ORION Trapezium
November 30, 2011
Volume 1, Issue 8
Monthly Newsletter of ORION Astronomy Club
Who are we:
ORION was founded in April, 1974,
by a group of scientists at the United
States Department of Energy facilities
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Our original
goal was to perform correlated,
instrumented observations of
atmospheric and astrophysical
phenomena. Since then, we have
expanded in many directions, including
optical and radio astronomy and
instrument design / construction.
Spectral Profiles
by Tom Buchanan
Celeste took two spectra of P Cyg in 1999, which I combined before I
derived a profile.
This star was at mag. 4.88, which approached Celeste's limit.
She also took a spectrum of VV Cep, which I compared with
Betelgeuse.
The spectrum of P Cyg shows emission lines at H-beta 4860, He 5876,
and H-alpha at 6563 Angstroms: below
Future Events:
ORION Meeting to be held at
1900 H (7 PM) on Wed December 7 at
Venue: The Historic Grove Theater on
Randolph Road, Grove Center Oak
Topic: "Fermi's Paradox and the Search
for Other Worlds"
Abstract: The 17th century's Scientific
Revolution established the heliocentric
view of our solar system, ushering in
greater clarity and understanding of the
universe and man's place in it. This
transformation
in
science
also
reintroduced a question, first pondered
by the Ancient Greeks, "Are we
alone?" This presentation will follw
mankind's efforts to discover other
worlds and other life in the galaxy, and
seek an answer to the Fermi Paradox,
"Where is everybody?
Speaker: Fred Sloop
Vitae: Fred Sloop is a research chemist
at ORNL and an occasional visitor to
both ORION and TAO.

TAO Public Stargaze
Dates:
Saturday, December 3rd 2011
Saturday, December 17th 2011
Where: Tamke-Allan Observatory
(TAO), Rockwood, TN, 37748, USA
GPS: 35.80 North, 84.62 West
Time: 7:00 pm - 12:00 am
7:30 PM Program: TBA
Notes:
The spectrum of VV Cep shows absorption lines at Na 5890/5896 and
a strong emission line at H-alpha: below
Both stars were at magnitude 4.9. The 35-mm camera has a 135-mm
f/1.9 lens.
The transmission diffraction grating has 600 grooves per millimeter.
They were taken on hypersensitized Kodak technical panchromatic
film for nearly 30 minutes.
They were taken in the slitless mode, giving a resolution of about 3
Angstroms on the original scan, but the noise level is high.
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ORION people are invited to arrive
early with telescopes to prepare for
evening viewing and share snacks.
Bring a telescope, red flashlight, and
munchies. First time visitors drive out
before dark!
Map:
December ORION Program:
http://www.roanestate.edu/obs/visit.htm
This is your newsletter. Your
submissions are due by the 14th of the
month to be considered for publication.
Mailing Address: ORION
P.O. Box 7114
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Email to: noahhaverkamp@yahoo.com
Starfest 2011
by Roy Morrow
The Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium has sponsored Starfest for many years and ORION
members usually attend. Attendance this year totaled about 95 with three ORIONites,Unka
Ger(Gerald Calia), Unka DR(DR Fudge) and Unka UR( Roy Morrow). Oh well, now you know
how we respect each other!
This event is known for hospitality ( five meals were included), good technical presentations, many
door prizes and social interaction(seeing fellow astronerds again). Starfest was expanded this year
to begin on Friday evening and conclude Sunday morning. This provided opportunity for attendees
to sleep on the nature Center floor for two nights! All three of us took advantage of this opportunity
and set-up cots and sleeping bags each night.
Dr. Richard Gray of Appalachian State University gave an exceptionally informative talk on his
research searching for habitable extraterrestrial planets. An overview of methods used to find
planets around other stars was presented including transit light curves, Doppler shift and spectral
classification. Dr. Gray’s own research classifying stars by spectroscopy was discussed.
Appalachian state has an observatory housing a 32” Cassegrain telescope that is located at a dark
site.
Josh Emery of University of Tennessee presented some of his research detecting water and organics
on asteroids. Recent research indicates more water and organics are present in asteroids than
previously thought.
Other interesting presentations included George Privion’s talk on galaxy mergers and a talk by
Travis Paris on Southeastern meteorites and impacts.
A highlight of every Starfest is always the observing sessions and both Friday and Saturday nights
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were clear. This year there were several H-alpha solar scopes set up. The large 8” Bays mountain
refractor was outfitted with such a filter. I held my point and shoot camera to the eyepiece of an 90
mm solar scope and took the following picture showing some solar flares.
Picture of the Bays Mountain observatory and some solar scopes is below.
There were opportunities to see several Planetarium programs including one developed by Orion
member Heather Fries( read the article by Unka Ger for more information) We all enjoyed the star
shoot-out where participants must identify stars, constellations and asterisms by name… The event
ended in a tie between distinguished observers Unka DR and Unka UR.
Almost every attendee won a door prize!! I hope more Orion members can attend next year. Fall
colors:
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Using a 90mm solar scope… Nope, this is not my follicle challenged head!
Another Review of Starfest 2011
by Gerald Calia
Roy, DR and myself, ranked from eldest to youngest, traveled out to Kingsport for this years Star
fest. We arrived about 16:30 and got to say hello to old friends we see about once a year. Enjoyed
a hugh Pizza party where they forced me to over eat! Listened to a very interesting slide
presentation from Travis Paris with the Knox. Gem & Mineral society on "Southeastern Meteorites
and impacts". You might say it left a lasting impression on us.:>) Since I drove, I pushed for a little
nap complete with a very brief night time lullaby et al. I'll explain the et.al. later but, let's just say it
involved some of DR's lens cleaning fluid and it helped me endure the singing! We arose about
01:00 and began a two hour vigil in the freezing cold to see about three meteors. I was quite
comfortable in my heavy sleeping bag but Roy and DR were not invited to join me so they
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froze.!:>) Roy pointed out each night how the sound of the gurgling water in the aquariums near
our sleeping site would make me want to go to the bathroom even more than I already have been!
Thanx Roy!
Sat. after breakfast, we enjoyed a good talk by Dr. Richard Gray from Appalachian State University
on the "Search for Habitable Planets". After lunch a slide presentation of "Galaxy mergers" by
George Privon for the U. of Virginia. Then swap shop and solar observing thru the 10 inch
refractor and the fabulous Day Star filter. Several very large prominences were clearly visible
along with other solar features. And on to the Planetarium for a tour of the Solar system. More eats
and then a talk about "Water and Organics on Asteroids" by Josh Emory -UT KNOXVILLE.
Then a special treat - a Planetarium presentation largely produced by none other than "our own"
Heather Fries when she was an intern there. She is currently ensconced up in Alaska where she is
doing her thing. It was truly a great presentation and you could tell they were very proud of it as we
are of her! Interesting enough, it was entitled "A Part of the Sky Called Orion"! It reviewed what
that part of the Cosmos meant to different cultures through out time. I learned quite a bit from it.
Afterward, we had the great constellation shoot out which was poorly named because single stars
and Aster-isms and etc. were allowed to be ID'd and there wasn't a shot fired!! It should be pointed
out that ORION, the club, was very well represented with a FIRST PLACE TIE between Roy and
DR! Then an evening of star gazing in poorer skies than we typically have @ TAO.
Sunday, after breakfast, another talk by Paul Lewis-UT Knoxville. Door prizes and then homeward
bound to arive about 15:30. It was fun but it wears you out.
President’s Perspective (The ALIENS have come and gone?)
Aliens? If they had visited, then we’d have records in
our folk tales. We’d have legends of visits from
strange beings (those little green fellows in Irish
history) with flying craft and weapons (all those Indian
books and illustrations). Not American Indians, since
their society was destroyed by the diseases brought by
the Aliens who came in water ships. I mean the East
Indians, who wrote of the wars between Aliens.
Wonder if there were any giant Aliens? Check the
records.
And stories of levitation (all those mid-eastern myths,
where like us, they believe anything they are told) and
floodlights (burning trees, that didn’t die) and more
machines (Ezekiel 1-4), or see the sketch.
All that wonderful stuff is not Science. Science
proposes an idea (theory, if the idea is well
composed), and how to test the idea (experiment).
Rather, those reports are history, myth, entertainment,
religion, and they may even be correct. But remember,
they are not science.
Not science, but they may be eyewitness accounts!
Bring on the lawyers.
By David Fields
SETI is the “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” and this is closer to a respectable Science. It
proposes an idea, (Aliens may want to communicate with us) and something of a test (search, listen,
examine the physical universe). But it’s not a very good experiment, really, since if one doesn’t
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detect the Aliens (the ETs) then it doesn’t prove anyting. So it’s not completely a respectable
Science.
Enrico Fermi was a great Italian Physicist. Most of the great Physicists thought a lot about SETI
and Fermi asked them, If the Aliens exist, then why don’t we have evidence of this? This
question is the “Fermi Paradox”. He didn’t consider the folk stories and myths to be evidence, and I
agree with him. His question is a good one.
The December ORION lecture by Fred Sloop, one of my favorite speakers, will consider possible
answers to the Fermi Paradox. Don’t miss it!
Final Picture
Can you find Pleiades between the trees?
Canon 5D
30 sec. Edisto Beach SC last week
by Noah Frere