AEA Astronomy Club
Newsletter August
2021
Contents
AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 7
General Calendar p. 10
Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 10
Observing p. 12
Useful
Links p. 14
About the Club p.
15
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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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 have decided on the Mt. Wilson 100” Oct. 30. Those on the list for last year’s 100-inch
night that was cancelled due to COVID have first priority, but as of now there are
a few openings, so we can take new names, and extras on a wait list, which
generally is used due to late cancellations.
Contact Jason Fields if interested in joining him for an observing
night with his 20” Dobs.
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: Flight
Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210707.html
Video Credit: NASA, Spitzer
Space Telescope, Universe of Learning; Visualization: F. Summers (STScI) et
al.;
Music & License: Serenade
for Strings (A. Dvořák), Advent
Chamber Orch.
Explanation: What would it look like to fly into the Orion Nebula? The exciting
dynamic visualization of the
Orion Nebula is based on real astronomical data and adept movie rendering techniques. Up close and
personal with a famous stellar nursery normally seen from 1,500 light-years away, the digitally modeled
representation based is based on infrared data from the Spitzer Space
Telescope. The perspective
moves along a valley over a
light-year wide, in the wall of the region's giant molecular cloud. Orion's valley ends in a cavity carved by the
energetic winds and radiation of the massive central stars of the Trapezium star cluster. The entire Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun.
VIDEO:
GW200115: Simulation of a Black Hole
Merging with a Neutron Star https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210714.html
Video Credit: Simulation: S.V. Chaurasia (Stockholm U.), T. Dietrich (Potsdam U. & MPIGP);
Visualization: T. Dietrich (Potsdam U. & MPIGP), N. Fischer, S. Ossokine, H. Pfeiffer (MPIGP)
Explanation: What happens when a black hole destroys a neutron star?
Analyses indicate that just such an event created gravitational wave
event GW200115, detected in 2020 January by LIGO and Virgo observatories. To better understand the unusual
event, the featured visualization was created from a computer simulation. The
visualization video starts with the black hole (about 6 times the Sun's mass) and neutron
star (about 1.5 times the
Sun's mass) circling each other, together emitting an increasing amount
of gravitational radiation. The picturesque pattern of gravitational wave emission is shown in blue. The duo spiral
together increasingly fast
until the neutron star becomes completely absorbed by the black hole. Since the neutron star did not break apart during the collision, little light escaped -- which matches the lack of an
observed optical counterpart. The remaining black hole rings briefly, and as that dies down so do the emitted gravitational
waves. The 30-second time-lapse video may seem short, but it actually lasts about 1000
times longer than the real merger event.
Saturn's Iapetus: Painted Moon in 3D
Interactive: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210713.html
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team; 3D Rendering: NASA's VTAD
Explanation: What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? Vast sections
of this strange world are dark brown, while others are as bright white. The
composition of the dark material is unknown, but infrared spectra indicate that it possibly contains some dark form
of carbon. Iapetus also has an unusual equatorial ridge that makes it appear like a walnut. To help better understand this seemingly painted
moon, NASA directed the robotic Cassini
spacecraft orbiting Saturn to
swoop within 2,000 kilometers in 2007. Iapetus is pictured
here in 3D. A huge impact crater
seen in the south spans a tremendous 450 kilometers and appears superposed on
an older crater of similar size. The dark material is seen increasingly coating the easternmost part
of Iapetus, darkening craters and highlands alike. Close
inspection indicates that the
dark coating typically faces the moon's equator and is less than a meter thick.
A leading
hypothesis is that the dark
material is mostly dirt leftover when relatively warm but dirty ice sublimates. An initial coating of dark material may have been effectively painted on by the accretion
of meteor-liberated debris from other moons.
The Andromeda Galaxy in Ultraviolet
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, GALEX
Explanation: What does the Andromeda galaxy look like in ultraviolet
light? Young blue stars circling the galactic center dominate. A mere 2.5
million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, really is just next door as large
galaxies go. Spanning about 230,000 light-years, it took 11 different image
fields from NASA's Galaxy
Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
satellite telescope to produce this gorgeous portrait of the spiral galaxy in ultraviolet light in 2003. While its spiral arms stand out in visible light images, Andromeda's arms look more like rings
in ultraviolet. The rings are sites
of intense star
formation and have been
interpreted as evidence that Andromeda collided with its smaller
neighboring elliptical galaxy M32 more than 200 million years ago. The Andromeda galaxy and our own comparable Milky
Way galaxy are the most
massive members of the Local Group of galaxies and are projected
to collide in several billion
years -- perhaps around the time that our Sun's atmosphere will expand to engulf
the Earth.
M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind
Image Credit & Copyright: Team ARO, Alentejo Remote Observatory
Explanation: M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds
from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a prodigious
outflow. Evidence for the superwind from the galaxy's central regions is clear in sharp
telescopic snapshot. The composite image highlights emission from long outflow
filaments of atomic hydrogen gas in reddish hues. Some of the gas in the
superwind, enriched in heavy elements forged in the massive stars, will eventually escape into intergalactic
space. Triggered by a close encounter with nearby large galaxy M81, the furious burst of star formation in M82 should last
about 100 million years or so. Also known as the Cigar Galaxy for its elongated
visual appearance, M82 is about 30,000 light-years across. It lies 12 million
light-years away near the northern boundary of Ursa Major.
Saturn and Six Moons
Image Credit & Copyright: Mohammad Ranjbaran; MR Thanks: Amir Ehteshami
Explanation: How many moons does Saturn have? So far 82
have been confirmed, the smallest
being only a fraction of a kilometer across. Six of its largest satellites can be seen here in a composite image with 13 short exposure of the bright planet, and 13
long exposures of the brightest of its faint moons, taken over two weeks last month. Larger than Earth's Moon and even slightly larger than Mercury,Saturn's largest moon Titan has a diameter of 5,150 kilometers and was captured
making nearly a complete orbit around its ringed parent planet. Saturn's first known natural satellite, Titan was discovered in 1655 by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, in contrast with several newly
discovered moons announced in
2019. The trail on the far right belongs to Iapetus, Saturn's third largest moon. The radius of painted Iapetus' orbit is so large that only a portion of it was
captured here. Saturn
leads Jupiter across the night
sky this
month, rising soon after sunset
toward the southeast, and remaining visible until dawn.
Perihelion to Aphelion
Image Credit & Copyright: Richard Jaworski
Explanation: Aphelion
for 2021 occurred on July 5th.
That's the point in Earth's elliptical orbit when it is farthest from the Sun.
Of course, the distance from the Sun doesn't determine the seasons. Those are
governed by the
tilt of Earth's axis of
rotation, so July is still summer in the north and winter in the southern
hemisphere. But it does mean that on July 5 the Sun was at its smallest
apparent size when viewed from planet Earth. This composite neatly compares two
pictures of the Sun, both taken with the same telescope and camera. The left
half was captured close to the date of the 2021 perihelion (January 2), the
closest point in Earth's orbit. The right was recorded just before the aphelion
in 2021. Otherwise difficult to notice, the change in the Sun's apparent
diameter between perihelion and aphelion amounts to a little over 3 percent.
Perseverance Selfie with Ingenuity
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
Explanation: On sol 46 (April 6, 2021) the Perseverance rover held out a
robotic arm to take its
first selfie on Mars. The WATSON
camera at the end of the arm was designed to take close-ups of martian rocks
and surface details though, and not a quick snap shot of friends and smiling
faces. In the end, teamwork
and weeks of planning on Mars time was
required to program a complex series of exposures and camera motions to include
Perseverance and its surroundings. The resulting 62 frames were composed into a
detailed mosiac, one of the most complicated Mars rover selfies ever taken. In
this version of the selfie, the rover's Mastcam-Z and SuperCam instruments are looking toward
WATSON and the end of the rover's outstretched arm. About 4 meters (13 feet)
from Perseverance is a robotic companion, the Mars Ingenuity
helicopter.
Astronomy
News:
From
ScienceNews.org
The tiny dot in this image may be the first look at
exomoons in
the making
A new finding is
some of the strongest evidence yet that planets around other stars have moons
Observations by the ALMA telescope array in
Chile show the young star PDS 70 surrounded by a dusty ring of debris. The
bright dot just inside that ring is a disk of potentially moon-forming debris
surrounding a young planet.
ALMA/ESO, NAOJ AND NRAO, M. BENISTY ET AL
New telescope images may provide the
first view of moons forming outside the solar system.
The Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile glimpsed a dusty disk of potentially
moon-forming material around a baby exoplanet about 370 light-years from Earth.
The Jupiter-like world is surrounded by enough material to make up to 2.5 Earth moons, researchers report
online July 22 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Observations of this system could offer
new insight into how planets and moons are born around young stars.
ALMA observed two planets, dubbed PDS 70b
and 70c, circling the star PDS 70 in July 2019. Unlike most other known
exoplanets, these two Jupiter-like worlds are still forming — gobbling up
material from the disk of gas and dust swirling around their star (SN: 7/2/18). During this
formation process, planets are expected to wrap themselves in their own debris
disks, which control how planets pack on material and form moons.
Around PDS 70c, ALMA spotted a disk of
dust about as wide as Earth’s orbit around the sun. With previously reported exomoon sightings still controversial, the new observations
offer some of the best evidence yet that planets orbiting other stars have
moons (SN:
4/30/19).
Unlike PDS 70c, 70b does not appear to
have a moon-forming disk. That may be because it has a narrower orbit than PDS
70c, which is nearly as far from its star as Pluto is from the sun. That puts
PDS 70c closer to an outer disk of debris surrounding the star.
“C is getting all the material from the
outer disk, and b is getting starved,” says study coauthor Jaehan Bae, an
astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
“In
the past, b must have gotten some material in its [disk], and it could have
already formed moons,” Bae says. But to make the new images, ALMA observed wavelengths
of light emitted by sand-sized dust grains, not large objects, so those moons
would not be visible.
A century of
astronomy revealed Earth’s place in the universe
A series
of revolutions in astronomy have bumped us from the center of things
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/space-exoplanet-century-astronomy-earth-universe
General Calendar:
Colloquia,
Lectures, Seminars, Meetings, Open Houses & Tours:
Colloquia: Carnegie (Tues.
4pm), UCLA, Caltech (Wed. 4pm), IPAC (Wed. 12:15pm) & other Pasadena
(daily
12-4pm): http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/seminars/
Carnegie Zoom Digital Series
Zoom Webinar Platform
July Night Sky Network
Clubs & Events
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/clubs-and-events.cfm
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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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August
19 The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2021
This
illustration, created in March 2021, depicts the 140-mile-wide
(226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Psyche: Mission to a Metal World
August 19
Time: 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT; 0300 UTC)
Deep within the terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists
infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the
planets’ rocky mantles and crusts. The asteroid Psyche offers a unique window
into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to
investigate a previously unexplored type of world.
Speaker(s):
Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Principal Investigator, NASA Psyche Mission, Arizona
State
Host:
Marc Razze, Public Services Office, NASA/JPL
Co-Host:
Lindsay Mclaurin, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA/JPL
Webcast:
Click here to watch the event live on YouTube
9 Aug LAAS General Mtg. 7:30pm Griffith Observatory (private)
August 15UCLA METEORITE SCIENTISTS
DR. NICK GESSLER, DUKE UNIVERSITY
METEORITES: A CULTURAL AND CURATORIAL
PERSPECTIVE
Location: Registration: No registration necessary as this will
not be a live lecture. This is a pre recorded lecture that will be available on
our Youtube on August 15th, 2021.
Time: 12PM
“LOOKE Vp and fee VVonders!” That admonition resonates more
resoundingly today than it did on April 9, 1628, when,
“this miraculous, prodigious, and fearefull handy-worke of God
was prefented, to the aftonifhable amazement of all beholders… In an instant
was heard, firft a hideous rumbling in the Ayre… and ftrange and fearful peale
of Thunder… this thunder caried akind of Maiefticall ftate with it, for it
maintaiyned the fashion of a fought Battaile… Firft, for an on-fet, went on one
great Cannon as it were of thunder alone…then a little whileafter, was heard a
fecund, and fo by degrees a third, vntill the number of 20… In fome little
diftance of time after this, was audibly heard the found of a Drum beating a
Retreate... this begat a wonderful admiration, that at the end of the report of
euery cracke, or Cannon-thundering, a hizzing Noyfe made way through the Ayre,
not vnlike the flying of Bullets from the mouthes of great Ordnance… They were
Thunderbolts… one of them was feene by many people… (which) Miftris Greene,
caufed to be digged out of the ground.”
Whether witnessed in Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, discovered on the Antarctic Ice or California deserts, the experience and awe of discovery and exploration is familiar to those investigating meteorites with reactors, mass spectrometers, microprobes, microscopes or loupes, to curators of museums and their visitors, conference organizers, speakers and their audiences, to bolide chasers, hunters, collectors, dealers and all those with the curiosity to ask, “what does this mean?” Thousands are looking now. This is the cultural and curatorial perspective I hope to briefly survey. It is an homage to those who pursue the unexpected and are surprised.
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2 Sept |
AEA Astronomy Club Meeting |
TBD -- Great Courses video |
(Teams) |
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Observing:
Current
sun & moon rise/set/phase data for L.A.:
http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa/los-angeles
Sun, Moon
& Planets for August:
Moon: Aug 8 new, Aug 15 1st
quarter, Aug 22 Full, Aug 30 last quarter
Planets:
Venus
shines brightly at dusk. Mars is too close to the
Sun to be viewed all month. Jupiter and
Saturn rise around sunset and are
visible all night, Mercury
is lost in the Sun’s glare all month.
Other
Events:
LAAS Event Calendar (incl.
various other virtual events):
https://www.laas.org/laas-bulletin/#calendar
2 Aug Saturn at
opposition
|
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 |
|
1 Aug |
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 |
|
7 Aug |
SBAS
out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Ken Munson to coordinate a location.
http://www.sbastro.net/. |
|
7 Aug |
LAAS Private dark
sky Star Party |
12 Aug Perseid meteors peak
19 Aug Mercury 0.1deg S of Mars
20 Aug Jupiter at opposition
28 Aug Uranus 1.5deg N of Moon
|
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 Kaly Rengarajan, 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: Jason Fields, President & Program Committee Chairman, Sam
Andrews, VP, Kelly Gov club Secretary (& librarian), or Kaly Rangarajan,
(Treasurer).
Mark Clayson,
AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter Editor
