AEA
Astronomy Club Newsletter December
2020
Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 10
General Calendar p. 16
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 16
Observing p. 17
Useful
Links p. 19
About the Club p.
20
Club News &
Calendar.
Club Calendar
Club Meeting Schedule:
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting |
TBD -- Great Courses video |
Teams |
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7 Jan |
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting |
TBD -- Great Courses video |
(Teams) |
AEA
Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st Thursdays at 11:30 am. For 2020:
Jan. & Feb. in A1/1735, March 5 in A1/2906 and for the rest of 2020 (April
to Dec.) virtual meetings on Teams.
Club
News:
We need volunteers to help with:
·
Assembling
our new 16-inch Hubble Optics Dobs
·
Installing
our new software on our tablet & laptop
·
Populating
our club Sharepoint site with material & links to the club’s Aerowiki
& Aerolink materials – Kaly Rangarajan has volunteered to help with this
·
Arranging
future club programs
·
Managing
club equipment & library (Kelly Gov volunteered to help with the
library)
Astronomy Video(s)
& Picture(s) of the Month
(generally from
Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)
VIDEO: Tagging Bennu: The Movie https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201103.html
Video Credit: OSIRIS-REx, NASA's GSFC, U. Arizona, Lockheed
Martin
Explanation: This is what it looks like to punch an
asteroid. Last month, NASA's
robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx descended toward,
thumped into, and then quickly moved away from the small near-Earth
asteroid 101955
Bennu. The featured
video depicts the Touch-And-Go (TAG)
sampling event over a three-hour period. As the movie begins,
the automated probe
approaches the 500-meter, diamond-shaped, space rock as it
rotates noticeably below. About 20 seconds into the video, Nightingale comes
into view -- a touchdown area chosen to be relatively flat and devoid of large
boulders that could damage the spaceship. At 34 seconds, the shadow of OSIRIS-REx's sampling
arm suddenly comes into view, while very soon thereafter rocks and gravel fly from
the arm's abrupt hard impact. The wily spacecraft was
able to capture and successfully stow some of Bennu's
ejecta for return
to Earth for a detailed
analysis. This long return is scheduled to start in 2021 March with
arrival back on Earth in
2023 September. If the return
sample does successfully reach Earth, it will be scrutinized for organic compounds that
might have seeded a young
Earth, rare or unusual elements and minerals, and clues about
the early
history of our Solar
System.
Fifty Gravitational Wave Events
Illustrated
Image Credit: LIGO Virgo Collaborations,
Frank Elavsky, Aaron Geller, Northwestern
U.
Explanation: Over fifty gravitational wave events
have now been detected. These events mark the distant, violent collisions
of two
black holes, a black hole and a neutron star, or two neutron stars.
Most of the 50
events were detected in 2019 by the LIGO gravitational wave
detectors in the USA and
the VIRGO detector
in Europe. In
the featured
illustration summarizing the masses of the first 50
events, blue dots indicate higher-mass black
holes while orange dots denote lower-mass neutron
stars. Astrophysicists are currently
uncertain, though, about the nature of events marked
in white involving masses that appear to be in the middle -- between two and
five solar masses. The night
sky in optical light is dominated by nearby and bright planets
and stars that have been known since the dawn of humanity. In contrast,
the sky
in gravitational waves is dominated by distant and dark black holes that
have only been known about for less than five years. This contrast is
enlightening -- understanding the gravitational
wave sky is already reshaping humanity's knowledge not only
of star birth
and death across the universe, but properties of
the universe itself.
In the Center of the Trifid Nebula
Image Credit: Subaru
Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler
Explanation: What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulas known. The star forming nebula lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 10 light years. The featured image is a composite with luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert Gendler.
NGC 6822: Barnard's Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Data - Martin
Pugh, Processing
- Mark Hanson
Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory,
flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric
spiral arms. But small galaxies form stars too, like nearby NGC 6822, also
known as Barnard's Galaxy. Beyond the rich starfields in the
constellation Sagittarius, NGC 6822 is a mere 1.5 million light-years away, a
member of our Local Group of galaxies. A dwarf irregular
galaxy similar to the Small
Magellanic Cloud,
NGC 6822 is about 7,000 light-years across. Brighter foreground stars in our
Milky Way have a spiky appearance. Behind them, Barnard's Galaxy is seen to be
filled with young blue stars and mottled with the telltale pinkish hydrogen
glow of star forming regions in this deep color composite image.
A Jupiter Vista from Juno
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Kevin M.
Gill;
Explanation: Why do colorful cloud bands encircle
Jupiter? Jupiter's top atmospheric layer is divided
into light zones and dark belts that go all
the way around the
giant planet. It is high horizontal winds -- in excess of 300 kilometers per
hour -- that cause the zones to spread out planet-wide. What causes these
strong winds remains a topic of
research.
Replenished by upwelling gas, zonal bands are thought to include relatively
opaque clouds of ammonia and water that block light from
lower and darker atmospheric levels. One light-colored zone is shown in great
detail in the featured vista taken by the robotic Juno spacecraft in 2017. Jupiter's atmosphere is mostly clear and colorless hydrogen and helium, gases that are not thought to contribute
to the gold and brown colors. What compounds create these colors is another
active topic of research -- but is hypothesized to involve small amounts of
sunlight-altered sulfur and carbon. Many discoveries have been made from
Juno's data, including that water
composes an
unexpectedly high 0.25 percent of upper-level cloud molecules near Jupiter's
equator, a finding important not only for understanding Jovian currents but for the history of
water in the entire Solar
System.
Dark Molecular Cloud Barnard 68
Image Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO
Explanation: Where did all the stars go? What used to
be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular gas absorb practically all the visible light emitted from background stars. The
eerily dark surroundings help make the interiors of molecular clouds some of the coldest and most isolated
places in the
universe. One of the most notable of these dark absorption nebulae is a cloud toward the
constellation Ophiuchus known as Barnard 68, pictured here. That no stars are visible in the center
indicates that Barnard 68 is relatively nearby, with
measurements placing it about 500 light-years away and half a light-year across. It is not known exactly how molecular clouds like Barnard 68 form, but it is known that these
clouds are themselves likely places for new
stars to form. In
fact, Barnard
68 itself
has been
found likely
to collapse and form a new star system. It is possible to look right through the cloud in infrared light.
A Glowing STEVE and the Milky Way
Image Credit: NASA, Krista
Trinder
Explanation: What's creating these long glowing streaks
in the sky? No one is sure. Known as Strong
Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancements (STEVEs), these luminous light-purple sky ribbons may
resemble regular
auroras, but
recent research reveals significant differences. A STEVE's great length and unusual colors, when
measured precisely, indicate that it may be related to a subauroral ion drift (SAID), a supersonic river of hot
atmospheric ions thought previously to be invisible. Some STEVEs are now
also thought to
be accompanied by green picket fence structures, a series of sky
slats that
can appear outside of the main auroral oval that does
not involve much
glowing nitrogen. The featured wide-angle composite image shows a STEVE in a dark sky
above Childs
Lake, Manitoba, Canada in 2017, crossing in front of the
central band of our Milky
Way Galaxy.
Colors of the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace
Explanation: What color is the Moon? It depends on the
night. Outside of the Earth's atmosphere, the dark Moon,
which shines by reflected sunlight, appears a magnificently
brown-tinged gray. Viewed from inside the Earth's
atmosphere, though, the moon can appear quite different. The
featured image highlights a collection of apparent colors of the full moon
documented by one astrophotographer over 10 years from different locations across Italy.
A red
or yellow colored moon usually indicates a moon seen near the
horizon. There, some of the blue light has been
scattered away by a long path through the Earth's
atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust. A blue-colored
moon is more rare and can indicate a moon seen through an
atmosphere carrying larger dust particles. What created the purple moon
is unclear --
it may be a combination of several effects. The last image captures the total lunar eclipse of
2018 July -- where the moon, in
Earth's shadow, appeared a faint
red -- due to light refracted through air around
the Earth.
The next full moon will occur at the end of this month (moon-th) and
is known in some cultures as the Beaver
Moon.
Moon over ISS
Image Credit & Copyright: Derek Demeter (Emil Buehler
Planetarium)
Explanation: Completing
one orbit of our fair planet in 90 minutes the International
Space Station can easily be spotted by eye as a very bright star moving through
the night sky. Have
you seen it? The next time you do, you will have recognized the
location of over 20
years of continuous human presence in space. In fact, the Expedition
1 crew to the ISS docked with the orbital outpost some 400
kilometers above the Earth on November 2, 2000. No telescope is required to
spot the ISS flashing through the night. But this telescopic field of view does
reveal remarkable details
of the space station captured as it transited the waning
gibbous moon on November 3, just one day after the space age milestone. The
well-timed telescopic snapshot also contains the location of another
inspirational human achievement. About 400,000 kilometers away,
the Apollo 11 landing site on the dark, smooth lunar Sea of
Tranquility is to the right of the ISS silhouette.
Astronomy
News:
Planets with many neighbors may be the best places to look for
life
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/planets-many-neighbors-may-be-best-places-look-life
Single
exoplanets with wild orbits hint at a chaotic past
JPL-CALTECH/NASA
If you’re looking for life beyond the solar system, there’s
strength in numbers.
A new study suggests that systems with multiple planets tend to
have rounder orbits than those with just one, indicating a calmer family
history. Only child systems and planets with more erratic paths hint at past
planetary sibling clashes violent enough to knock orbits askew, or even lead to
banishment. A long-lasting abundance of sibling planets might therefore have
protected Earth from destructive chaos, and may be part of what made life on
Earth possible, says astronomer Uffe Gråe Jørgensen of the Niels Bohr Institute
in Copenhagen.
“Is there something other than the Earth’s size and position
around the star that is necessary in order for life to develop?” Jørgensen
says. “Is it required that there are many planets?”
Most of the 4,000-plus exoplanets discovered to date have elongated, or eccentric, orbits. That marks a striking difference from the neat, circular orbits of the planets in our solar system. Rather than being an oddity, those round orbits are actually perfectly normal — for a system with so many planets packed together, Jørgensen and his Niels Bohr colleague Nanna Bach-Møller report in a paper published online October 30 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Earlier, smaller studies also saw a correlation between number
of planets and orbit shapes, says astrophysicist Diego Turrini of the Italian
National Astrophysics Institute in Rome. Those earlier studies used only a few
hundred planets.
“This is a very important confirmation,” Turrini says. “It is
providing us an idea of … how likely it is there will be no fight in the
family, no destructive events, and your planetary system will remain as it
formed … long enough to produce life.”
Systems with as many planets as ours are exceedingly rare,
though. Only one known system comes close: the TRAPPIST-1 system, with seven roughly Earth-sized worlds (SN: 2/22/17).
Astronomers have found no planetary systems so far, other than ours, with eight
or more planets. Extrapolating out to the number of stars expected to have
planets in the galaxy, Jørgensen estimates that about 1 percent of planetary
systems have as many planets as we do.
“It’s not unique, but the solar system belongs to a rare type of
planetary system,” he says.
That could help explain why life seems to be rare in the galaxy,
Jørgensen suggests. Exoplanet studies indicate that there are billions of
worlds the same size as Earth, whose orbits would make them good places for
liquid water. But just being in the so-called “habitable zone” is not enough to make a planet habitable (SN: 10/4/19).
“If there are so many planets where we could in principle live,
why are we not teeming with UFOs all the time?” Jørgensen says. “Why do we not
get into traffic jams with UFOs?”
The answer might lie in the different histories of planetary
systems with eccentric and circular orbits. Theories of solar system formation
predict that most planets are born in a disk of gas and dust that encircles a
young star. That means young planets should have circular orbits, and all orbit
in the same plane as the disk.
“You want the planets to not come too close to each other,
otherwise their interactions might destabilize the system,” says Torrini. “The
more planets you have the more delicate the equilibrium is.”
Planets that end up on elliptical orbits may have gotten there
via violent encounters with neighboring planets, whether direct collisions that break both planets apart or
near-misses that toss the planets about (SN: 2/27/15). Some of those encounters may have ejected planets from their planetary systems altogether,
possibly explaining why planets with eccentric orbits have fewer siblings (SN: 3/20/15).
Earth’s survival may therefore have depended on its neighbors playing nice for billions of
years (SN: 5/25/05). It
doesn’t need to have escaped violence altogether, either, Jørgensen says. One
popular theory holds that Jupiter and Saturn shifted in their orbits billions
of years ago, a reshuffling that knocked the orbits of distant comets askew and
send them careening into the inner solar system. Several lines of evidence
suggest comets could have brought water to the early Earth (SN: 5/6/15).
“It’s
not the Earth that is important,” Jørgensen says. “It’s the whole configuration
of the planetary system that’s important for life to originate on an earthlike
planet.”
Tree rings may hold clues to impacts of distant supernovas on Earth www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201111144400.htm
Date: November 11, 2020
Source: University of Colorado at Boulder
Summary: Massive explosions of energy happening thousands of light-years from Earth may have left traces in our planet's biology and geology, according to new research.
FULL STORY
Tree rings
(stock image).
Credit: ©
CrispyMedia / stock.adobe.com
Massive
explosions of energy happening thousands of light-years from Earth may have
left traces in our planet's biology and geology, according to new research by
University of Colorado Boulder geoscientist Robert Brakenridge.
The study,
published this month in the International Journal of Astrobiology,
probes the impacts of supernovas, some of the most violent events in the known
universe. In the span of just a few months, a single one of these eruptions can
release as much energy as the sun will during its entire lifetime. They're also
bright -- really bright.
"We
see supernovas in other galaxies all the time," said Brakenridge, a senior
research associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at
CU Boulder. "Through a telescope, a galaxy is a little misty spot. Then,
all of a sudden, a star appears and may be as bright as the rest of the
galaxy."
A very
nearby supernova could be capable of wiping human civilization off the face of
the Earth. But even from farther away, these explosions may still take a toll,
Brakenridge said, bathing our planet in dangerous radiation and damaging its
protective ozone layer.
To study
those possible impacts, Brakenridge searched through the planet's tree ring
records for the fingerprints of these distant, cosmic explosions. His findings
suggest that relatively close supernovas could theoretically have triggered at
least four disruptions to Earth's climate over the last 40,000 years.
The results
are far from conclusive, but they offer tantalizing hints that, when it comes
to the stability of life on Earth, what happens in space doesn't always stay in
space.
"These
are extreme events, and their potential effects seem to match tree ring
records," Brakenridge said.
Radiocarbon
spikes
His
research hinges on the case of a curious atom. Brakenridge explained that
carbon-14, also known as radiocarbon, is a carbon isotope that occurs only in
tiny amounts on Earth. It's not from around here, either. Radiocarbon is formed
when cosmic rays from space bombard our planet's atmosphere on an almost
constant basis.
"There's
generally a steady amount year after year," Brakenridge said. "Trees
pick up carbon dioxide and some of that carbon will be radiocarbon."
Sometimes,
however, the amount of radiocarbon that trees pick up isn't steady. Scientists
have discovered a handful of cases in which the concentration of this isotope
inside tree rings spikes -- suddenly and for no apparent earthly reason. Many
scientists have hypothesized that these several-year-long spikes could be due
to solar flares or huge ejections of energy from the surface of the sun.
Brakenridge
and a handful of other researchers have had their eye on events much farther
from home.
"We're
seeing terrestrial events that are begging for an explanation,"
Brakenridge said. "There are really only two possibilities: A solar flare
or a supernova. I think the supernova hypothesis has been dismissed too
quickly."
Beware
Betelgeuse
He noted
that scientists have recorded supernovas in other galaxies that have produced a
stupendous amount of gamma radiation -- the same kind of radiation that can
trigger the formation of radiocarbon atoms on Earth. While these isotopes
aren't dangerous on their own, a spike in their levels could indicate that
energy from a distant supernova has traveled hundreds to thousands of
light-years to our planet.
To test the
hypothesis, Brakenridge turned to the past. He assembled a list of supernovas
that occurred relatively close to Earth over the last 40,000 years. Scientists
can study these events by observing the nebulas they left behind. He then
compared the estimated ages of those galactic fireworks to the tree ring record
on the ground.
He found
that of the eight closest supernovas studied, all seemed to be associated with
unexplained spikes in the radiocarbon record on Earth. He considers four of
these to be especially promising candidates. Take the case of a former star in
the Vela constellation. This celestial body, which once sat about 815
lightyears from Earth, went supernova roughly 13,000 years ago. Not long after
that, radiocarbon levels jumped up by nearly 3% on Earth -- a staggering
increase.
The
findings aren't anywhere close to a smoking gun, or star, in this case.
Scientists still have trouble dating past supernovas, making the timing of the
Vela explosion uncertain with a possible error of as much as 1,500 years. It's
also not clear what the impacts of such a disruption might have been for plants
and animals on Earth at the time. But Brakenridge believes that the question is
worth a lot more research.
"What
keeps me going is when I look at the terrestrial record and I say, 'My God, the
predicted and modeled effects do appear to be there.'"
He hopes
that humanity won't have to see those effects for itself anytime soon. Some
astronomers think they've picked up signs that Betelgeuse, a red giant star in
the constellation Orion, might be on the verge of collapsing and going
supernova. And it's only 642.5 light-years from Earth, much closer than Vela.
"We
can hope that's not what's about to happen because Betelgeuse is really
close," he said.
Story
Source:
Materials provided by University of Colorado
at Boulder. Original written by Daniel Strain. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
Journal
Reference:
1.
G. Robert Brakenridge. Solar system exposure to supernova γ radiation. International Journal of Astrobiology,
2020; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S1473550420000348
Astronomers discover clues that unveil the mystery of fast radio bursts www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201106092927.htm
Date: November 6,
2020
Source: University
of Nevada, Las Vegas
Summary: Astrophysicists recently observed fast radio bursts, powerful radio waves coming from deep space that have been among the most mysterious astronomical phenomena ever observed.
FULL STORY
Fast
radio bursts, or FRBs -- powerful, millisecond-duration radio waves coming from
deep space outside the Milky Way Galaxy -- have been among the most mysterious
astronomical phenomena ever observed. Since FRBs were first discovered in 2007,
astronomers from around the world have used radio telescopes to trace the
bursts and look for clues on where they come from and how they're produced.
UNLV
astrophysicist Bing Zhang and international collaborators recently observed
some of these mysterious sources, which led to a series of breakthrough
discoveries reported in the journal Nature that may finally shed light into the
physical mechanism of FRBs.
The first
paper, for which Zhang is a corresponding author and leading theorist, was
published in the Oct. 28 issue of Nature.
"There
are two main questions regarding the origin of FRBs," said Zhang, whose
team made the observation using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical
Telescope (FAST) in Guizhou, China. "The first is what are the engines of
FRBs and the second is what is the mechanism to produce FRBs. We found the
answer to the second question in this paper."
Two
competing theories have been proposed to interpret the mechanism of FRBs. One
theory is that they're similar to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful
explosions in the universe. The other theory likens them more to radio pulsars,
which are spinning neutron stars that emit bright, coherent radio pulses. The
GRB-like models predict a non-varying polarization angle within each burst
whereas the pulsar-like models predict variations of the polarization angle.
The team
used FAST to observe one repeating FRB source and discovered 11 bursts from it.
Surprisingly, seven of the 11 bright bursts showed diverse polarization angle
swings during each burst. The polarization angles not only varied in each
burst, the variation patterns were also diverse among bursts.
"Our
observations essentially rules out the GRB-like models and offers support to
the pulsar-like models," said K.-J. Lee from the Kavli Institute for
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, and corresponding author of the
paper.
Four other
papers on FRBs were published in Nature on Nov. 4. These include multiple
research articles published by the FAST team led by Zhang and collaborators
from the National Astronomical Observatories of China and Peking University.
Researchers affiliated with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment
(CHIME) and the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 (STARE2)
group also partnered on the publications.
"Much
like the first paper advanced our understanding of the mechanism behind FRBs,
these papers solved the challenge of their mysterious origin," explained
Zhang.
Magnetars
are incredibly dense, city-sized neutron stars that possess the most powerful
magnetic fields in the universe. Magnetars occasionally make short X-ray or
soft gamma-ray bursts through dissipation of magnetic fields, so they have been
long speculated as plausible sources to power FRBs during high-energy bursts.
The first
conclusive evidence of this came on April 28, 2020, when an extremely bright
radio burst was detected from a magnetar sitting right in our backyard -- at a
distance of about 30,000 light years from Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. As
expected, the FRB was associated with a bright X-ray burst.
"We
now know that the most magnetized objects in the universe, the so-called
magnetars, can produce at least some or possibly all FRBs in the
universe," said Zhang.
The event
was detected by CHIME and STARE2, two telescope arrays with many small radio
telescopes that are suitable for detecting bright events from a large area of
the sky.
Zhang's
team has been using FAST to observe the magnetar source for some time.
Unfortunately, when the FRB occurred, FAST was not looking at the source.
Nonetheless, FAST made some intriguing "non-detection" discoveries
and reported them in one of the Nov. 4 Nature articles. During the FAST observational
campaign, there were another 29 X-ray bursts emitted from the magnetar.
However, none of these bursts were accompanied by a radio burst.
"Our
non-detections and the detections by the CHIME and STARE2 teams delineate a
complete picture of FRB-magnetar associations," Zhang said.
To put it
all into perspective, Zhang also worked with Nature to publish a single-author
review of the various discoveries and their implications for the field of
astronomy.
"Thanks
to recent observational breakthroughs, the FRB theories can finally be reviewed
critically," said Zhang. "The mechanisms of producing FRBs are
greatly narrowed down. Yet, many open questions remain. This will be an
exciting field in the years to come."
Story
Source:
Materials provided by University of Nevada,
Las Vegas. Original written by Shane Bevell. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal
References:
1.
Bing Zhang. The physical mechanisms of fast radio bursts. Nature, 2020; 587
(7832): 45 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2828-1
2.
L. Lin, C. F. Zhang, P. Wang, H. Gao, X. Guan, J. L. Han, J. C.
Jiang, P. Jiang, K. J. Lee, D. Li, Y. P. Men, C. C. Miao, C. H. Niu, J. R. Niu,
C. Sun, B. J. Wang, Z. L. Wang, H. Xu, J. L. Xu, J. W. Xu, Y. H. Yang, Y. P.
Yang, W. Yu, B. Zhang, B.-B. Zhang, D. J. Zhou, W. W. Zhu, A. J. Castro-Tirado,
Z. G. Dai, M. Y. Ge, Y. D. Hu, C. K. Li, Y. Li, Z. Li, E. W. Liang, S. M. Jia,
R. Querel, L. Shao, F. Y. Wang, X. G. Wang, X. F. Wu, S. L. Xiong, R. X. Xu,
Y.-S. Yang, G. Q. Zhang, S. N. Zhang, T. C. Zheng, J.-H. Zou. No pulsed
radio emission during a bursting phase of a Galactic magnetar. Nature, 2020; 587
(7832): 63 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2839-y
3.
R. Luo, B. J. Wang, Y. P. Men, C. F. Zhang, J. C. Jiang, H. Xu,
W. Y. Wang, K. J. Lee, J. L. Han, B. Zhang, R. N. Caballero, M. Z. Chen, X. L.
Chen, H. Q. Gan, Y. J. Guo, L. F. Hao, Y. X. Huang, P. Jiang, H. Li, J. Li, Z.
X. Li, J. T. Luo, J. Pan, X. Pei, L. Qian, J. H. Sun, M. Wang, N. Wang, Z. G. Wen,
R. X. Xu, Y. H. Xu, J. Yan, W. M. Yan, D. J. Yu, J. P. Yuan, S. B. Zhang, Y.
Zhu. Diverse
polarization angle swings from a repeating fast radio burst source. Nature, 2020; 586
(7831): 693 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2827-2
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/
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AEA Astronomy Club Meeting |
TBD -- Great Courses video |
Teams |
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Cancelled
for now |
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Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS Monthly General Meeting in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw
Bl. In Torrance) |
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Jan.
14 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2020
Spacecraft
Origami
For years, engineers have had to deal with "the tyranny of
the faring": anything you want to send into space has to fit into a rocket
bearing. A field of advanced design has been looking for new ways to advance
our engineering, using the centuries old artform to dream bigger.
Host:
Brian White, Public Services Office, NASA/JPL
Co-Host:
Thalia Rivera, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA/JPL
Speaker(s):
Manan Arya, Technologist, NASA/JPL
Lizbeth B. De La Torre, Creative Technologist, NASA/JPL
Webcast:
› YouTube link coming soon
› Click here to watch the event
live on Ustream
Past shows are archived on YouTube.
› Click here for the YouTube
playlist of past shows
|
14 Dec |
LAAS General Mtg. 7:30pm Griffith Observatory
(private) |
|
TBD |
UCLA METEORITE SCIENTISTS
No events scheduled currently. |
|
7 Jan |
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting |
TBD -- Great Courses video |
(Teams) |
Observing:
The
following data are from the 2020 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s
2020 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 December:
Moon: Dec 3 last quarter, Dec
14 new, Dec 21 1st quarter, Dec 29 Full
Planets:
Venus
is a brilliant morning star all month. Mars
transits the meridian in the early evening and sets before dawn. Jupiter is visible at dusk all month, Saturn is visible at dusk, sets in
early evening, Mercury
is hidden in the Sun’s glare all month.
Other
Events:
|
Cancelled |
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. Time: 7:30
PM - 10:00 PM Location: Garvey
Ranch Obs. , 781 Orange Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91755 |
|
5 Dec |
SBAS In-town
observing session – In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at
Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 NortbBay Rd. RPV, Weather Permitting: Please
contact Ken Munson to confirm that the gate will be opened. http://www.sbastro.net/. Only if we get
permission to use the school grounds again and CDC guidelines are reduced |
|
12 Dec |
LAAS Private dark
sky Star Party |
|
12 Dec |
SBAS
out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Ken Munson to coordinate a location.
http://www.sbastro.net/. |
13 December Geminids
Meteor Shower Peak The Geminids are a prolific meteor shower caused by the
object 3200 Phaethon. The Geminids tend to be slow moving and have been
intensifying in recent years. 120-160 meteors per hour may be seen under
dark-sky conditions, typically between 2:00 to 3:00 AM.
20 December Jupiter
Passes 0.1 Degrees from Saturn Not since the Middle Ages have these two
planets been so close together in the sky.
22 December Ursids
Meteor Shower Peak Named for the Ursa Minor constellation, the radiant is
near the star Kochab. Typically, 10 meteors per hour can be seen.
|
Cancelled |
LAAS Public
Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm See http://www.griffithobservatory.org/programs/publictelescopes.html#starparties for more information. |
Internet
Links:
Telescope, Binocular & Accessory Buying
Guides
Sky & Telescope Magazine -- Choosing Your Equipment
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars -- Buying
Guides
Telescopes.com -- Telescopes 101
General
Getting Started in Astronomy & Observing
e! Science News Astronomy & Space
Astronomical Society of the Pacific (educational, amateur &
professional)
Amateur Online Tools, Journals, Vendors, Societies, Databases
The Astronomy White Pages (U.S. & International
Amateur Clubs & Societies)
American Astronomical Society
(professional)
Regional
(Southern California, Washington, D.C. & Colorado)
Southern California & Beyond
Amateur Astronomy Organizations, Observatories & Planetaria
Mt. Wilson Observatory description, history, visiting
Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS)
South Bay Astronomical Society
(SBAS)
The Local Group Astronomy Club
(Santa Clarita)
Ventura County Astronomical
Society
The
Astronomical Society of Greenbelt
Northern
Virginia Astronomy Club
Colorado
Springs Astronomical Society
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, Walt
Sturrock, VP, Kelly Gov club Secretary (& librarian), or Alan Olson,
Resource Committee Chairman (over equipment, and club Treasurer).
Mark Clayson,
AEA Astronomy Club President
