SCYON Issue 59 Is Going to Be a Special One
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The State of Anthro–Earth
The Rosette Gazette Volume 22,, IssueIssue 7 Newsletter of the Rose City Astronomers July, 2010 RCA JULY 19 GENERAL MEETING The State Of Anthro–Earth THE STATE OF ANTHRO-EARTH: A Visitor From Far, Far Away Reviews the Status of Our Planet In This Issue: A Talk (in Earth-English) By Richard Brenne 1….General Meeting Enrico Fermi famously wondered why we hadn't heard from any other planetary 2….Club Officers civilizations, and Richard Brenne, who we'd always suspected was probably from another planet, thinks he might know the answer. Carl Sagan thought it was likely …...Magazines because those on other planets blew themselves up with nuclear weapons, but Richard …...RCA Library thinks its more likely that burning fossil fuels changed the climates and collapsed the 3….Local Happenings civilizations of those we might otherwise have heard from. Only someone from another planet could discuss this most serious topic with Richard's trademark humor 4…. Telescope (in a previous life he was an award-winning screenwriter - on which planet we're not Transformation sure) and bemused detachment. 5….Special Interest Groups Richard Brenne teaches a NASA-sponsored Global Climate Change class, serves on 6….Star Party Scene the American Meteorological Society's Committee to Communicate Climate Change, has written and produced documentaries about climate change since 1992, and has 7.…Observers Corner produced and moderated 50 hours of panel discussions about climate change with 18...RCA Board Minutes many of the world's top climate change scientists. Richard writes for the blog "Climate Progress" and his forthcoming book is titled "Anthro-Earth", his new name 20...Calendars for his adopted planet. -
A Basic Requirement for Studying the Heavens Is Determining Where In
Abasic requirement for studying the heavens is determining where in the sky things are. To specify sky positions, astronomers have developed several coordinate systems. Each uses a coordinate grid projected on to the celestial sphere, in analogy to the geographic coordinate system used on the surface of the Earth. The coordinate systems differ only in their choice of the fundamental plane, which divides the sky into two equal hemispheres along a great circle (the fundamental plane of the geographic system is the Earth's equator) . Each coordinate system is named for its choice of fundamental plane. The equatorial coordinate system is probably the most widely used celestial coordinate system. It is also the one most closely related to the geographic coordinate system, because they use the same fun damental plane and the same poles. The projection of the Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere is called the celestial equator. Similarly, projecting the geographic poles on to the celest ial sphere defines the north and south celestial poles. However, there is an important difference between the equatorial and geographic coordinate systems: the geographic system is fixed to the Earth; it rotates as the Earth does . The equatorial system is fixed to the stars, so it appears to rotate across the sky with the stars, but of course it's really the Earth rotating under the fixed sky. The latitudinal (latitude-like) angle of the equatorial system is called declination (Dec for short) . It measures the angle of an object above or below the celestial equator. The longitud inal angle is called the right ascension (RA for short). -
Nd AAS Meeting Abstracts
nd AAS Meeting Abstracts 101 – Kavli Foundation Lectureship: The Outreach Kepler Mission: Exoplanets and Astrophysics Search for Habitable Worlds 200 – SPD Harvey Prize Lecture: Modeling 301 – Bridging Laboratory and Astrophysics: 102 – Bridging Laboratory and Astrophysics: Solar Eruptions: Where Do We Stand? Planetary Atoms 201 – Astronomy Education & Public 302 – Extrasolar Planets & Tools 103 – Cosmology and Associated Topics Outreach 303 – Outer Limits of the Milky Way III: 104 – University of Arizona Astronomy Club 202 – Bridging Laboratory and Astrophysics: Mapping Galactic Structure in Stars and Dust 105 – WIYN Observatory - Building on the Dust and Ices 304 – Stars, Cool Dwarfs, and Brown Dwarfs Past, Looking to the Future: Groundbreaking 203 – Outer Limits of the Milky Way I: 305 – Recent Advances in Our Understanding Science and Education Overview and Theories of Galactic Structure of Star Formation 106 – SPD Hale Prize Lecture: Twisting and 204 – WIYN Observatory - Building on the 308 – Bridging Laboratory and Astrophysics: Writhing with George Ellery Hale Past, Looking to the Future: Partnerships Nuclear 108 – Astronomy Education: Where Are We 205 – The Atacama Large 309 – Galaxies and AGN II Now and Where Are We Going? Millimeter/submillimeter Array: A New 310 – Young Stellar Objects, Star Formation 109 – Bridging Laboratory and Astrophysics: Window on the Universe and Star Clusters Molecules 208 – Galaxies and AGN I 311 – Curiosity on Mars: The Latest Results 110 – Interstellar Medium, Dust, Etc. 209 – Supernovae and Neutron -
How Far Away One Can Penetrate with Gaia in Star Cluster Studies?
How far away we can penetrate with Gaia in star clusters study? D.A.Kovaleva, INASAN, Moscow, Russia N.V.Kharchenko, MAO, Kiev, Ukraine A.E.Piskunov, INASAN, Moscow, Russia S. Röser, LSW-ARI, Heidelberg, Germany E. Schilbach, LSW-ARI, Heidelberg, Germany S.Yen, LSW, Heidelberg, Germany SFB 881 Workshop Heidelberg 15-17 Aug 2018 Clusters: MWSC Globular (logt>9.8) Young (logt≤7.3) in the Other (logt>7.3) Milky Way MWSC includes 3210 clusters of different types among them: associations 51 globular clusters 147 moving groups 19 embedded/with nebula 132 remnant clusters 401 members 0.8 mln All having ages, masses, distances and other parameters d <10 kpc dmod 2.4 kpc εd/d ~11% R.Hurt, Spitzer Science Center SFB 881 Workshop Heidelberg 15-17 Aug 2018 2 R.Hurt, Spitzer Science Center Gaia DR1 (TGAS) stars with trigonometric parallaxes 휛 2 mln. ε휛 0.3-0.7 mas G_lim 12 mag available since Sept 2016 Kovaleva, Dana A.; Piskunov, Anatoly E.; Kharchenko, Nina V.; Röser, Siegfried; Schilbach, Elena; Scholz, Ralf- Dieter; Reffert, Sabine; Yen, Steffi X. “Open star clusters in the Milky Way. Comparison of photometric and trigonometric distance scales based on Gaia TGAS data” 2017A&A...606L...8K 66 clusters with 16+ MWSC 60%-members in TGAS SFB 881 Workshop Heidelberg 15-17 Aug 2018 3 Gaia DR2 stars with trigonometric parallaxes 휛 1.3 bln. ε휛 0.007-0.6 mas G_lim >20 mag (not in all area) available since Apr 2018 + proper motions + two-color photometry G_BP, G_RP + radial velocities for 7.2 mln. -
Open Clusters
Open Clusters Open clusters (also known as galactic clusters) are of tremendous importance to the science of astronomy, if not to astrophysics and cosmology generally. Star clusters serve as the "laboratories" of astronomy, with stars now all at nearly the same distance and all created at essentially the same time. Each cluster thus is a running experiment, where we can observe the effects of composition, age, and environment. We are hobbled by seeing only a snapshot in time of each cluster, but taken collectively we can understand their evolution, and that of their included stars. These clusters are also important tracers of the Milky Way and other parent galaxies. They help us to understand their current structure and derive theories of the creation and evolution of galaxies. Just as importantly, starting from just the Hyades and the Pleiades, and then going to more distance clusters, open clusters serve to define the distance scale of the Milky Way, and from there all other galaxies and the entire universe. However, there is far more to the study of star clusters than that. Anyone who has looked at a cluster through a telescope or binoculars has realized that these are objects of immense beauty and symmetry. Whether a cluster like the Pleiades seen with delicate beauty with the unaided eye or in a small telescope or binoculars, or a cluster like NGC 7789 whose thousands of stars are seen with overpowering wonder in a large telescope, open clusters can only bring awe and amazement to the viewer. These sights are available to all. -
Atlas Menor Was Objects to Slowly Change Over Time
C h a r t Atlas Charts s O b by j Objects e c t Constellation s Objects by Number 64 Objects by Type 71 Objects by Name 76 Messier Objects 78 Caldwell Objects 81 Orion & Stars by Name 84 Lepus, circa , Brightest Stars 86 1720 , Closest Stars 87 Mythology 88 Bimonthly Sky Charts 92 Meteor Showers 105 Sun, Moon and Planets 106 Observing Considerations 113 Expanded Glossary 115 Th e 88 Constellations, plus 126 Chart Reference BACK PAGE Introduction he night sky was charted by western civilization a few thou - N 1,370 deep sky objects and 360 double stars (two stars—one sands years ago to bring order to the random splatter of stars, often orbits the other) plotted with observing information for T and in the hopes, as a piece of the puzzle, to help “understand” every object. the forces of nature. The stars and their constellations were imbued with N Inclusion of many “famous” celestial objects, even though the beliefs of those times, which have become mythology. they are beyond the reach of a 6 to 8-inch diameter telescope. The oldest known celestial atlas is in the book, Almagest , by N Expanded glossary to define and/or explain terms and Claudius Ptolemy, a Greco-Egyptian with Roman citizenship who lived concepts. in Alexandria from 90 to 160 AD. The Almagest is the earliest surviving astronomical treatise—a 600-page tome. The star charts are in tabular N Black stars on a white background, a preferred format for star form, by constellation, and the locations of the stars are described by charts. -
SAA 100 Club
S.A.A. 100 Observing Club Raleigh Astronomy Club Version 1.2 07-AUG-2005 Introduction Welcome to the S.A.A. 100 Observing Club! This list started on the USENET newsgroup sci.astro.amateur when someone asked about everyone’s favorite, non-Messier objects for medium sized telescopes (8-12”). The members of the group nominated objects and voted for their favorites. The top 100 objects, by number of votes, were collected and ranked into a list that was published. This list is a good next step for someone who has observed all the objects on the Messier list. Since it includes objects in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (DEC +72 to -72), the award has two different levels to accommodate those observers who aren't able to travel. The first level, the Silver SAA 100 award requires 88 objects (all visible from North Carolina). The Gold SAA 100 Award requires all 100 objects to be observed. One further note, many of these objects are on other observing lists, especially Patrick Moore's Caldwell list. For convenience, there is a table mapping various SAA100 objects with their Caldwell counterparts. This will facilitate observers who are working or have worked on these lists of objects. We hope you enjoy looking at all the great objects recommended by other avid astronomers! Rules In order to earn the Silver certificate for the program, the applicant must meet the following qualifications: 1. Be a member in good standing of the Raleigh Astronomy Club. 2. Observe 80 Silver observations. 3. Record the time and date of each observation. -
Arxiv:1802.01597V1 [Astro-Ph.GA] 5 Feb 2018 Born 1991)
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. AA_2017_32084 c ESO 2018 February 7, 2018 Mapping the core of the Tarantula Nebula with VLT-MUSE? I. Spectral and nebular content around R136 N. Castro1, P. A. Crowther2, C. J. Evans3, J. Mackey4, N. Castro-Rodriguez5; 6; 7, J. S. Vink8, J. Melnick9 and F. Selman9 1 Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107, USA e-mail: [email protected] 2 Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield, S3 7RH, UK 3 UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK 4 Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, Ireland 5 GRANTECAN S. A., E-38712, Breña Baja, La Palma, Spain 6 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Spain 7 Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38205 La Laguna, Spain 8 Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland, UK 9 European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Santiago, Chile February 7, 2018 ABSTRACT We introduce VLT-MUSE observations of the central 20 × 20 (30 × 30 pc) of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The observations provide an unprecedented spectroscopic census of the massive stars and ionised gas in the vicinity of R136, the young, dense star cluster located in NGC 2070, at the heart of the richest star-forming region in the Local Group. Spectrophotometry and radial-velocity estimates of the nebular gas (superimposed on the stellar spectra) are provided for 2255 point sources extracted from the MUSE datacubes, and we present estimates of stellar radial velocities for 270 early-type stars (finding an average systemic velocity of 271 ± 41 km s−1). -
COMMISSIONS 27 and 42 of the I.A.U. INFORMATION BULLETIN on VARIABLE STARS Nos. 4101{4200 1994 October { 1995 May EDITORS: L. SZ
COMMISSIONS AND OF THE IAU INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS Nos Octob er May EDITORS L SZABADOS and K OLAH TECHNICAL EDITOR A HOLL TYPESETTING K ORI KONKOLY OBSERVATORY H BUDAPEST PO Box HUNGARY IBVSogyallakonkolyhu URL httpwwwkonkolyhuIBVSIBVShtml HU ISSN 2 CONTENTS 1994 No page E F GUINAN J J MARSHALL F P MALONEY A New Apsidal Motion Determination For DI Herculis ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: D TERRELL D H KAISER D B WILLIAMS A Photometric Campaign on OW Geminorum :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: B GUROL Photo electric Photometry of OO Aql :::::::::::::::::::::::: LIU QUINGYAO GU SHENGHONG YANG YULAN WANG BI New Photo electric Light Curves of BL Eridani :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: S Yu MELNIKOV V S SHEVCHENKO K N GRANKIN Eclipsing Binary V CygS Former InsaType Variable :::::::::::::::::::: J A BELMONTE E MICHEL M ALVAREZ S Y JIANG Is Praesep e KW Actually a Delta Scuti Star ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: V L TOTH Ch M WALMSLEY Water Masers in L :::::::::::::: R L HAWKINS K F DOWNEY Times of Minimum Light for Four Eclipsing of Four Binary Systems :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: B GUROL S SELAN Photo electric Photometry of the ShortPeriod Eclipsing Binary HW Virginis :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: M P SCHEIBLE E F GUINAN The Sp otted Young Sun HD EK Dra ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::: M BOS Photo electric Observations of AB Doradus ::::::::::::::::::::: YULIAN GUO A New VR Cyclic Change of H in Tau :::::::::::::: -
Astronomical Coordinate Systems
Appendix 1 Astronomical Coordinate Systems A basic requirement for studying the heavens is being able to determine where in the sky things are located. To specify sky positions, astronomers have developed several coordinate systems. Each sys- tem uses a coordinate grid projected on the celestial sphere, which is similar to the geographic coor- dinate system used on the surface of the Earth. The coordinate systems differ only in their choice of the fundamental plane, which divides the sky into two equal hemispheres along a great circle (the fundamental plane of the geographic system is the Earth’s equator). Each coordinate system is named for its choice of fundamental plane. The Equatorial Coordinate System The equatorial coordinate system is probably the most widely used celestial coordinate system. It is also the most closely related to the geographic coordinate system because they use the same funda- mental plane and poles. The projection of the Earth’s equator onto the celestial sphere is called the celestial equator. Similarly, projecting the geographic poles onto the celestial sphere defines the north and south celestial poles. However, there is an important difference between the equatorial and geographic coordinate sys- tems: the geographic system is fixed to the Earth and rotates as the Earth does. The Equatorial system is fixed to the stars, so it appears to rotate across the sky with the stars, but it’s really the Earth rotating under the fixed sky. The latitudinal (latitude-like) angle of the equatorial system is called declination (Dec. for short). It measures the angle of an object above or below the celestial equator. -
108 Afocal Procedure, 105 Age of Globular Clusters, 25, 28–29 O
Index Index Achromats, 70, 73, 79 Apochromats (APO), 70, Averted vision Adhafera, 44 73, 79 technique, 96, 98, Adobe Photoshop Aquarius, 43, 99 112 (software), 108 Aquila, 10, 36, 45, 65 Afocal procedure, 105 Arches cluster, 23 B1620-26, 37 Age Archinal, Brent, 63, 64, Barkhatova (Bar) of globular clusters, 89, 195 catalogue, 196 25, 28–29 Arcturus, 43 Barlow lens, 78–79, 110 of open clusters, Aricebo radio telescope, Barnard’s Galaxy, 49 15–16 33 Basel (Bas) catalogue, 196 of star complexes, 41 Aries, 45 Bayer classification of stellar associations, Arp 2, 51 system, 93 39, 41–42 Arp catalogue, 197 Be16, 63 of the universe, 28 Arp-Madore (AM)-1, 33 Beehive Cluster, 13, 60, Aldebaran, 43 Arp-Madore (AM)-2, 148 Alessi, 22, 61 48, 65 Bergeron 1, 22 Alessi catalogue, 196 Arp-Madore (AM) Bergeron, J., 22 Algenubi, 44 catalogue, 197 Berkeley 11, 124f, 125 Algieba, 44 Asterisms, 43–45, Berkeley 17, 15 Algol (Demon Star), 65, 94 Berkeley 19, 130 21 Astronomy (magazine), Berkeley 29, 18 Alnilam, 5–6 89 Berkeley 42, 171–173 Alnitak, 5–6 Astronomy Now Berkeley (Be) catalogue, Alpha Centauri, 25 (magazine), 89 196 Alpha Orionis, 93 Astrophotography, 94, Beta Pictoris, 42 Alpha Persei, 40 101, 102–103 Beta Piscium, 44 Altair, 44 Astroplanner (software), Betelgeuse, 93 Alterf, 44 90 Big Bang, 5, 29 Altitude-Azimuth Astro-Snap (software), Big Dipper, 19, 43 (Alt-Az) mount, 107 Binary millisecond 75–76 AstroStack (software), pulsars, 30 Andromeda Galaxy, 36, 108 Binary stars, 8, 52 39, 41, 48, 52, 61 AstroVideo (software), in globular clusters, ANR 1947 -
Deep Sky Explorer Atlas
Deep Sky Explorer Atlas Reference manual Star charts for the southern skies Compiled by Auke Slotegraaf and distributed under an Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Creative Commons license. Version 0.20, January 2009 Deep Sky Explorer Atlas Introduction Deep Sky Explorer Atlas Reference manual The Deep Sky Explorer’s Atlas consists of 30 wide-field star charts, from the south pole to declination +45°, showing all stars down to 8th magnitude and over 1 000 deep sky objects. The design philosophy of the Atlas was to depict the night sky as it is seen, without the clutter of constellation boundary lines, RA/Dec fiducial markings, or other labels. However, constellations are identified by their standard three-letter abbreviations as a minimal aid to orientation. Those wishing to use charts showing an array of invisible lines, numbers and letters will find elsewhere a wide selection of star charts; these include the Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas, the Cambridge Star Atlas, Uranometria 2000.0, and the Millenium Star Atlas. The Deep Sky Explorer Atlas is very much for the explorer. Special mention should be made of the excellent charts by Toshimi Taki and Andrew L. Johnson. Both are free to download and make ideal complements to this Atlas. Andrew Johnson’s wide-field charts include constellation figures and stellar designations and are highly recommended for learning the constellations. They can be downloaded from http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1052 Toshimi Taki has produced the excellent “Taki’s 8.5 Magnitude Star Atlas” which is a serious competitor for the commercial Uranometria atlas. His atlas has 149 charts and is available from http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas_85/atlas_85.htm Suggestions on how to use the Atlas Because the Atlas is distributed in digital format, its pages can be printed on a standard laser printer as needed.