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)

Friday, December 11, 2020

2020 December

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: --

3 Dec

AEA

TBD

(A1/1735)

AEA Astronomy Club Meeting

TBD -- Great Courses video

Teams

 

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-RExNASA's GSFCU. ArizonaLockheed 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 TelescopeMartin PughProcessing: 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 & LicenseKevin 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 Team8.2-meter VLT AntuESO

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 68pictured 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: 
NASAKrista 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 LakeManitobaCanada in 2017, crossing in front of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy.


Colors of the Moon
Image Credit & CopyrightMarcella 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

Planetary families with lots of siblings, like the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system shown in this illustration, tend to have more circular orbits than singleton worlds. That could mean they’re better places to look for life.

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 radiationInternational 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 burstsNature, 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 magnetarNature, 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 sourceNature, 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/ 

 

3 Dec

AEA

TBD

(A1/1735)

AEA Astronomy Club Meeting

TBD -- Great Courses video

Teams

 

 

 

Cancelled for now

 

Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS  Monthly General Meeting

in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw Bl. In Torrance)

 

 

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. 

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

 

 

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

The Astronomical League

 e! Science News Astronomy & Space

NASA Gallery

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)

More...

 

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)

Orange County Astronomers

The Local Group Astronomy Club (Santa Clarita)

Ventura County Astronomical Society

The Astronomical Society of Greenbelt

National Capital Astronomers

Northern Virginia Astronomy Club

Colorado Springs Astronomical Society

Denver 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

 

 


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