Southwest Florida Astronomical Society
SWFAS
The Eyepiece
January 2016
Contents:
Message from the President .............................................................................. Page 1
In the Sky this Month ...................................................................................... Page 2
Future Events ................................................................................................. Page 3
Minutes of SWFAS Meeting – December 3, 2015 ................................................. Page 4
Notable January Events in Astronomy and Space Flight ........................................ Page 5
Rate the Darkness of Your Sky .......................................................................... Page 13
Tale of Capella and the Two Red Dwarfs ............................................................. Page 16
How will we finally image the event horizon of a black hole? .................................. Page 19
Club Officers & Positions ................................................................................... Page 22
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
1
In the Sky this Month
Moon: January – Last Quarter, 2nd; New, 9th; 1st Quarter, 16th; Full, 23rd; Last Quarter,
31st.
The Planets: Most of the planetary action continues in the early dawn hours.
Mercury is the only planet visible in the early evening sky for 1st week of the month;
then it, too, returns to the morning sky. During this time, all five bright planets will be
visible in the morning sky.
Jupiter rises around 10:30 pm at beginning of month, 8:30 by end of month.
Venus rises 3 hrs before the sun on 1st of month and shines at -4.0 magnitude.
Saturn appears in the morning early in month and makes conjunction with Venus on the
9th.
Mars continues to shine in morning hours, brightening and growing larger during the
month.
International Space Station: The ISS is visible in the mornings Jan 1-5, and later in
the month, 23, 25-27. It returns to the evening sky late in the month. Evening dates are
Jan 28-31. See this link for specific times: http://www.heavens-above.com/
Comet Catalina: This comet should be visible at dawn in Bootes after Dec. 24th, and
near Arcturus Jan. 1. It will be 5thmagnitude most of this time, suitable for binocular
viewing, depending on morning clouds.
View is looking east. from Sky & Telescope
Comet Catalina highlights:
*
*
*
*
*
*
December 23–24 — Comet crosses into Boötes
January 1, 2016 — Close pass (0.5°) of Arcturus on the first day of 2016
January 9 — Comet crosses into Canes Venatici
January 12 — Closest to Earth at 66.9 million miles
January 14 — Comet crosses into Ursa Major
January 14–15 — Passes just 1° north of Alkaid, star at end of the Big Dipper's handle
2
*
*
*
*
January
January
January
January
16
17
21
25
—
—
—
—
Passes 2° southwest of the 8th-magnitude galaxy, M101
Passes 3.4° northeast of the double star Mizar in the Big Dipper's handle
Comet crosses into Draco
Comet crosses into Camelopardalis
Future Events
Star Party and Event Schedule
Date
Event
January 7 ,2016
th
Jack Berninger –
Understanding
Einstein
Location
Time
Info/Contact
Calusa Nature
Center &
Planetarium
CRP
Oasis Middle
School
7:30 pm
Brian Risley
Dusk
6:30 pm
January 9th
January 15th
Star Party
Star Party
January 23rd
Solar Observing
(4th Saturday)
Harbour Heights
Park, Port
Charlotte (Deep
Creek)
9am- 12
Bruce Dissette
Johnnie Royal &
Carol Stewart
Tom Segur
February 4th
Monthly Business
Meeting – Program
on Meteorites
Calusa Nature
Center &
Planetarium
7:30 pm
Brian Risley
February 6th
February 27th
Star Party
Burrowing Owl
Festival
Solar Observing
(4th Saturday)
Monthly Meeting -
CRP
Rotary Park Cape
Coral
Dusk
Bruce Dissette
Brian Risley
Gilchrist Park,
Punta Gorda
9am- 12
Tom Segur
Calusa Nature
Center &
Planetarium
Rotary Park
Cape Coral
CRP
CRP
CRP
7:30 pm
Brian Risley
7-10pm
Brian Risley
Dusk
Dusk
Dusk
Bruce Dissette
Bruce Dissette
Bruce Dissette
February 27th
March 3rd
March 4th
March 5th
April 9th
May 7th
SWFAS Rotary Park
Star Party
Star Party
Star Party
Star Party
January Program – As we all know, Albert Einstein forever changed man’s understanding of the
universe. Even 100 years after the publication of his Theory of Relativity his discoveries remain the
backbone of modern physics, cosmology, and our future understanding of the cosmos.
As a tribute to Dr. Einstein, Jack Berninger makes a return visit to the onThursday, January 7,
2016 to make a special presentation entitled "Understanding Einstein". Mr. Berninger's presentation
will begin at7:30pm to be followed immediately by the regular monthly meeting of the South West
Florida Astronomical Society.
3
Minutes of the Southwest Florida Astronomical Society – December 3rd, 2015
The program by Dr. Jeffrey Hutchinson on Dark Matter was presented before the
business meeting. Forty-seven people were present.
The regular monthly business meeting of the Southwest Florida Astronomical Society
was called to order at 8:38 pm by president Brian Risley in the Calusa Nature Center
Planetarium.
Bruce Dissette made a motion to e-mail the monthly club newsletter to all Calusa Nature
Center members. Scott Flaig seconded the motion, and the motion carried on a voice
vote. Heather Preston will do this.
Brian Risley reported a thank you gift to the club of $400 from the wife of Stewart Rorer.
Heather Preston reported the Nature Center will have full time space camps. She needs
volunteers to help move stuff and fix up the storage room to make it into a classroom.
She also expressed a need for seed money to purchase items to sell at the Planetarium
gift shop. Ron Madl will investigate this and have a proposal at a future meeting.
All members are reminded that annual membership dues of $20 are now due.
Previous events listed in the printed agenda were reviewed, and upcoming events listed
in the printed agenda were discussed. The periodic solar observing conducted in
Charlotte County by Tom Segur, Tony Heiner, and Dave ____? will be added to the club
website and Facebook page.
The current president Brian Risley, vice president Bruce Dissette, treasurer Tony Heiner,
and secretary Don Palmer each expressed willingness to serve another year. Brian
Shultis made a motion to keep the current officers for 2016. The motion was seconded
by Carlos Perosio. The motion passed on a voice vote.
Brian Shultis made a motion, seconded by Ron Madl, to appoint Doug Heatherly as
Astronomical League coordinator. The motion carried on a voice vote. Bruce Dissette
will do Night Sky Network updating.
Tom Segur volunteered to meet with treasurer Tony Heiner to do the annual audit.
Vice President Bruce Dissette announced the Nature Center has telescopes for sale.
Bruce Dissette made a motion, seconded by Brian Shultis, to approve the October 1
minutes as contained in the newsletter. The motion carried on a voice vote. There was
no business meeting in November.
Treasurer Tony Heiner reported an October balance of $1512.93. Brian Shultis made a
motion, seconded by Bruce Dissette, to accept the report. The motion carried on a voice
vote.
Treasurer Tony Heiner reported a November balance of $1605.36. Brian Shultis made a
motion, seconded by Ron Madl, to accept the report. The motion carried on a voice
vote.
Equipment Coordinator Brian Risley reminded members to check with him if you want to
use equipment.
Program Coordinator Mike McCauley presented an overview of upcoming programs. He
would appreciate feedback and suggestions regarding programs.
The business meeting was adjourned at 9:35 pm.
submitted by Don Palmer, secretary
4
Notable January Events in Astronomy and Space Flight History
Compiled by Mike McCauley
January 1, 1801: Giuseppe Piazzi discovers Ceres. Giuseppe Piazzi (16 July 1746 – 22
July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and
astronomer born in Ponte, Valtellina, and died in Naples. His most famous discovery
was the first dwarf planet, Ceres. Piazzi discovered Ceres, today known as the largest
member of the asteroid belt. On 1 January 1801 Piazzi discovered a "stellar object" that
moved against the star background. At first he thought it was a fixed star, but once he
noticed that it moved, he became convinced it was a planet - but announced it as a
comet. He was not able to observe it long enough as it was soon lost in the glare of the
Sun. Unable to compute its orbit with existing methods, mathematician Carl Friedrich
Gauss developed a new method of orbit calculation that allowed it to be located it again.
After its orbit was better determined, it was clear that Piazzi's assumption was correct
and this object was not a comet, but more like a small planet. Coincidentally, it was also
almost exactly where the Titius-Bode law predicted a planet would be.
January 2, 1900: Leslie Copus Peltier was born this date in Delphos, Ohio. An amateur
astronomer, he was a prolific discoverer of comets, a persistent observer of variable
stars and member of the AAVSO. Harlow Shapley once described him as "the world's
greatest non-professional astronomer". He wrote the heart-warming autobiographical
Starlight Nights which evokes the magic of stargazing in simpler days, on a farm and
without light pollution. Asteroid 3850 Peltier is named in his honor, as is the Leslie C.
Peltier Award of the Astronomical League.
January 3, 2004: Spirit rover lands on Mars. Spirit, also known as MER-A (Mars
Exploration Rover – A) or MER-2, is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010.
It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed
successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its
twin, Opportunity (MER-B), landed on the other side of the planet. The rover became
stuck in late 2009, and its last communication with Earth was sent on March 22, 2010.
Aided by cleaning events that resulted in higher power from its solar panels, Spirit went
on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected. Spirit
also logged 7.73 km (4.8 mi) of driving instead of the planned 600 m (0.4 mi), allowing
more extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features.
Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission were published in a special
issue of the journal Science. On May 1, 2009 (5 years, 3 months, 27 Earth days after
landing; 21.6 times the planned mission duration), Spirit became stuck in soft soil. For
the following eight months NASA analyzed the situation, running Earth-based
simulations, and programming the rover to make extrication drives in an attempt to free
itself. These efforts continued until January 26, 2010 when NASA officials announced
that the rover was irrecoverably obstructed in soft soil, though it continued to perform
scientific research from its current location. The rover continued in a stationary science
platform role until communication with Spirit stopped on sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). JPL
continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011. A formal farewell at NASA
headquarters after 2011 Memorial Day holiday was televised on NASA TV.
5
January 7, 1610:
Galileo discovers Callisto, Europa, and Io. On 7 January 1610,
Galileo observed with his telescope what he described at the time as "three fixed stars,
totally invisible by their smallness", all close to Jupiter, and lying on a straight line
through it. Observations on subsequent nights showed that the positions of these "stars"
relative to Jupiter were changing in a way that would have been inexplicable if they had
really been fixed stars. On January 10th, Galileo noted that one of them had
disappeared, an observation which he attributed to its being hidden behind Jupiter.
Within a few days, he concluded that they were orbiting Jupiter: he had discovered three
of Jupiter's four largest satellites He discovered the fourth, Ganymede, on January 13th.
Galileo named the group of four the Medicean stars, in honor of his future patron,
Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Cosimo's three brothers. Later
astronomers, however, renamed them the Galilean satellites in honor of their discoverer.
His observations of the satellites of Jupiter caused a revolution in astronomy: a planet
with smaller planets orbiting it did not conform to the principles of Aristotelian
cosmology, which held that all heavenly bodies should circle the Earth, and many
astronomers and philosophers initially refused to believe Galileo. His observations were
confirmed by Christopher Clavius and he received a hero's welcome when he visited
Rome in 1611. Galileo continued to observe the satellites over the next eighteen
months, and by mid-1611, he had obtained remarkably accurate estimates for their
periods—a feat which Kepler had believed impossible.
January 8, 1942: Stephen Hawking born. Stephen William Hawking is an English
theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for
Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His scientific works include
collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework
of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often
called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set forth a theory of cosmology
explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a
vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. He is an
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest
civilian award in the United States. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009 and has achieved commercial
success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and
cosmology in general; his book A Brief History of Time appeared on the British Sunday
Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking suffers from a rare
early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), that has
gradually paralyzed him. He now communicates using a single cheek muscle attached to
a speech-generating device. Hawking married twice and has three children.
January 12, 1820: Royal Astronomical Society founded. The Royal Astronomical
Society (RAS) is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London to
support astronomical research (mainly carried on at the time by 'gentleman
astronomers' rather than professionals). It became the Royal Astronomical Society in
1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV. A Supplemental Charter in 1915
opened up the fellowship to women. It is the UK adhering organization to the
International Astronomical Union and a member of the Science Council. It encourages
6
and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and related
branches of science. Meetings are held in Burlington House, in Piccadilly, London and
across the United Kingdom (UK). They are involved in production of astronomical
journals and periodicals. The society has over 3000 members, around a third of whom
live outside the UK. Members of the public who have an interest in astronomy and
geophysics and wish to support the work of the society may become Friends of the RAS.
January 14, 2005: Huygens probe lands on Titan. Huygens was an atmospheric entry
probe that landed on Saturn's moon in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space
Agency, it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft to
land on Titan. The probe was named after the Dutch 17th-century astronomer Christiaan
Huygens who discovered Titan in 1655. The combined Cassini–Huygens spacecraft was
launched from Earth on October 15, 1997. Huygens separated from the Cassini orbiter
on December 25, 2004, and landed on Titan on January 14, 2005 near the Xanadu
region. This was the first landing accomplished in the outer Solar System. It touched
down on land, although the possibility that it could touch down in an ocean was taken
into account in its design. The probe was designed to gather data for a few hours in the
atmosphere, and a short time at the surface. It continued to send data for about 90
minutes after touchdown. It remains the most distant landing of any human-made craft.
January 15, 1973: Luna 21 and Lunokhod rover land on moon. Luna 21 was an
unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 21. The spacecraft
landed on the Moon and deployed the second Soviet lunar rover (Lunokhod 2). The
primary objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine
ambient light levels to determine feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon,
perform laser ranging experiments from Earth, observe solar X-rays, measure local
magnetic fields, and study mechanical properties of the lunar surface material. Luna 21
carried the second successful Soviet lunar rover, Lunokhod 2, and was launched less
than a month after the last Apollo lunar landing. The Proton-K/D launcher put the
spacecraft into Earth parking orbit followed by translunar injection. On 12 Jan 1973,
Luna 21 was braked into a 90 × 100 km orbit about the Moon, at a 60° inclination. On
13 and 14 Jan, the perilune was lowered to 16 km altitude. On 15 Jan after 40 orbits,
the braking rocket was fired at 16 km altitude, and the craft went into free fall. At an
altitude of 750 meters the main thrusters began firing, slowing the fall until a height of
22 meters. At this point the main thrusters shut down and secondary thrusters ignited,
slowing the fall until the lander was 1.5 meters above the surface, where the engine cut
off. Landing occurred at 23:35 UT in Le Monnier crater at 25.85° N, 30.45° E, between
Mare Serenitatis ("Sea of Serenity") and the Taurus Mountains. The lander carried a bas
relief of Vladimir Lenin and Soviet coat-of-arms. At 01:14 UT on 16 Jan, the rover
disembarked onto the lunar surface. The 840 kilogram Lunokhod 2 was equipped with
three TV cameras, an eight-wheel traction system, and additional scientific instruments.
By the end of its first lunar day, Lunokhod 2 had traveled further than Lunokhod 1 in its
entire operational life. On 9 May, the rover inadvertently rolled into a crater and dust
covered its solar panels and radiators. On 3 June, the Soviet news agency announced
that its mission was over. The rover took 80,000 TV pictures and 86 panoramic photos
and performed hundreds of mechanical and chemical surveys of the soil.
7
January 15, 2006: Stardust spacecraft returns samples of comet dust. Stardust was a
300-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on Feb 7, 1999. Its primary
mission was to collect dust samples from the coma of comet Wild 2, as well as samples
of cosmic dust, and return these to Earth for analysis. It was the first sample return
mission. En-route to comet Wild 2, the craft also flew by and studied the asteroid 5535
Annefrank. Stardust was launched on Feb 7, 1999, at 21:04:15 UTC by NASA from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, aboard a Delta II 7426 launch vehicle. The
complete burn sequence lasted for 27 minutes bringing the spacecraft into a heliocentric
orbit that would bring the spacecraft around the Sun and past Earth for a gravity assist
maneuver in 2001, to reach asteroid Annefrank in 2002 and comet Wild 2 in 2004 at a
low flyby velocity of 6.1 km/s. In 2004, the spacecraft performed a course correction
that would allow it to pass by Earth a second time in 2006, to release the Sample Return
Capsule for a landing in Utah in the Bonneville Salt Flats. During the second encounter
with Earth, Stardust was put into a "divert maneuver" immediately after the capsule was
released so the spacecraft avoided entering the atmosphere. On Jan 29, 2004, the
spacecraft was put in hibernation mode with only the solar panels and receiver active, in
a three-year heliocentric orbit that would return it to Earth vicinity on Jan 14, 2009. A
subsequent mission extension was approved on July 3, 2007, to bring the spacecraft
back to full operation for a flyby of comet Tempel 1 in 2011. The mission extension was
the first to revisit a small Solar System body.
January 19, 1747: Johann Bode born. Johann Elert Bode (19 January 1747 – 23
November 1826) was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and
popularization of the Titius–Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and
suggested the planet's name. His name became attached to the 'law' discovered by
Johann Daniel Titius in 1766. Bode first makes mention of it in the Anleitung zur
Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels in a footnote, and although it is often officially called
the Titius–Bode law, it is commonly called Bode's law. This law attempts to explain the
distances of the planets from the Sun in a formula, although it breaks down for the
planet Neptune. It was the discovery of Uranus at a position predicted by the law which
aroused great interest in it. There was actually a gap (with no planet) between Mars and
Jupiter, and Bode urged a search for a planet in this region which culminated in a group
formed for this purpose, the so-called "Celestial Police". However before the group
initiated a search, they were trumped by the discovery of the asteroid Ceres by
Giuseppe Piazzi from Palermo in 1801, at Bode's predicted position (See Jan 1 above).
The law fell out of favor when it was realized that Ceres was only one of a small number
of asteroids and when Neptune was found not to be in a position required by the law.
Discovery of planets around other stars has brought the law back into discussion.
January 19, 1851: Jacobus Kapteyn born. Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, (January 19,
1851, – June 18, 1922) was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the
Milky Way and discovered evidence for galactic rotation. In 1897 he discovered
Kapteyn's Star. It had the highest proper motion of any star known until the discovery of
Barnard's Star in 1916. In 1904, studying the proper motions of stars, Kapteyn
reported that these were not random, as it was believed in that time; stars could be
divided into two streams, moving in nearly opposite directions. It was later realized that
8
Kapteyn's data had been the first evidence of the rotation of our galaxy, which
ultimately led to determination of galactic rotation by Bertil Lindblad and Jan Oort.
January 19, 2006: New Horizons launched. New Horizons is an interplanetary space
probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research
Institute, with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched with the
primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system, and a secondary mission
to flyby and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects. On Jan 19, 2006, New
Horizons was launched from Cape Canaveral directly into an Earth-solar escape
trajectory with a speed of about 16.26 km/s (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph). After a brief
encounter with asteroid 132524 APL, New Horizons proceeded to Jupiter, making its
closest approach Feb 28, 2007, at a distance of 2.3 million km (1.4 million mi). The
Jupiter flyby provided a gravity assist that increased New Horizons ' speed. Most of the
post-Jupiter voyage was spent in hibernation mode, except for brief annual checkouts.
On Dec 6, 2014, New Horizons was brought back online for the Pluto encounter. On Jan
15, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto. On July 14,
2015, at 11:49 UTC, it flew 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto, making it
the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet. Having completed its flyby of Pluto, New
Horizons has maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, expected to take
place on Jan 1, 2019, when it is 43.4 AU from the Sun.
January 20, 1930: Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin born. Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin,
Jr., Jan 20, 1930) is an American engineer and former astronaut, and the second person
to walk on the Moon. He was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar
landing. He set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 (UTC), following mission
commander Neil Armstrong. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer and a Command Pilot.
Aldrin was chosen for the crew of Apollo 11 and made the first lunar landing with
Commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969. The next day, Aldrin became the second
person to walk on the Moon. Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." In
response to Armstrong’s, "Isn't it magnificent?" he responded, "Magnificent desolation.”
January 22, 2003: Pioneer 10’s last signal to earth. Pioneer 10 is an American space
probe that completed the first mission to Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the
first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. This space exploration
project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California. Pioneer 10 was
assembled around a hexagonal bus with a 2.74 meter (9 ft. 0 in) diameter parabolic dish
high-gain antenna. The spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its
electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided
a combined 155 watts at launch. Pioneer 10 launched on March 3, 1972, by an AtlasCentaur vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15, 1972, and February 15,
1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. Photography of Jupiter
began Nov 6, 1973, at a range of 25,000,000 km (16,000,000 mi), and about 500
images were transmitted. The closest approach to the planet was on Dec 4, 1973, at a
range of 132,252 km (82,178 mi). During the mission, on-board instruments were used
to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter, solar wind, cosmic rays, and
eventually the far reaches of the Solar System and heliosphere. Radio communications
9
were lost with Pioneer 10 on Jan 23, 2003, because of loss of electric power for its radio
transmitter, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion kilometers (80 AU) from Earth.
January 24, 1986: Voyager 2 flies past Uranus. Voyager 2 is a space probe launched
by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer planets. Part of the Voyager program, it
was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1, on a trajectory that took longer to
reach Jupiter and Saturn but enabled further encounters with Uranus and Neptune. It is
the only spacecraft to have ever visited either of the ice giants. Its primary mission
ended with the exploration of the Neptunian system on October 2, 1989, after having
visited the Uranian system in 1986, the Saturnian system in 1981, and the Jovian
system in 1979. Voyager 2 is now in its extended mission to study the outer reaches of
the Solar System and has been operating for over 38 years. It remains in contact
through the Deep Space Network. At a distance of 108 AU (1.62×1010 km) from the
Sun as of April 2015, Voyager 2 is one of the most distant human-made objects, along
with Voyager 1, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. The probe was moving at a velocity of
15.4 km/s (55,000 km/h) relative to the Sun as of December 2014 traveling through the
heliosheath. Upon reaching interstellar space, Voyager 2 is expected to provide the first
direct measurements of the density and temperature of the interstellar plasma. The
closest approach to Uranus occurred on January 24, 1986, when Voyager 2 came within
81,500 km (50,600 mi) of the planet's cloud tops. Voyager 2 discovered the moons
Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Perdita
and Puck; studied the planet's unique atmosphere, caused by its axial tilt of 97.8°; and
examined the Uranian ring system. All nine of the previously known Uranian rings were
studied by the instruments of Voyager 2 and showed that Uranian rings are distinctly
different from those of Jupiter and Saturn. They might be relatively young, and not
formed at the same time as Uranus. The rings might be remnants of a moon that was
broken up by either a high-velocity impact or torn up by tidal effects.
January 25, 1736: Joseph Lagrange was born. Joseph-Louis Lagrange (25 January
1736 – 10 April 1813) was an Italian Enlightenment Era mathematician and astronomer.
He made significant contributions to the fields of analysis, number theory, and both
classical and celestial mechanics. Lagrange was one of the creators of the calculus of
variations, deriving the Euler–Lagrange equations for extreme of functionals. Lagrange
invented the method of solving differential equations known as variation of parameters,
applied differential calculus to the theory of probabilities and attained notable work on
the solution of equations. He proved that every natural number is a sum of four squares.
His treatise Theorie des fonctions analytiques laid some of the foundations of group
theory, anticipating Galois. In calculus, Lagrange developed a novel approach to
interpolation and Taylor series. He studied the three-body problem for the Earth, Sun
and Moon (1764) and the movement of Jupiter’s satellites (1766), and in 1772 found the
special-case solutions to this problem that yield what are now known as Lagrangian
points. But above all, he is best known for his work on mechanics, where he has
transformed Newtonian mechanics into a branch of analysis, Lagrangian mechanics as it
is now called, and presented the so-called mechanical "principles" as simple results of
the variational calculus.
10
January 25, 2004: Opportunity rover lands on Mars. Opportunity, also known as MERB (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, is a robotic rover active on Mars since 2004.
Launched on July 7, 2003 as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed
in Meridiani Planum on Jan 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit (MER-A) touched
down on the other side of the planet. With a planned 90 sol duration of activity
Opportunity remains active as of 2015, having already exceeded its operating plan by
11 years, 247 days (in Earth time). Opportunity has continued to move, gather scientific
observations, and report back to Earth for over 47 times its designed lifespan. Mission
highlights include finding extra-martian meteorites such as Heat Shield Rock (Meridiani
Planum meteorite), and over two years studying Victoria crater. It survived dust-storms
and reached Endeavour crater in 2011, which has been described as a "2nd landing site".
January 27, 1967: Astronauts White, Grissom, and Chaffee die in Apollo 1 fire. Apollo
1 was the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo manned lunar landing program. The
planned low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its
target launch date of Feb 21, 1967, because a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test
on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three
crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II,
and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module. The name Apollo 1
was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of the crew on April 24, 1967. Manned
Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months until design problems were corrected. The
Saturn IB launch vehicle, SA-204, scheduled for use on this mission, was later used for
the first unmanned Lunar Module (LM) test flight, Apollo 5. The first successful manned
Apollo mission was flown by Apollo 1's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968.
January 28, 1986: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes in flight. The Space Shuttle
Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter
Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew
members, five NASA astronauts and two Payload Specialists. The spacecraft
disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:39
EST (16:39 UTC). Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right
solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB
joint it sealed, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to
reach the outside and impinge the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and
external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft field joint
attachment and structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces broke up the
orbiter. The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually
recovered from the ocean floor. The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown;
several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup. The shuttle had
no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was
too violent to be survivable. The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle
program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed
by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers
Commission found NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes had
contributed to the accident. NASA managers had known contractor Morton Thiokol's
design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the O-rings since 1977,
but failed to address it properly. They also disregarded warnings from engineers about
11
the dangers of launching posed by the low temperatures that morning and failed to
adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors. What the Rogers
Commission report did not highlight was that the vehicle was never certified to operate
in temperatures that low. The O-rings, as well as many other critical components, had
no test data to support any expectation of a successful launch in such conditions. Bob
Ebeling from Thiokol delivered a biting analysis: "We’re only qualified to 40 degrees
...'what business does anyone even have thinking about 18 degrees, we're in no man's
land.” As a result of the disaster, the Air Force decided to cancel its plans to use the
Shuttle for classified military satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California, deciding to use the Titan IV instead. Approximately 17 percent of Americans
witnessed the launch live because of the presence of Payload Specialist Christa
McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space. The Challenger disaster has
been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace
ethics.
January 31, 1961: Chimp Ham suborbital flight. Ham (July 1956 – Jan 19, 1983), was
a chimpanzee and the first hominid launched into space, on 31 Jan 1961, as part of
America's space program. Ham's name is an acronym for the lab which prepared him for
his historic mission — the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air
Force Base in New Mexico. On Jan 31, 1961, Ham was secured in a Project Mercury
mission labeled MR-2 and launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight.
Ham had his vital signs and tasks monitored using computers on Earth. The capsule
suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him
from suffering any harm. Ham's lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction
of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space.
Ham's capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by a rescue ship
later that day. He only suffered a bruised nose. His flight was 16 minutes and
39 seconds long. After the flight, Ham lived for 17 years.
12
Rate the Darkness of Your Sky
By: Jan Hattenbach from Sky & Telescope
A new website shows how light pollution spreads around the globe — using
data gathered by its users.
It's no surprise, but Las Vegas is alarmingly bright as seen from orbit at night. This
International Space Station image was taken November 30, 2010.
Hundreds of millions of artificial lights illuminate our planet at night — and unfortunately
the atmosphere above it. Astronomers have coined the term "skyglow" to describe a
phenomenon that not only makes the stars disappear but has also become a problem for
nocturnal life and human health.
The ongoing global transition to LED lighting can make the sky even brighter or — used
with care — improve the situation. Exactly where we are heading is an open question;
the answer will most likely determine the fate of our night sky. Satellites alone won't be
able to answer it; measurements from the ground are needed.
For the past decade, citizen-science initiatives like Globe at Night have amassed tens of
thousands of skyglow measurements made visually by amateur observers worldwide.
These provide valuable aid for researchers trying to understand and quantify the subtle
death of starry skies.
13
Volunteers use a Sky Quality Meter to measure the darkness at Saguaro National Park in
southern Arizona. Jeremy White / NPS
One of them is Chris Kyba, a Canadian physicist who in 2013 initiated the Loss of the
Night app project. Using a simple app, observers around the world make observations of
sky brightness by determining the number of visible stars in the night sky then send in
those results. Other tools, such as the Dark Sky Meter app, measure the sky brightness
more directly using your smart phone's camera. Sky Quality Meters are hand-held
devices designed specifically to take brightness readings.
Thousands of measurements have been submitted over the years, but so far most of
these data have only been available to professional researchers. Now Kyba has
partnered with the company Interactive Scape GmbH in Berlin to develop a web-based
application called My Sky at Night. This portal makes available data from the Loss of the
Night app and two other citizen-science projects that monitor skyglow.
A screenshot from the new My Sky at night portal gives users access to more than
50,000 brightness measurements made across North America since 2006.
myskyatnight.com
14
More Than Just "Data Gatherers"
The goal is no longer for the participants to merely collect measurements. Instead, the
new web-based platform offers tools to visualize and analyze those data. Now amateur
and professional scientists can navigate, view, and download the findings, and then
perform their own analyses directly on the site using open-source code. Users of the
Loss of the Night app can also create a profile to view their own data. The project, led by
the German Research Centre for Geosciences and the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater
Ecology and Inland Fisheries, invites interested people from all over the world to
examine changes in their night sky.
The best maps of global light pollution undoubtedly come from orbiting satellites, like
NASA's Suomi-NPP or the U.S. military's DMSP orbiters. But satellite data are only of
limited use to research because they measure the light emitted directly upward — not
the skyglow experienced on the ground by humans and other creatures.
A further complication is that the most current satellites are not sensitive to the blue
part of the visible spectrum. Yet right now most outdoor LED lighting emits a large
portion of its light at these short wavelengths. Research shows that blue light creates
the most skyglow and is most disruptive to nocturnal environments.
Due to its proximity to world-class observatories, Tucson, Arizona, has maintained its
dark night skies for decades. This plot is from My Sky at Night, a new webpage that lets
you view and analyze citizen-science data about light pollution. myskyatnight.com
Will the current transition to LEDs in public lighting reduce skyglow (because light can be
directed to the ground more easily) or increase it (because of all that blue-rich light)?
It's a question not yet answered. However, thousands of towns and cities on this planet
are currently changing their public lighting or are planning to do so in the near future.
Also concerning is the temptation to install higher-output fixtures because LEDs are so
energy efficient, making our nighttime environment even brighter than before. Once
installed, new lighting fixtures will remain in place for decades.
15
To monitor these ongoing changes in lighting, observations from the ground are more
important than ever. "The data from these observations are crucial for our science,"
Kyba says. "We urgently need them to evaluate how skyglow is changing worldwide." By
introducing My Sky at Night, Kyba hopes you'll contribute to that effort.
Tale of Capella and the Two Red Dwarfs
By: Bob King from Sky & Telescope
Bright Capella plays it close to the vest when it comes to companions, but with
a good map and steady skies you can track down its dwarf binary.
The close binary star Capella photographed with the COAST telescope . The stars are
separated by just 1/20″. These two images were taken two weeks apart and clearly show the
orbital motion of the pair about their common center of mass. MRAO and Cavendish
Astrophysics
'Tis the season of Capella's rise in the northeastern sky. This brilliant star, the alpha
luminary of Auriga, announces the coming of winter as loudly as any of Orion's stars;
soon enough it will sparkle overhead like a glittering shard of ice.
Located 42 light-years from Earth, Capella is really a pair of first-magnitude yellow
giants so close to one another only a telescope array such as COAST (Cambridge Optical
Aperture Synthesis Telescope), which uses interferometry techniques, can reveal them.
Pictures obtained with COAST show the brighter star, Capella Aa, a G8 giant, separated
from its G0 giant companion, Ab, by only 0.76 AU — almost the identical distance of
Venus from the Sun. They revolve about their common center of mass every 104 days,
16
never eclipsing one another from our perspective. Every time you look at Capella, both
stars are always in view, even if you can't split them!
But there's more going on with Capella to make it a tempting observing target. It's
accompanied by a pair of red dwarf companions with the unusual name of Capella HL. Of
the many putative companions of Capella, this compact pair appears to be the real
thing; it's the only star in the neighborhood that shares Capella's proper motion.
The star's original name was Capella H (the letters B through G were assigned to faint
field stars), but in 1936, American astronomer Carl Stearns discovered "a small but
distinct protuberance" on Capella H, with a magnitude of +12 and a separation of 1.8″.
Named Capella L, it forms a tight red dwarf binary with H and travels through space
alongside the equally "tight" pair of giants that comprise Capella. That makes our
featured star at least a quadruple.
Capella HL hangs between two easy telescopic stars, one magnitude +8.7, the other
+10.0, just 12′ southeast of Capella. 10th-magnitude Capella H's orange-red hue is a
dead giveaway, but its companion requires high magnification and excellent seeing.
Stars to magnitude +13. Click for detailed B&W version . Stellarium
Capella HL is easy to spot even in a 6-inch scope. Start at Capella and shift your gaze
just 12′ (1/5°) to the southeast to a small arc of stars anchored on either end by
magnitude +8.4 and +9.5 field stars. H, at magnitude +10.2, sits almost midway
between them and looks like an orange-red spark. In a 10-inch reflector, it was a snap
to see. A fainter ~11.5-magnitude star lies almost due east of H — this is not the
companion. Capella L snuggles approximately 3″ south of H and shines weakly at
magnitude +13.7.
17
(A note of caution when making your own charts to find the binary. The Hubble Guide
Star Catalog integrated into many planetarium-style sky programs flips the position of
Capella H with the neighboring star to the east. The map and photo in this article show it
correctly.)
Italian amateur astronomer Giorgio Rizzarelli made this photo of Capella and Capella HL with an
8-inch telescope. Giorgio Rizzarelli
Separating the two dwarfs was too mighty a task for my 15-inch under average seeing
conditions. I tried and suspected the dimmer companion, but didn't feel certain enough
to call the observation a success. I'll be trying again at the next dark-sky opportunity.
You may have better luck, especially when the seeing cooperates. Use high power in
excess of 200x for best results.
Capella HL's tiny red dwarfs stand in dramatic contrast to Capella's dual giants. The
brighter (H) packs just 30-40% of the Sun's mass and shines with 1.2-1.4% of its
luminosity. L is even shrimpier. It's not quite a third as large, and has only 10% the
mass of the Sun and 0.05% its luminosity. 48 A.U. separate the duo, and they orbit
about each other every 388 years at the fantastic distance of 10,000 A.U. (932
billion miles / 1.5 trillion km) from Capella proper.
18
The Capella quadruple system to scale with the Sun for comparison.
Wikipedia
Robert Burnham, author of the venerable guide, Burnham's Celestial Handbook,
paints a wonderful picture of the entire Capella system:
" ... a scale model would show Capella A and B as two globes 13 inches and 7 inches in
diameter and 10 feet apart; the components of Capella H would then be each 0.7 inch in
diameter, 420 feet apart, and 21 miles from the main pair A & B!" (Vol. 1, page 264)
How will we finally image the event horizon of a black hole?
By Ethan Siegel
One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein first put forth his theory of General Relativity, which laid
out the relationship between spacetime and the matter and energy present within it. While it
successfully recovered Newtonian gravity and predicted the additional precession of Mercury's
orbit, the only exact solution that Einstein himself discovered was the trivial one: that for
completely empty space. Less than two months after releasing his theory, however, the German
scientist Karl Schwarzschild provided a true exact solution, that of a massive, infinitely dense
object, a black hole.
One of the curious things that popped out of Schwarzschild's solution was the existence of an
event horizon, or a region of space that was so severely curved that nothing, not even light,
could escape from it. The size of this event horizon would be directly proportional to the mass of
the black hole. A black hole the mass of Earth would have an event horizon less than a
centimeter in radius; a black hole the mass of the sun would have an event horizon just a few
kilometers in radius; and a supermassive black hole would have an event horizon the size of a
planetary orbit.
19
Our galaxy has since been discovered to house a black hole about four million solar masses in
size, with an event horizon about 23.6 million kilometers across, or about 40 percent the size of
Mercury's orbit around the sun. At a distance of 26,000 light years, it's the largest event horizon
in angular size visible from Earth, but at just 19 micro-arc-seconds, it would take a telescope the
size of Earth to resolve it – a practical impossibility.
But all hope isn't lost! If instead of a single telescope, we built an array of telescopes located all
over Earth, we could simultaneously image the galactic center, and use the technique of VLBI
(very long-baseline interferometry) to resolve the black hole's event horizon. The array would
only have the light-gathering power of the individual telescopes, meaning the black hole (in the
radio) will appear very faint, but they can obtain the resolution of a telescope that's the distance
between the farthest telescopes in the array! The planned Event Horizon Telescope, spanning
four different continents (including Antarctica), should be able to resolve under 10 micro-arcseconds, imaging a black hole directly for the first time and answering the question of whether
or not they truly contain an event horizon. What began as a mere mathematical solution is now
just a few years away from being observed and known for certain!
Note: This month’s article describes a project that is not related to NASA and does not suggest any
relationship or endorsement. Its coverage is for general interest and educational purposes.
20
Image credit: NASA/CXC/Amherst College/D.Haggard et al., of the galactic center in X-rays.
Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at our Milky Way's center, which normally emits Xray light of a particular brightness. However, 2013 saw a flare increase its luminosity by a factor
of many hundreds, as the black hole devoured matter. The event horizon has yet to be revealed.
This article is provided by NASA Space Place.
With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA
Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science
and technology.
Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov to explore space and Earth science!
21
Club Officers & Positions:
Viewing Coords./Fakahatchee:
Tony Heiner
verahei@aol.com
(941-629-8849)
Chuck Pavlick
cpav4565@gmail.com
(239-560-1516)
Astronomical League
Coordinator: (ALCOR):
Doug Heatherly
dheatherly72@gmail.com
Secretary:
Don Palmer
swfas.sec@gmail.com
(239-334-3471)
Program Coordinator:
Mike McCauley
mmccauley13@comcast.net
(860-982-5022)
Librarian:
Maria Berni
(239-940-2935)
Viewing Coord/Caloosahatchee:
Bruce Dissette
bdissette@centurylink.net
(239-936-2212)
WebsiteCoordinator:
Bill Francis
Bill_Francis@hotmail.com
(239-233-0958)
Equipment Coordinator:
Brian Risley
swfasbrisley@embarqmail.com
(239-464-0366)
Club Historian:
Danny Secary
asecary@gmail.com
(239-470-4764)
Calusa Nature Center
Planetarium Director:
Heather Preston
heather@calusanature.org
(239-275-3435)
Newsletter Editors:
Ron Madl
rmadlksu@gmail.com
(785-410-2911)
Doug Heatherly
dheatherly72@gmail.com
22
Southwest Florida Astronomical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 100127
Cape Coral, FL 33910
Treasurer:
Tony Heiner
verahei@aol.com
(941-457-9700)
Vice President:
Bruce Dissette
bdissette@centurylink.net
(239-936-2212)
www.theeyepiece.org
President:
Brian Risley
swfasbrisley@embarqmail.com
(239-464-0366)