DEC
2
2018
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DR. AARON CELESTIAN
MINERALS, MICROBES, AND MARS
Location: UCLA, Geology 3656
Time: 2:30PM |
6 Dec
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting
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Holiday chocolate tasting party & presentation(s)
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(A1/1735)
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Observing:
The
following data are from the 2018 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s
2018 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 November:
Moon: Nov 7 new, Nov 15 1st
quarter, Nov 23 Full, Nov 30 last quarter,
Planets:
Venus
visible at dawn all month. Mars visible at dusk, sets
near midnight. Mercury
is hidden in Sun’s glow all month. Saturn visible at dusk, sets early evening. Jupiter visible at dusk thru Nov 7.
Other
Events:
3 Nov
|
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/
|
3 November Northern Taurids Meteor Shower Peak The
second of two meteor showers associated with Comet Encke. ZHR is 5
9 Nov
|
SBAS
out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Greg Benecke to coordinate a
location. http://www.sbastro.net/.
|
10 Nov
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LAAS Private dark
sky Star Party
|
7,14,21,28 Nov
|
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 November Leonids
Meteor Shower Peak The Leonids are associated with Comet Tempel-Tuttle and
are a fast-moving stream with velocities around 72 km/s (>161,000 mph). ZHR
is 15.
17 Nov
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LAAS Public
Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm
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26 November Insight
Mars Landing See https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7216 for
more information
Internet
Links:
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, Walt Sturrock, 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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