Southwest Florida Astronomical Society
SWFAS
The Eyepiece
July 2012
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
July has some nice things to observe including natural fireworks!
The planets are hanging in there in the evening sky and some are re-appearing in the morning
sky. Mars is getting smaller and dimmer as it approaches Saturn in the evening sky. Catch them
while you can. Jupiter and Venus are bright beacons in the morning sky. At the end of the
month, the Delta Aquarid meteor shower should provide some nice natural fireworks on July
28th/29th. The summer Milky Way is now well placed for observing.
I would like to thank Carol Stewart for handling camp presentations at Rotary Park and the
Calusa Nature Center.
I am checking on the Cape Coral Parks and Rec day to see if we can setup again at the Yacht
Club Park on July 28th.
I have been going over the equipment that Mark Kelly provided to the club. The 8” F6 Meade
Starfinder is now tracking properly and gives excellent views of the planets. The short tube
Celestron 4.5” reflector is ready to go. I have added a motor drive to it and it tracks pretty well.
The 60mm Meade Alt-Az refractor is shaping up and should be ready shortly. I will have some of
the other teaching materials that he provided at the meeting.
Bruce Dissette has provided a scope for the loan-a-scope program as well that I will be working
with. The CPC-800 is available for those interested. It has a large rolling case now that may not
fit in some cars. I was able to get it into the back seat of a 4-door Ford Focus, with the tripod in
the trunk.
CRP Star Party Schedule for 2012: July 21st, August 18th, September 15th, October 13th,
November 10th, and December 15th. Please contact Bruce Dissette if you have any questions.
Carole Holmberg will be giving Thursday evening’s presentation on "Tarantulas and the
Tarantula Nebula." She is planning to have a real tarantula at the meeting!
Moon: Full Moon 3rd, Last Quarter 11th, New 19th, 1st Quarter 26th
Club Positions:
President:
Brian Risley
swfasbrisley@embarqmail.
com (239-464-0366)
Secretary:
Kathleen Hendrix
kathdmom@aol.com
(239-689-8707)
Vice President:
Bruce Dissette
bdissette@centurylink.net
(239-936-2212)
Treasurer:
Tony Heiner
verahei@aol.com
(941-457-9700)
Program Coordinator:
Vacant
Viewing Coords./
Fakahatchee:
Tony Heiner
verahei@aol.com
(941-629-8849)
Chuck Pavlick
cpav4565@gmail.com
(239-560-1516)
Viewing Coord./
Caloosahatchee
Bruce Dissette
bdissette@centurylink.net
(239-936-2212)
Librarian:
Maria Berni
(239-940-2935)
Club Historian:
Danny Secary
asecary@gmail.com
(239-470-4764)
Equipment Coordinator:
Brian Risley
swfasbrisley@embarqmail
.com (239-464-0366)
Website Coordinator:
Dan Fitzgerald
bigdan2204@comcast.net
(239-282-2292)
Astronomical League
Coordinator (ALCOR):
Carol Stewart
cjstewart@mindspring.com
(239-772-1688)
Newsletter Editor:
Carole Holmberg
CaroleHel@aol.com
(239-275-3435)
July Meeting
Our July monthly meeting will be held on Thursday July 5 at 7:30 pm at Calusa Nature Center
and Planetarium. Our program is entitled Tarantulas and the Tarantula Nebula. Carole Holmberg
will give a PowerPoint about the Tarantula Nebula, the largest known star-forming region in the
Local Group of galaxies. A naturalist will also be on hand to show and talk about the Nature
Center’s tarantula.
Upcoming Meetings
We have a talk on Spectroscopy “You Can Almost Touch the Stars!” by Tom Field covering
amateur spectroscopy equipment scheduled for December. The talk will be a remote
presentation.
CRP Star Party Schedule
July 21st, August 18th, September 15th, October 13th, November 10th, and December 15th.
Please contact Bruce Dissette if you have any questions.
Mars Science Lab on Track for August Landing
NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover is in good shape and on target for a nail-biting
seven-minute plunge to a bulls-eye landing on the red planet in early August, thanks to
upgraded software and post-launch improvements that will enable the craft to make a more
precise descent to the floor of Gale Crater, project scientist John Grotzinger told reporters.
Launched Nov. 26, 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" rover is the most sophisticated
robotic lander ever built, equipped with six electrically-driven wheels, a robot arm, multiple
cameras and a suite of state-of-the-art instruments. The goal of the mission, expected to last at
least two Earth years, is to explore Gale Crater's intriguing sedimentary formations to help
scientists understand whether Mars ever had, or still has, the raw materials and an environment
hospitable to life.
Given the distance between Earth and Mars at the time of the rover's arrival, the entry, descent
and landing will be carried out autonomously by the craft's main computer. To give engineers
insight into the descent, the orbits of three NASA science satellites already circling Mars are
being tweaked to make sure they are passing within sight of the rover on landing day to relay
telemetry back to Earth.
Curiosity is the size of a small car and weighs nearly 2,000 pounds. It is too big to use an airbag
landing system like those employed for the Mars Pathfinder and the Spirit and Opportunity
rovers. Instead, engineers came up with the novel sky crane design, lowering the rover directly
to the surface attached to a cable unreeled from a rocket-powered descent stage.
"We start the entire process of landing at about 13,200 miles an hour relative to the planet, 78
miles above the surface," said Dave Lavery, MSL program executive. "Hopefully, if all goes well,
about seven minutes later we'll be down on the surface with a relative velocity of zero, safely
resting on six wheels."
But he cautioned that nothing is guaranteed and that Mars missions have a mixed-bag history of
dramatic successes and devastating failures. Historically, only about 40% of the missions to
Mars have been successful for any of a number of various different reasons.
The only technical issue has been a Teflon contamination problem in the drill, which was
discovered shortly before launch. The drill is mounted in a turret on the end of Curiosity's robot
arm. It is designed to operate in rotary or percussive mode, moving rock fragments through the
drill's interior and on to an instrument designed to look for signs of carbon compounds.
Testing shows internal Teflon seals can degrade during normal operation, allowing small
amounts of Teflon to mix in with the sample material. A detailed analysis indicates the problem
will not prevent the drill from being used but it's not yet clear what effect the expected
contamination might have on the analysis of soil samples.
- By William Harwood, CBS News
NASA's Next Mars Rover to Face 7 Minutes of Terror
It may be described as reasoned - even
genius - engineering. But even the engineers
who designed it agree it looks crazy. Six
vehicle configurations, 76 pyrotechnic devices,
500,000 lines of code, zero margin for error.
What exactly will it take to land NASA's next
Mars rover, Curiosity, on the surface of Mars
on Aug. 5? The latest video from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory breaks down all "7
minutes of terror."
Watch it at http://bit.ly/edlemail.
Titan's Underground Ocean
Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed Saturn's moon Titan likely harbors a layer of
liquid water under its ice shell.
"Cassini's detection of large tides on
Titan leads to the almost
inescapable conclusion that there is
a hidden ocean at depth," said
Luciano Iess, Cassini team member
at the Sapienza University of Rome.
"The search for water is an
important goal in solar system
exploration, and now we've spotted
another place where it is abundant."
This artist's concept shows a
possible scenario for the internal
structure of Titan, as suggested by
data from NASA's Cassini
spacecraft.
The evidence is tidal. Saturn's powerful gravity stretches and deforms Titan as the moon moves
around the gas giant planet. If Titan were composed entirely of stiff rock, the gravitational
attraction of Saturn should cause bulges, or solid "tides," on the moon only 3 feet in height.
Instead, the data show Saturn creates solid tides approximately 30 feet in height. This suggests
Titan is not made entirely of solid rocky material.
An ocean layer does not have to be huge or deep to create the observed tides. A liquid layer
between the external, deformable shell and a solid mantle would enable Titan to bulge and
compress as it orbits Saturn. Because Titan's surface is mostly made of water ice, which is
abundant in moons of the outer solar system, scientists believe Titan's ocean is likely mostly
liquid water.
On Earth, tides result from the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun pulling on our
surface oceans. In the open oceans, those can be as high as two feet. The gravitational pulling
by the sun and moon also causes Earth's crust to bulge in solid tides of about 20 inches.
The presence of a subsurface layer of liquid water at Titan is not by itself an indicator for life.
Scientists think life is more likely to arise when liquid water is in contact with rock, and these
measurements cannot tell whether the ocean bottom is made up of rock or ice.
The results have a bigger implication for the mystery of methane replenishment on
Titan. Methane is abundant in Titan's atmosphere, yet researchers believe the methane is
unstable, so there must be a supply to maintain its abundance.
"The presence of a liquid water layer in Titan is important because we want to understand how
methane is stored in Titan's interior and how it may outgas to the surface," said Cassini team
member Jonathan Lunine. "This is important because everything that is unique about Titan
derives from the presence of abundant methane, yet the methane in the atmosphere should be
destroyed on geologically short timescales."
A liquid water ocean, "salted" with ammonia, could produce buoyant ammonia-water liquids that
bubble up through the crust and liberate methane from the ice. Such an ocean could serve also
as a deep reservoir for storing methane.
- The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-190&cid=release_2012-190
Stellar Flare Blasts Exoplanet
A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected significant changes in
the atmosphere of a planet located beyond our solar system. The scientists conclude the
atmospheric variations occurred in response to a powerful eruption on the planet's host star, an
event observed by NASA's Swift satellite. The stellar flare, which hit the planet like 3 million Xflares from our own sun, blasted material from the planet's atmosphere at a rate of at least
1,000 tons per second.
This artist's rendering illustrates the evaporation of HD
189733b's atmosphere in response to a powerful
eruption from its host star. NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope detected the escaping gases and NASA's
Swift satellite caught the stellar flare. (Credit: NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center)
"The multiwavelength coverage by Hubble and Swift
has given us an unprecedented view of the interaction
between a flare on an active star and the atmosphere
of a giant planet," said researcher Alain Lecavelier des
Etangs at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.
The exoplanet is HD 189733b, a gas giant similar to Jupiter, but about 14% larger and more
massive. The planet circles its star at a distance of only 3 million miles, or about 30 times closer
than Earth's distance from the sun, and completes an orbit every 2.2 days. Its star, named HD
189733A, is about 80% the size and mass of our sun. Astronomers classify the planet as a "hot
Jupiter." Previous Hubble observations show that the planet's deep atmosphere reaches a
temperature of about 1,900° Fahrenheit.
HD 189733b periodically passes across, or transits, its parent star, and these events give
astronomers an opportunity to probe its atmosphere and environment. In a previous study,
Hubble was used to show that hydrogen gas was escaping from the planet's upper atmosphere.
The finding made HD 189733b only the second-known "evaporating" exoplanet at the time. The
system is just 63 light-years away, so close that its star can be seen with binoculars near the
famous Dumbbell Nebula. This makes HD 189733b an ideal target for studying the processes
that drive atmospheric escape.
In April 2010, researchers observed a single transit using Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph, but they detected no trace of the planet's atmosphere. Follow-up observations in
September 2011 showed a surprising reversal, with striking evidence that a plume of gas was
streaming away from the exoplanet at 300,000 mph. At least 1,000 tons of gas were leaving the
planet's atmosphere every second.
This turn of events was explained by data from Swift's X-ray Telescope. On Sept. 7, 2011, just
eight hours before Hubble observed the transit, Swift was monitoring the star when it unleashed
a powerful flare. After accounting for the planet's enormous size, the team notes that HD
189733b encountered about 3 million times as many X-rays as Earth receives from a solar flare
at the threshold of the X class.
- Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
New Way of Probing Exoplanet Atmospheres: Tau Boötis b revealed
For the first time a new technique has allowed astronomers to study the atmosphere of an
exoplanet in detail — even though it does not pass in front of its parent star. A team used ESO’s
Very Large Telescope to directly catch the faint glow from the planet Tau Boötis b. They have
studied the planet’s atmosphere and measured its orbit and mass precisely for the first time —
in the process solving a 15-year old problem. Surprisingly, the team also finds that the planet’s
atmosphere seems to be cooler higher up, the opposite of what was expected.
The planet Tau Boötis b was one of the first exoplanets to be discovered back in 1996, and it is
still one of the closest exoplanets known. Although its parent star is easily visible with the naked
eye, the planet itself certainly is not, and up to now it could only be detected by its gravitational
effects on the star. Tau Boötis b is a large “hot Jupiter” planet orbiting very close to its parent
star.
Like most exoplanets, this planet does not transit the disc of its star (like the recent transit of
Venus). Up to now such transits were essential to allow the study of hot Jupiter atmospheres:
when a planet passes in front of its star it imprints the properties of the atmosphere onto the
starlight. As no starlight shines through Tau Boötis b’s atmosphere towards us, this means the
planet’s atmosphere could not be studied before.
But now, after 15 years of attempting to study the faint glow that is emitted from hot Jupiter
exoplanets, astronomers have finally succeeded in reliably probing the structure of the
atmosphere of Tau Boötis b and deducing its mass accurately for the first time. The team used
the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. They combined high
quality infrared observations (at wavelengths around 2.3 microns) with a clever new trick to
tease out the weak signal of the planet from the much stronger one from the parent star.
Matteo Brogi (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands) explains: “Thanks to the high quality
observations provided by the VLT and CRIRES we were able to study the spectrum of the system
in much more detail than has been possible before. Only about 0.01% of the light we see comes
from the planet, and the rest from the star, so this was not easy”.
The majority of planets around other stars were discovered by their gravitational effects on their
parent stars, which limits the information that can be gleaned about their mass: they only allow
a lower limit to be calculated for a planet’s mass. The new technique pioneered here is much
more powerful. Seeing the planet’s light directly has allowed the astronomers to measure the
angle of the planet’s orbit and hence work out its mass precisely. By tracing the changes in the
planet’s motion as it orbits its star, the team has determined reliably for the first time that Tau
Boötis b orbits its host star at an angle of 44° and has a mass six times that of the planet Jupiter
in our own Solar System.
“The new VLT observations solve the 15-year old problem of the mass of Tau Boötis b. And the
new technique also means that we can now study the atmospheres of exoplanets that don’t
transit their stars, as well as measuring their masses accurately, which was impossible before”,
says Ignas Snellen (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands). “This is a big step forward.”
As well as detecting the glow of the atmosphere and measuring Tau Boötis b’s mass, the team
has probed its atmosphere and measured the amount of carbon monoxide present, as well as
the temperature at different altitudes by means of a comparison between the observations and
theoretical models. A surprising result from this work was that the new observations indicated
an atmosphere with a temperature that falls higher up. This result is the exact opposite of the
temperature inversion — an increase in temperature with height — found for other hot Jupiter
exoplanets.
The VLT observations show that high resolution spectroscopy from ground-based telescopes is a
valuable tool for a detailed analysis of non-transiting exoplanets’ atmospheres. The detection of
different molecules in future will allow astronomers to learn more about the planet’s atmospheric
conditions. By making measurements along the planet’s orbit, astronomers may even be able to
track atmospheric changes between the planet’s morning and evening.
International Dark-sky Association Membership Promotion
Enter the International Dark-Sky Association’s Darksky Giveaway for an astronomically grand
prize— a set of eight TeleVue Ethos eyepieces valued at $5,665, generously donated by Televue
Optics.
To enter the IDA's Darksky Giveaway, you must be an IDA member before the entry closeout
date of August 31, 2012. If you are not a member, joining is easy and the cost of a one-year
membership is only $35.00. To join or renew your membership, visit www.darksky.org and
select the “Join” tab at the top of the webpage. You can also join by calling the IDA office at
(520) 293-3198. Entering to win is also a breeze. Visit darksky.org/giveaway where you can fill
out the entry form online and read the official rules.
Individual memberships help IDA perform its mission in stopping light pollution and helps to
support its many programs. Through the International Dark Sky Places program, IDA and its
partners certify locations with exceptional nightscapes as International Dark Sky Communities,
International Dark Sky Parks, and International Dark Sky Reserves. The Dark Sky Parks and
Protected Area Program currently works with national parks to help them utilize quality outdoor
lighting. IDA’s new Suburban Outreach Sites project partners with astronomy clubs to establish
accessible programs for kids and their parents. These programs help IDA to engage
communities and to raise awareness and ultimately “to preserve and protect the nighttime
environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor
lighting.”
IDA members make a big difference in their communities and around the world, which is why
IDA is thrilled to offer its members such a premium giveaway from Televue Optics. Make sure
you enter the DarkSky Giveaway by the deadline and good luck!
To learn more, visit www.darksky.org.
The winner will be announced at the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show in September 2012,
but does not need to attend PATS to win.
- W. Scott Kardel, Public Affairs Director, International Dark-Sky Association, email:
wskardel@darksky.org, phone: 520 293-3198 ext. 402
The Great Galactic Alignment of 2012
Some who claim that the Maya predicted the end of the world in 2012 use a particular
astronomical alignment that is believed will occur at the end of the 13th Bak'tun in the Maya
Long Count calendar (December 21st, 2012) as evidence to support their notions. The claim is
that on that date the Sun will align with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, which only happens
once every 25,772 years. They claim that the Maya knew about this alignment and set their
Long Count calendar to end on this day because the alignment will cause something to
happen. Just what this something is seems to depend only on the imagination. You can
visit Wikipedia for more about such claims and the people making them. Note that the claims are
not being made by Maya people themselves.
Let’s examine the facts to see if this claim of an alignment is true.
The Galactic Context
The Sun is but one of a few hundred billion stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky
Way Galaxy is shaped like a disk with a bulge in the center. The disk is about 100,000 lightyears across and 1,000 light-years thick. Remember, a light-year is the distance that light
travels in one year. It is not a measurement of time, but of distance. A good scale model for the
Galaxy would be a CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc with a marble in the center.
The Sun is located about 30,000 light-years from the center, about halfway out. The Sun moves
in a roughly circular orbit about the center of the Galaxy (the fine details of the orbit are pretty
messy), taking about 250 million years to complete one trip.
Since we are located inside the disk of the Milky Way, we do not have that outsider view of it.
Here on Earth, we see it as a band of hazy light running through the sky with dark rifts inside it.
From this perspective and using only the unaided eye, it is difficult to discern its center. But with
modern tools like telescopes that can see infrared and radio light, we now know that the center
is located in the constellation of Sagittarius, which is most prominent in the summertime sky in
the Northern hemisphere.
At the center of the Milky Way Galaxy lies a black hole with the mass of millions of Suns. We’ve
found that most, if not all, big galaxies in the Universe contain these monstrous black holes in
their centers.
Left: Top-An artist’s
concept of the Milky
Way Galaxy seen from
above. This map uses
the latest knowledge of
the structure of the
Galaxy and the Sun’s
location.
Bottom- The entire sky
projected like a map
shows the Milky Way
Galaxy’s appearance
from our perspective
within the disk. This
image was constructed
from infrared data.
Infrared light passes
through much of the
dust in the Galaxy
allowing us to see more
of its structure than we
can with our eyes.
Right: A CD with a marble in its center is a good model for the structure of the Milky Way
Galaxy. Note that this model is stuck to a stand and viewed at two different angles: mostly faceon (top) and edge-on (bottom).
Alignment With the Galactic Center
When people talk about alignments we need to be clear. The Sun and the center of the Galaxy
are only two points: they always form a line! So an alignment in space of the Sun with the
Galaxy is meaningless. Throwing Earth into the mix changes the situation. In this case, an
alignment of all three objects is probably something rarer, right? Indeed!
It won’t be happening in 2012. In fact, an alignment of Earth, the Sun, and the Galactic center
will not happen for over 4 million years! In our current position in the Galaxy, the
Sun never appears to align exactly with the Galactic center, from Earth’s perspective. The
closest the Sun appears to be next to the Galactic center is about 6.4°, nearly 13 times the
width of the full moon. That’s not much of an alignment. It will take well over 4 million years for
the Solar System to move around the Galaxy enough to allow us to see the Sun projected
directly in front of the Galactic center.
From our perspective on Earth, the Sun does appear to pass in front of the band of the Milky
Way twice per year (currently once in December and once in June). It has done this every year
since the beginning of the Solar System, 5 billion years ago. So there is nothing special at all
about this kind of alignment.
From a perspective in space, we can see that the Earth and the Sun do not align with the center
of the Milky Way Galaxy on December 21st, 2012.
Above Left: This perspective is from within the plane of the Solar System looking from behind
Earth toward the Sun and toward the center of the Galaxy. Above Right: This perspective is from
above the plane of the Solar System and we can see the two different lines of sight from Earth
to the Sun and from Earth to the Galactic center. Also note that there is no alignment of planets
on this date, which some 2012 doomsday theorists claim.
Solstice Alignment
On December 21st, 2012, the Sun will be aligned with the middle of the Milky Way band, from
our perspective on Earth (though it is not aligned with the Galactic center). In this part of the
Milky Way, there are several dark rifts and the Sun appears in one of them.
The date of this “alignment,” December 21st, is the Winter Solstice (the shortest day/longest
night of the year) in the northern hemisphere. However, when the Maya created the Long Count
calendar over 2,000 years ago, the Sun would not have been seen in this location in the Milky
Way on the Winter Solstice. The date of any annual alignment of the Sun with the stars
(including the Galaxy) changes by one day every 72 years
due to a wobble in Earth’s rotation called precession. The
exact alignment of the Sun with any spot in the heavens on
a specific date therefore only occurs every 25,772 years.
Left: A snapshot from a NASA animation that demonstrates
the concept of precession of Earth’s axis of rotation, which is
the cause of the precession of dates of solar alignments with
celestial objects.
There is evidence that has convinced several scholars to
think that the classical Maya knew about this precessional
drift in time of solar-stellar alignments. Indeed, the
evidence indicates that the ancient Maya may have synchronized several of their calendars to
alignments of important constellations with the Sun. They may have calculated the locations of
these constellations into prehistory to make these alignments coincide with mythological events.
If they were able to run the precessional clock backwards, they could just as easily run it
forward. Such astronomical observations were well within their observational capabilities. For
example, let’s say the ancient Maya noted the date that the Sun appeared in the middle of the
dark rift in the Milky Way located in the constellation Sagittarius. After 72 years they would note
that the alignment was happening one day later. After 144 years, the date would now be 2 days
later than the first observation. After several generations they would have enough data to be
sure that the precession was real (not a mistake in counting days) and be able to accurately
account for it. This leads us to wonder if the ancient Maya set their Long Count calendar to reach
the end of the 13th Bak’tun when the Sun was seen in one of the dark rifts in the Milky Way
during the Winter Solstice.
This cannot be directly observed on this date since the Sun’s brightness lights up the sky making
it much brighter than the stars.
These rifts are actually made up of enormous clouds of dust and gas where new stars are
forming. There are so many of these clouds between us and the stars of the Galaxy behind
them, that the light from those distant stars is blocked out. So we see the shapes of these
clouds in silhouette. We can see the clouds themselves in infrared light. NASA missions like
IRAS, Spitzer, and WISE have mapped out the plane of the Milky Way to understand the roles
these clouds play in the life cycle of the Galaxy.
The Sun does appear to cross through a rift on December 21st, 2012. But it began crossing
through the rift on the Winter Solstice date back in about the year 1800 AD. The rift does not
have exact boundaries since it is made of clouds of dust and gas. The Sun will continue to be
viewed against the backdrop of this rift during the Winter Solstice until at least the year 2100.
If the ancient Maya were aware of precession, they would have known that the Sun would be
viewed within this rift during the Winter Solstice for about 400 years. So what importance would
they have given such an alignment, what would they have thought that it meant? This is an
open question for Maya researchers. We know that their understanding of the sky was intimately
tied to their mythology and religion. Scholars are trying to understand and decipher that
mythology as best as they can, through the study of the empirical evidence.
But What If?
What if there was an exact alignment of the Sun with center of the Galaxy, as seen from Earth?
Would there be any physical effects on us?
Well, the central part of the Galaxy has the mass and luminosity of tens of billions of suns. But it
is 30,000 light-years away. Because of that great distance, the strength of its gravity on Earth is
several hundred million times weaker than the strength of the Sun’s gravity. Plus, the Sun is
hundreds of millions of times brighter in the sky than the Milky Way, also because of the huge
difference in distance. So the answer is a resounding “no.” It makes no difference if the Sun is
aligned or not, the effects of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy on Earth are utterly insignificant
any day of the year. People often worry about the effects of gravitational tides when there is talk
of an astronomical alignment. Tides are a shearing/stretching aspect of gravity and are much
weaker than regular gravitational forces. So if the gravity of the Milky Way is totally insignificant
compared to that of the Sun, or even the Moon, then the tidal forces will be all the more
insignificant.
Even if the very talented ancient Maya astronomers and priests meant for the 13th Bak’tun
anniversary to occur with the alignment of the Sun in a dark rift of the Milky Way on the Winter
Solstice, it isn’t a rare alignment. So nothing physical could be expected to happen in 2012 that
wouldn’t have been occurring already for hundreds and even billions of years.
It looks like the “great Galactic alignment” of 2012 is much ado about nothing.
- From calendarinthesky.org
Hasta La Vesta Celebration
It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating Dawn’s arrival at Vesta with Vesta Fiesta, and
now it is time to say: “Hasta La Vesta.”
I want to announce to you that on September 8th at 3 pm Eastern Time, we will celebrate Dawn
leaving Vesta and traveling to Ceres.
Please hold September 8th in your calendars as we highlight three components of the mission:
Completion of most data collection at Vesta, a new phase in solar system exploration – ion
propulsion space flight, and expectation and anticipation of arriving at Ceres.
We are planning to have an international cyber-event. Our initial plans have similarities to Vesta
Fiesta, but new elements as well. The event is in final planning stages, and we anticipate
participation with scientists/engineers in Italy, Germany, and the US. As we did with Vesta
Fiesta, we will have an interactive map indicating locations of specific celebrations.
A new technology being developed by Star Club allows interaction between Dawnites and Dawn
science/engineers in a way that we hope will personalize the mission and provide visibility for
the mission and your programs/mission
We will have more information in the coming weeks. Look for updates
at http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
- Joe Wise, Dawn Mission EPO
How Many Discoveries Can You Make
in a Month?
By Dr. Tony Phillips
This year NASA has announced the discovery of 11 planetary
systems hosting 26 planets; a gigantic cluster of galaxies known
as “El Gordo;” a star exploding 9 billion light years away; alien
matter stealing into the solar system; massive bullets of plasma
racing out of the galactic center; and hundreds of unknown objects emitting high-energy
photons at the edge of the electromagnetic spectrum.
That was just January.
Within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the Astrophysics Division produces such a list nearly
every month. Indeed, at this very moment, data is pouring in from dozens of spacecraft and
orbiting observatories.
“The Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, and Fermi space telescopes continue to make groundbreaking
discoveries on an almost daily basis,” says NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.
NASA astrophysicists and their colleagues conduct an ambitious research program stretching
from the edge of the solar system to the edge of the observable Universe. Their work is guided
in large part by the National Research Council’s Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
which identified the following priorities: Finding new planets—and possibly new life—around
other stars, Discovering the nature of dark energy and dark matter, Understanding how stars
and galaxies have evolved since the Big Bang, Studying exotic physics in extreme places like
black holes. Observing time on Hubble and the other “Great Observatories” is allocated
accordingly.
Smaller missions are important, too: The Kepler spacecraft, which is only “medium-sized” by
NASA standards, has single-handedly identified more than 2300 planet candidates. Recent finds
include planets with double suns, massive “super-Earths” and “hot Jupiters,” and a miniature
solar system. It seems to be only a matter of time before Kepler locates an Earth-sized world in
the Goldilocks zone of its parent star, just right for life.
A future astrophysics mission, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be able to study the
atmospheres of many of the worlds Kepler is discovering now. The telescope’s spectrometers
can reveal the chemistry of distant exoplanets, offering clues to their climate, cloud cover, and
possibilities for life.
That’s not the telescope’s prime mission, though. With a primary mirror almost 3 times as wide
as Hubble’s, and a special sensitivity to penetrating infrared radiation, Webb is designed to look
into the most distant recesses of the universe to see how the first stars and galaxies formed
after the Big Bang. It is, in short, a Genesis Machine.
Says Bolden, “We’re on track in the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope, the most
sophisticated science telescope ever constructed to help us reveal the mysteries of the cosmos
in ways never before possible.” Liftoff is currently
scheduled for 2018.
How long will the list of discoveries be in January of that
year? Stay tuned for Astrophysics.
For more on NASA’s astrophysics missions, check out
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/. Kids can get some
of their mind-boggling astrophysics questions answered by
resident Space Place astrophysicist “Dr. Marc” at
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/dr-marc-space.
Artist’s concepts such as this one are based on infrared
spectrometer data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
This rendering depicts a quadruple-star system called HD 98800. The system is approximately
10 million years old and is located 150 light-years away in the constellation Crater. Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
- This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Now if you don’t have an iPhone, the popular Comet Quest game is also available on The Space
Place website as an equally exciting Flash game. Learn about comets and the Rosetta mission
while playing this fast-moving, immersive action game. It’s like the real Rosetta mission, but
with you in control of the spacecraft: First, drop the comet lander carefully onto the nucleus;
observe and record gas jets, craters, cracks, and other happenings; dodge and dart around ice
chunks flying off the nucleus; and, in your spare time, communicate with the lander and with
Earth. Go to a comet at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comet-quest.
Check out our great sites for kids:
http://climate.nasa.gov/kids, http://scijinks.gov, http://spaceplace.nasa.gov
If you have admired the beautiful collage that is the Space Place home page, now you can wear
it! We’ve added a page with artwork you can download and print on iron-on transfer paper
(widely available), then iron it onto a t-shirt, a bag, or any fabric you like. There’s also a transfer
for the back of the t-shirt with a portrait of the solar system, colorful planets more or less to
scale, orbits not. This activity requires help from a grown-up, of course. Check it out
at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/t-shirt.
- Distributed by Laura K. Lincoln, on behalf of the Space Place Team.
Hello NSN StarGazers:
We want to thank all of you for the terrific Transit of Venus outreach. We had the most traffic
we’ve ever experienced on the NSN website the week of the ToV. NSN is getting the word out
about your great outreach events more than ever. When you post your event on NSN, it
automatically appears on the Go StarGaze and Distant Suns mobile apps. Not to mention the
“Find Events and Clubs” widget is now posted on many sites, including EarthSky, JPL, and local
libraries. You can ask your local community partners (library/museum, etc.) to add the widget to
their page. Be sure to let us know whenever you get the widget posted, just send us an email so
we can track publicity.
Win a Mars Globe in July. Get your events logged!
Be sure to get your second quarter events logged by Sunday, July 8th to
qualify for the Quarterly Prizes - Mars Globes in time for Curiosity’s landing!
We will pick five clubs randomly from the events held between April 1 and
June 30 that use NSN ToolKits and resources. The more events you log, the
better your chances to win. (If your club hasn’t received all the ToolKits yet,
log at least two qualifying events and you’ll automatically receive another
ToolKit.) We'll hold the drawing on Monday, July 9th.
*Bonus* One more Mars Globe will be given away to a club that posts an
upcoming event for the weekend of August 3rd-5th, in honor of Curiosity's
landing on Mars! Get your events posted by July 15th to qualify.
The odds are in your favor here!
The Mars Curiosity Telecon: Exclusively for Night
Sky Network Members!
The Curiosity rover was designed to assess whether Mars ever
had an environment able to support small life forms called
microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the
planet's "habitability." Join Mars Science Laboratory Deputy
Project Scientist and eloquent public speaker Dr. Ashwin
Vasavada as he gives us the highlights and more from this
mission.
*Bonus* One lucky Night Sky Network telecon listener will receive the new book, Destination
Mars: New Explorations of the Red Planet by Rod Pyle.
To join the Teleconference on Monday, July 23rd at 9:00 pm Eastern call the toll-free conference
call line: 1-888-455-9236
Call anytime after 5:45 pm the evening of the telecon. An operator will answer and:
- You will be asked for the passcode: NIGHT SKY NETWORK
- You will be asked to give your NAME and the CLUB you belong to, and number of people
listening with you.
The PowerPoint will be available after July 21st at https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club/downloadview.cfm?Doc_ID=499 (log into NSN first).
Welcome to all the NSN clubs that joined in the last 12 months. We're glad to
have you as members!
The NSN now has over 400 clubs across the United States, and we're still growing.
Adirondack Public Observatory in NY, Amateur Astronomers Association of NY, Astral
Astronomers in TX, AstroTerps in MD, Astronomical Association of Southern Illinois, Astronomical
Society of East Texas, Astronomical Society of Las Cruces, Astronomical Society of Nevada,
Bandelier National Monument Night Sky Team in NM, Bartlesville Astronomical Society in OK,
Black River Astronomical Society in OH, Celestial Observers Guild in ME, Central Ohio
Astronomical Society, Charlotte Amateur Astronomers Club, Chester County Astronomical
Society in PA, Downeast Amateur Astronomers in ME, Dudley Observatory in NY, Elmore County
4-H in AL, Fargo-Moorhead Astronomy Club in MN, Fox Park Astronomy Club in MI, Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area in AZ, Harper Astronomy Club in IL, Henry Ford Community College
Astronomy Club in MI, Huntsville Amateur Astronomy Society in TX, Indiana Astronomical
Society, Inola AFJROTC Astronomy Club in OK, Iowa County Astronomers in WI, John C. Wells
Planetarium @JMU in VA, Keene Amateur Astronomy Club in NH, Litchfield Hills Amateur
Astronomy Club in CT, Modesto Junior College Astronomy Club, North Shore Amateur Astronomy
Club in MA, Oak Canyon Astronomy Group in CA, Peninsula Astronomical Society in CA, Phoenix
Astronomy Club in MA, Plantation Astronomy Club in FL, Queen of Peace Catholic Academy
Astronomy Club in FL, Salina Astronomy Club in KS, Seattle Astronomical Society, Shreveport /
Bossier Astronomical Society, Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers in WV, Southern Colorado
Astronomical Society, Southern Oregon Skywatchers, Star City Astronomy Network in VA,
Starcreek Astronomical Society in OK, Sunland/Tujunga Astronomical Research Society in CA,
Sussex County Astronomy Society in DE, Taylor Creek Observatory in SC, The Charlie Bates
Solar Astronomy Project in GA, Tulare Astronomical Association in CA, University of Arizona
Astronomy Club, Western Colorado Astronomy Club
NOTE: The NASA Night Sky Network is a nationwide coalition of nearly 400
amateur astronomy clubs.
The NASA Night Sky Network is managed by The Astronomical Society of
the Pacific.
Wishing you clear skies and oodles of outreach.
- Marni Berendsen, Vivian White, and Jessica Santascoy, Night Sky Network
SWFAS Minutes
June minutes will be published in a future newsletter.
Future Events
CALUSA NATURE CENTER PLNTRM
CALOOSAHATCHEE REGIONAL PARK
CALUSA NATURE CENTER PLNTRM
CALOOSAHATCHEE REGIONAL PARK
7-5-12
7-21-12
8-2-12
8-18-12
7:30 PM
DUSK
7:30 PM
DUSK
Southwest Florida Astronomical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 100127
Cape Coral, FL 33910
www.theeyepiece.org
MONTHLY MEETING
STAR PARTY
MONTHLY MEETING
STAR PARTY