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)

Thursday, December 8, 2022

2022 December

 

AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter                        

December  2022

 

Contents


AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 7
General Calendar p. 11

    Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 11
    Observing p. 12

Useful Links p. 14
About the Club p. 15

Club News & Calendar.

Club Calendar

 

Club Meeting Schedule: --

 

1 Dec       AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

5 Jan       AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

 

AEA Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st  Thursdays at 11:30 am.  Virtual meetings on Teams until further notice.  When live meetings resume, our preferred room has been A1/1735, when we can reserve it. 

 

Club News:  

 

Nominations for club V.P. & Treasurer being taken.

 

2024 Eclipse --   An update from the 2024 solar eclipse committee (Mark Clayson, Mai Lee, Melissa Jolliff, Nahum Melamed, Judy Kerner, Marilee Wheaton):

 

We’ve heard from 2 Kerrville (on centerline, 1 hour from San Antonio) hotels that think they can accommodate us (50 rooms for about 100 people anticipated) between them – Days Inn & Hampton Inn.  We’re waiting for their contractual details, and will continue to keep you informed.  But typical group contracts allow individual group members to make their individual reservations and deposits directly with the hotel.  And deposits may not be required until month(s) before the stay.  Still checking other options just in case – some say they’ll require 3 or 4 day minimum stay – we’ve been saying most of us will likely want 2 days (day before and of the eclipse).

 

We have also made tentative arrangements for an observing site at a local church in Kerrville 3 miles from the hotel.  With adequate parking & restrooms.  I believe they’ll also let us have our pre-eclipse mtg. there the night before.  As courtesy, we’ll invite members of their congregation to join us.

Contact Jason Fields if interested in joining him for an observing night with his 20” Dobs – per recent emails.

We need volunteers to help with:

·         Serving as club Astronomical League representative

·         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, Sam has a fair chunk of the equipment)

 

Astronomy Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month

(generally from Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)

VIDEO: A Total Lunar Eclipse Over Tajikistan https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221107.html
Video Credit & Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne (Ciel et Espace); Music: Valère Leroy & Sophie Huet (Space-Music)

Explanation: If the full Moon suddenly faded, what would you see? The answer was recorded in a dramatic time lapse video taken during the total lunar eclipse in 2011 from Tajikistan. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth moves between the Moon and the Sun, causing the moon to fade dramatically. The Moon never gets completely dark, though, since the Earth's atmosphere refracts some light. As the featured video begins, the scene may appear to be daytime and sunlit, but actually it is a nighttime and lit by the glow of the full Moon. As the Moon becomes eclipsed and fades, background stars become visible and here can be seen reflected in a lake. Most spectacularly, the sky surrounding the eclipsed moon suddenly appears to be full of stars and highlighted by the busy plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. The sequence repeats with a closer view, and the final image shows the placement of the eclipsed Moon near the EagleSwanTrifid, and Lagoon nebulas. Nearly two hours after the eclipse started, the moon emerged from the Earth's shadow and its bright full glare again dominated the sky. Later today or tomorrow, depending on your location relative to the International Date Line, a new total lunar eclipse will take place -- with totality being primarily visible over northeastern Asia and northwestern North America.

VIDEO:  A Partial Eclipse of an Active Sun https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221102.html
Video Credit: Ralf Burkarth/t Maciej Libert (AG)

Explanation: Watch for three things in this unusual eclipse video. First, watch for a big dark circle to approach from the right to block out more and more of the Sun. This dark circle is the Moon, and the video was made primarily to capture this partial solar eclipse last week. Next, watch a large solar prominence hover and shimmer over the Sun's edge. A close look will show that part of it is actually falling back to the Sun. The prominence is made of hot plasma that is temporarily held aloft by the Sun's changing magnetic field. Finally, watch the Sun's edge waver. What is wavering is a dynamic carpet of hot gas tubes rising and falling through the Sun's chromosphere -- tubes known as spicules. The entire 4-second time-lapse video covers a time of about ten minutes, although the Sun itself is expected to last another 5 billion years.

 

Earthset from Orion
Image Credit: NASAArtemis 1

Explanation: Eight billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space. Taken on November 21, the sixth day of the Artemis 1 mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. The Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver will be used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft will orbit in the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet Earth. Orion will enter its distant retrograde orbit on Friday, November 25. Swinging around the Moon, Orion will reach a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on Monday November 28 exceeding a record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human space exploration.

Planet Earth from Orion
Image Credit: NASAArtemis 1

Explanation: A Space Launch System rocket left planet Earth on Wednesday, November 16 at 1:47am EST carrying the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis 1 mission, the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems. Over an hour after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39B, one of Orion's external video cameras captured this view of its new perspective from space. In the foreground are Orion's Orbital Maneuvering System engine and auxillary engines, at the bottom of the European Service Module. Beyond one of the module's 7-meter long extended solar array wings lies the spacecraft's beautiful home world. The Artemis 1 mission will last almost four weeks, testing capabilities to enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft is expected to fly by the Moon on November 21, performing a close approach to the lunar surface on its way to a retrograde orbit 70,000 kilometers beyond the Moon.  

 




The Protostar within L1527
Image Credit: Science - NASAESACSASTScINIRCam
Processing - Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Explanation: The protostar within dark cloud L1527 is a mere 100,000 years old, still embedded in the cloud of gas and dust that feeds its growth. In this NIRCam image from the James Webb Space Telescope, the dark band at the neck of the infrared nebula is a thick disk that surrounds the young stellar object. Viewed nearly edge-on and a little larger than our Solar System, the disk ultimately supplies material to the protostar while hiding it from Webb's direct infrared view. The nebula itself is seen in stunning detail though. Illuminated by infrared light from the protostar, the hourglass-shaped nebula's cavities are created as material ejected in the star-forming process plows through the surrounding medium. As the protostar gains mass it will eventually become a full-fledged star, collapsing and igniting nuclear fusion in its core. A likely analog to our own Sun and Solar System in their early infancy, the protostar within dark cloud L1527 lies some 460 light-years distant in the Taurus star-forming region. Webb's NIRCam image spans about 0.3 light-years.

 

 

Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey
Image Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle

Explanation: Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over the Jersey Shore, New JerseyUSA in 2018, the Sun came out in one direction but something quite unusual appeared in the opposite direction: a hall of rainbows. Over the course of a next half hour, to the delight of the photographer and his daughter, vibrant supernumerary rainbows faded in and out, with at least five captured in this featured single shot. Supernumerary rainbows only form when falling water droplets are all nearly the same size and typically less than a millimeter across. Then, sunlight will not only reflect from inside the raindrops, but interfere, a wave phenomenon similar to ripples on a pond when a stone is thrown in. In fact, supernumerary rainbows can only be explained with waves, and their noted existence in the early 1800s was considered early evidence of light's wave nature.

 

Astronomy News:

ScienceNews.org

‘Just Make Your Head Explode’: Scientists Awed As Webb Finds Farthest Light Seen


 By Man

Galaxy found was also formed closer to time of Big Bang than anything ever seen

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/just-make-your-head-explode-scientists-awed-as-webb-finds-farthest-light-seen-by-man?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cnemail&seyid=32750

 

By  Hank Berrien

Nov 18, 2022   DailyWire.com

pixelparticle/GettyImages

The remarkable James Webb Telescope has now offered mankind a possible glimpse of the farthest starlight from Earth anyone has ever seen, and a galaxy that was formed closer to the original Big Bang than any galaxy seen before.

Two galaxies billions of light-years farther behind the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744 were discovered by the Webb. One is estimated as having come into existence 450 million years after the Big Bang — which has been estimated to have occurred 13.8 billion years ago — while the second, titled GLASS-z12, emerged only 350 million years after the explosion. Both galaxies are estimated to be tiny compared to the Milky Way galaxy of which Earth is a part.

“These observations just make your head explode. This is a whole new chapter in astronomy. It’s like an archaeological dig, and suddenly you find a lost city or something you didn’t know about. It’s just staggering,” said Paola Santini, one the authors of a research paper led by Marco Castellano of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, Italy.

Another research paper outlining the discovery was led by Rohan Naidu of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both papers were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“With Webb, we were amazed to find the most distant starlight that anyone had ever seen, just days after Webb released its first data,” Naidu said of the second galaxy.

“Everything we see is new. Webb is showing us that there’s a very rich universe beyond what we imagined,” Tommaso Treu of the University of California at Los Angeles echoed. “Once again the universe has surprised us. These early galaxies are very unusual in many ways.”

The first galaxy reportedly has a redshift of 10.5 while GLASS-z12 has one of 12.5. Redshift and blueshift describe how a light wave moves, whether toward us or away from us. As a light is stretched, it is “shifted” toward the red end of the light spectrum. Thus the greater the redshift, the farther the light is from us.

GLASS-z12 is thus even farther away from us than the first galaxy found with it.

“At least three types of redshift occur in the universe — from the universe’s expansion, from the movement of galaxies relative to each other and from ‘ redshift,’ which happens when light is shifted due to the massive amount of matter inside of a galaxy,” Space.com explains.

Up until the discovery of GLASS-z12, the farthest known galaxy that was discovered was GN-z11, found in 2016 by the Hubble Space telescope; its redshift was 11.1.

“We’ve nailed something that is incredibly fascinating. These galaxies would have had to have started coming together maybe just 100 million years after the big bang. Nobody expected that the dark ages would have ended so early,” Garth Illingworth a member of Naidu’s team, enthused. “The primal universe would have been just one hundredth its current age. It’s a sliver of time in the 13.8 billion-year-old evolving cosmos.”

 

JWST finds a planet with an atmosphere like no other

The JWST is becoming an exoplanet researcher's dream.

 by Jordan Strickler

 

 November 23, 2022

 

in Space

 

The James Webb Space Telescope just won’t stop finding new stuff. This time, it was a detailed chemical and molecular picture of the atmosphere of a faraway world that is unlike anything we’ve seen so far.




With the JWST, new observations of WASP-39b have given us a better idea of what it’s atmosphere looks like. (Credit: Melissa Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)

 

The telescope’s array of highly sensitive instruments was trained on WASP-39 b‘s atmosphere, a planet with roughly the same mass as Saturn but much hotter (it is referred to as a “hot Saturn”). The planet, which lies some 700 light-years away, has an atmosphere at a toasty 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (871 degrees Celsius). While the JWST, along with Hubble and Spitzer, have previously revealed isolated components of this planet’s atmosphere, the new readings provide a comprehensive menu of atoms, molecules, and even indications of active chemistry and fragmented clouds.

“The clarity of the signals from a number of different molecules in the data is remarkable,” says  Mercedes López-Morales, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and one of the scientists who contributed to the new results. “We had predicted that we were going to see many of those signals, but still, when I first saw the data, I was in awe.”

The new findings continue to make JWST a great go-to source for conducting a variety of investigations on exoplanets, as this study indicates that figuring out various bits of information about planets’ atmospheres will be possible. This includes investigating the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

The telescope that keeps on giving

The discoveries are described in five recently submitted scientific papers, available on the preprint website arXiv. One of the most groundbreaking discoveries is the first detection of sulfur dioxide in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. This molecule is produced by chemical reactions triggered by high-energy light from the planet’s parent star. A similar process creates the protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere on Earth.

“The surprising detection of sulfur dioxide finally confirms that photochemistry shapes the climate of ‘hot Saturns,’” says Diana Powell, a NASA Hubble fellow, astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics and core member of the team that made the sulfur dioxide discovery. “Earth’s climate is also shaped by photochemistry, so our planet has more in common with ‘hot Saturns’ than we previously knew!”

Sodium, potassium, and water vapor are some of the other atmospheric components that JWST detected. These observations have been confirmed by ground- and space-based telescopes and JWST has also discovered new water features at longer wavelengths.

The JWST also observed carbon dioxide with greater clarity, with the spacecraft providing twice as much data as has been previously reported. While CO2 was found, neither methane nor hydrogen sulfide showed up in the data. If they are actually present, these molecules occur at very low levels. However, if they are in WASP 39 b’s atmosphere, it would be a significant finding for scientists making inventories of exoplanet chemistry in order to better understand the formation and development of these distant worlds.

To find these chemicals, JWST tracked WASP-39 b as it passed in front of its host star, allowing some of the star’s light to pass through the planet’s atmosphere and allowing observers to detect light from the object. Astronomers can identify the molecules by looking at the colors that are and aren’t present because different kinds of chemicals in the atmosphere absorb different colors of the starlight spectrum.

Eight times closer to its star than Mercury is to our Sun, WASP-39 b serves as an excellent testing ground for the effects of radiation from host stars on exoplanets. A deeper comprehension of the star-planet relationship should result in a better understanding of how these processes produce the variety of planets seen in the galaxy.

“We observed the exoplanet with multiple instruments that, together, provide a broad swath of the infrared spectrum and a panoply of chemical fingerprints inaccessible until JWST,” said Natalie Batalha, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who contributed to and helped coordinate the new research. “Data like these are a game changer.”

Tags: harvardjwstsmithsonianWASP-39 b

We recommend

  1. Astronomy Section

World Scientific Book

  1. Search for Extrasolar Planets

Arnold Hanslmeier, Bentham Science Books

  1. Research on high-contrast imaging performance of 1.8 m telescope sodium beacon adaptive optical system

Deng Keran et al., Infrared and Laser Engineering, 2020

  1. Observations of Titan

World Scientific Book

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Jordan Strickler

A space nerd and self-described grammar freak (all his Twitter posts are complete sentences), he loves learning about the unknown and figures that if he isn’t smart enough to send satellites to space, he can at least write about it. Twitter: @JordanS1981

 

 

 General Calendar:

Colloquia, Lectures, Seminars, Meetings, Open Houses & Tours:


Colloquia:  Carnegie (Tues. 11am), UCLA, Caltech (Wed. 4pm), IPAC (Wed. 12:15pm) & other Pasadena

(daily 12-4pm):  http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/seminars/ 

 

https://carnegiescience.edu/events/carnegie-digital-series

 

Carnegie Zoom Digital Series

Register to Join Us!

 

Zoom Webinar Platform

 

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

 

1 Dec      AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

2 Dec    Friday Night 7:30 PM SBAS Monthly General Meeting Topic: “El Camino College Planetarium Show”  in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw Bl. In Torrance)

 12 Dec.   LAAS General Mtg. 8:00pm Griffith Observatory (private)

 

[none listed for Dec.]   The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2022


 DEC 18  UCLA Meteorite Gallery Lectures

DR. PAUL WARREN; UCLA

LUNAR METEORITES: FINALLY, A FEW ANORTHOSITES

Location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY4q8H9MbHA
Time: 12PM

By some estimates, most of the Moon’s outsized crust consists of anorthosite, an igneous rock with more than 90% of the calcium-aluminum silicate mineral plagioclase. Plagioclase has an unusually low density, and the lunar crust is believed to have formed in a unique way by buoyant flotation of plagioclase over a global magma ocean. Some authors have even claimed the lunar-crustal plagioclase abundance is generally greater than 98%. Yet only within the past year were the first three anorthosite lunar meteorites discovered. I will discuss these new anorthosite meteorites and some other aspects of lunar rock studies that constrain the magma ocean hypothesis.

This is a pre-recorded video that will be uploaded to Youtube. There will be no Zoom lecture in December.




5 Jan   AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

Observing:

 

The following data are from the 2022 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2022 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 8  Full, Dec 16  last quarter, Dec 23 new, Dec 30 1st quarter

Planets: Venus is visible at dusk all month.  Mars rises at sunset and is visible until dawn. Jupiter transits in the early evening and sets after midnight.  Saturn is visible at dusk and sets in the evening.  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

 

7 December Moon Occults Mars Watch as Mars disappears behind the moon! Occultation begins at 6:29 PM and ends at 7:28 PM when Mars comes out from behind the Moon.

 

8 December Mars at Opposition

 

13 December Geminids Meteor Shower Peak This shower is fairly prolific with upwards of 120 meteors per hour in good dark-sky conditions.

 

Dec. 7,14,21,28

 

LAAS The Garvey Ranch Observatory is open to the public every Wednesday evening from 7:30 PM to 10 PM. Go into the dome to use the 8 Inch Refractor or observe through one of our telescopes on the lawn. Visit our workshop to learn how you can build your own telescope, grind your own mirror, or sign up for our free seasonal astronomy classes. 

Call 213-673-7355 for further information.

Time: 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM

Location: Garvey Ranch Obs. , 781 Orange Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91755

 

 

17 Dec

SBAS In-town observing session – In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 North Bay 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

 

21 Dec Solstice

 

21 December Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation

 

22 December Ursids Meteor Shower Peak This minor shower radiates from the Little Dipper near Kochab and typically has about 10 meteors/hour.

 

23 Dec

SBAS out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Ken Munson to coordinate a location. http://www.sbastro.net/.  

 

24 Dec

LAAS Private dark sky  Star Party   

 

24 Dec Venus 3deg 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.

 

29 Dec Mercury 1.4deg N of Venus, Jupiter 2deg N of Moon

 

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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