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)

Monday, August 23, 2021

2021 August

 

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: --

5 Aug

AEA

TBD

(A1/1735)

AEA Astronomy Club Meeting

TBD -- Great Courses video

Teams

 

2 Sept

AEA

TBD

(A1/1735)

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: NASASpitzer Space TelescopeUniverse of LearningVisualization: F. Summers (STScIet al.;
Music & LicenseSerenade 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. FischerS. OssokineH. 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: NASAESAJPLSSICassini Imaging Team3D 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 carbonIapetus 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: NASAJPL-CaltechGALEX

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 AROAlentejo 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 RanjbaranMR 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: NASAJPL-CaltechMSSS

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.

Just inside a ring of debris surrounding a young star is the planet PDS 70c, which is surrounded by its own disk of possible moon-forming material (bright dot at center).ALMA/ESO, NAOJ AND NRAO, M. BENISTY ET AL

“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

Register to Join Us!

Zoom Webinar Platform

 

July Night Sky Network Clubs & Events   https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/clubs-and-events.cfm  

 

5 August

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)

 

 

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 

Full Image Details

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 15  

UCLA 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.

2 Sept

AEA Astronomy Club Meeting

 TBD -- Great Courses video

(Teams)

 

Observing:

 The following data are from the 2021 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2021 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 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. 

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

 

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

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 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

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