The Volume 126 No. 2 February 2017 Bulle n Monthly newsle er of the Astronomical Society of South Australia Inc
In this issue: ♦ Astronomical discoveries during ASSA’s first decade ♦ Skywatcher’s new Panorama eyepieces ♦ Weather observed on an alien planet ♦ Jonckheere 320 - a planetary nebula in Orion
Registered by Australia Post Visit us on the web: Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 1 February 2017 Print Post Approved PP 100000605 www.assa.org.au
In this issue:
ASSA Ac vi es 3-4 Details of general mee ngs, viewing nights etc
History of Astronomy 5-6 ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY of Astronomical discoveries in ASSA’s first decade SOUTH AUSTRALIA Inc Equipment Review 7-8 GPO Box 199, Adelaide SA 5001 Skywatcher’s new Panorama eyepieces
The Society (ASSA) can be contacted by post to the Astro News 9-10 address above, or by e-mail to [email protected]. Latest astronomical discoveries and reports Membership of the Society is open to all, with the only prerequisite being an interest in Astronomy. The Sky this month 11-14 Solar System, Comets, Variable Stars, Deep Sky Membership fees are: Full Member $75 ASSA Contact Informa on 15 Concessional Member $60 Subscribe e-Bulle n only; discount $20 Members’ Image Gallery 16 Concession informa on and membership brochures can A gallery of members’ astrophotos be obtained from the ASSA web site at: h p://www.assa.org.au or by contac ng The Secretary (see contacts page).
Member Submissions Sister Society rela onships with: Submissions for inclusion in The Bulle n are welcome Orange County Astronomers from all members; submissions may be held over for later edi ons. www.ocastronomers.org Colorado Springs Astronomical Society Wherever possible, text submissions should be sent via e- www.csastro.org mail or posted on CD-ROM in almost any word processing Central Arkansas Astronomical Society format and may s ll be submi ed handwri en or typed. www.caasastro.org Your name may be withheld only if requested at the me Arkansas-Oklohoma Astronomical Society of submi ng. Images should be high resolu on and www.aoas.org uncompressed, e.g. TIFF file formats, although high Gruppo Astrofili di Piacenza (Italy) resolu on JPEGs are acceptable. Your full name and www.astrofilipc.it object designa on must be provided with each image and will be published. Equipment/exposure etc details are welcome but op onal. HAVE YOU GOT YOUR COPY YET?
Adver sing & Classifieds Available at the Small adverts and classifieds are free for members (space General Mee ngs, or by permi ng). Commercial adver sing is available at a cost mail order of $50.00 per quarter page per issue.
All enquiries and submissions should be addressed to The $25 + $4 p&h Editor and preferably sent by e-mail to: [email protected] Email: [email protected] For large files (e.g. on CD) or hardcopy items, post to: Joe Grida Editor, The Bulle n PO Box 682, Cover photo: Interac ng pair of galaxies, NGC1316 & Mylor SA 5153 NGC1317 in Fornax, at a distance of 60m light years. Imaged by Paul Haese at Clayton Bay, South Australia. Equipment - Contribu ons should reach the Editor no later than GSO RC12, STXL11002, Guiding – AOX. So ware - MaximDL, the 7th of each month, for publica on in the following Focusmax, Pinpoint, CCDautopilot 5. L 18.4 hours.Processed in month’s issue of The Bulle n CCD stack and Photoshop CS6.
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 2 February 2017
Ac vi es February 2017 - the month at a glance Happy 125th Birthday, ASSA founded 15 February 1892
General Mee ng ASSA Awards Presenta on Night & launch of Wednesday, 1 February 2017 ASSA 125th birthday celebra ons @ 8:00pm Kerr Grant Lecture Theatre This will be a special event featuring the ASSA Award presenta ons. Please be there to show your support to those 2nd Floor, Physics Blg members who will be recognised for their achievements. University of Adelaide North Terrace, Adelaide The 2016 Awards to be presented at the Awards Ceremony at the February 2017 General Mee ng include:
Special Event: Craig Richardson Memorial Image Award th Launch of ASSA 125 Birthday Astrophotography Award Celebra ons & ASSA Annual Annual Service Awards Awards Presenta ons Featuring a re-enactment of our first mee ng in 1892!
Planning on going February 2017 Calendar
observing? Day Time Ac vity Wed 1 7:00pm Beginners’ Mee ng, Adelaide Save yourself unnecessary travel and me. If Wed 1 8:00pm General Mee ng, Adelaide the weather looks doub ul where you are, Thu 2 7:30pm Whyalla Members’ Mee ng check with the following people to see if the Fri 3 8:00pm Public Viewing Night, The Heights event is s ll on (or see www.assa.org.au a er Sat 4 8:00pm Summer Star Party, Stockport 5pm). Sun 12 3:00pm Telescope Clinic, The Heights (see page 4) Stockport Observatory (DO 3-13) Fri 17 7:30pm Astro-imaging Group, Modbury (see page 4) Fri 24 8:00pm Public & Members’ Viewing, NYP Observatory 8528 2284 Fri 24 8:00pm Members’ Viewing Night, Tooperang (please note new date for this month) Lyn Grida 8391 5377 Sat 25 8:00pm Members’ Viewing Night, Stockport Tony Beresford 8338 1231 Tue 28 7:30pm ASSA Council Mee ng Note: Times shown above and throughout this document are: Heights Observatory (DO 3-34) 2 Oct 2016 to 1 Apr 2017 : South Australia Summer Time (UTC+10:30) Robert Bronca 8266 7504 2 Apr 2017 to 1 Oct 2017 : South Australia Standard Time (UTC+ 9:30) Whyalla Astronomy Educa on Peter Mayfield 0405 410 895 Wednesday, 1 February 2017 @ 7:00pm Tooperang Kerr Grant Lecture Theatre Jeff Lowrey 0429 690 610 Terrestrial Planets Northern Yorke Peninsula This month we explore the inner planets of the Solar System from Mercury to Tony “Hendy” Henderson 0429 352 382 Mars. These are the rocky planets which Riverland are similar to the Earth in composi on. We also look at the new class of Dwarf planets Tim Vivian 0407 800 225 which include Pluto, Ceres and Eris.
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 3 February 2017
Reports and No ces Reports on recent ASSA ac vi es, and no ces of upcoming events
Have you got your Now available! Na onal Police The ASSA 125th Anniversary Check? 2017 Calendar is now available for purchase - $20 + $5 postage
• New legisla on applies from 11 April 2015 Order now from [email protected] • Impacts on all ASSA members who volunteer at ASSA sanc oned public events • i.e. public viewing nights, school visits, Na onal Science For free delivery from Gawler - Murray Bridge - Week, private booked nights Goolwa, contact Trish Ellin at [email protected] or (08)82613354 From the 11th April 2015, all members who a end ASSA sanc oned public events MUST have a current NPC clearance cer ficate, or equivalent clearance le er from their employer, and MUST have provided ASSA with these details. Non-compliance is a $10,000 fine to ASSA.
Full details available here: h ps://www.assa.org.au/members/policies
Please note: Mee ng DVD’s will no longer be available, however members will s ll be able to view the mee ng recordings via the ASSA website.
Astro-Imaging Group Mee ng Telescope clinic Friday 17th February @ 7:30PM University Of The Third Age, Did Santa bring you a new telescope 22 Golden Grove Rd, Modbury North for Christmas? Or has your telescope Enter via Gold Court to access Car Park 1 languished in the garage or shed because you didn’t know how to set With domes c digital cameras becoming more light sensi- it up? ve and having lower noise performance, star ng out in Astro Imaging with a fixed tripod and a commercial digital Is something not quite right with your telescope? camera can yeild some spectacular results. Out of collima on? Won’t track? This month Jarrod Koh will give a presenta on on Widefield Bring your telescope to see the doctor, and get Starscapes - Acquisi on and Processing. answers to all these ques ons, and many more at the Please bring any images first Telescope Clinic of 2017. that you would like to share with the group The Heights Observatory on a USB memory s ck.
Sunday, 12 February 2017 Any ques ons, contact @ 3:00pm the Group Coordinator: Jeff Lusher [email protected]
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 4 February 2017
History of Astronomy Andrew Collings reviews some of the astronomical discoveries since ASSA was formed.
Formed in 1892, the year 2017 sees the 125th anniversary for the Astronomical Society of South Australia and in that me ASSA has seen amazing change. Yes, 125 years ago we had electric cars and the Adelaide trams, we were talking of life on Mars and sugges ng carbon dioxide emissions could cause global warming, and today.. today.. Oh! At least beer is s ll cheap at the Adelaide Oval, so let's have a beer and start again.
In 1892 hot air balloons were the pinnacle of human flight and astronomy was basically monochroma c, now we have walked on the moon and the night sky is full of texture and ablaze with colour. 125 years ago astronomy was about to move from mostly observing and measuring to studying and determining the physical nature of what was being observed. 125 years ago the likes of Planck, Heisenberg and Einstein were yet to turn the universe on its head.
So, just what has ASSA seen? In this series of ar cles, we’ll cover a decade with each instalment. This month, we chronicle scien fic advancement for the period 1892-1901.
1892 1894 Astronomy was not much in the public eye at this me, but Inspired by Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell builds a telescope in Mars, like now, was. Fi een years earlier in 1877 Giovanni Arizona for the favourable Mar an opposi on in 1894, Schiaparelli mapped a network of linear ‘channels or canali’. where he, William Pickering and Andrew Douglass make over 900 drawings of Mars While the word ‘channel’ does not imply ar ficial and its canals (see right). construc on, its mistransla on into English as ‘canal’ does. In a series of ar cles in In 1892 French Astronomer Camille Flammarion declared Popular Astronomy these complicated geometrical ‘canals' implied the work of magazine, Lowell also intelligent life. claimed them to be the work of intelligent beings. On September 9 Edward Emerson Barnard observes Amalthea (pictured top right), the third moon in distance 1896 from Jupiter. Observed through the 36 inch scope at Lick Svante Arrhenius, a Observatory, Amalthea is the last natural satellite found by Swedish scien st, direct visual observa on. formulates the
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 5 February 2017
History of Astronomy Andrew Collings reviews some of the astronomical discoveries since ASSA was formed.
"greenhouse law" and is the first person to predict that 1898 emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels Annie Sco Dill Maunder, who had previously served as one and other combus on processes are large enough to cause of the ‘Lady Computers’ at Greenwich Royal Observatory, global warming through the greenhouse effect. Not that he photographs the sun's outer corona during a solar eclipse in thought this was necessarily a bad thing; later saying that it India. might prevent a future ice age and a warmer earth would allow the crops needed by a growing popula on. On the 13th August the first near-Earth object, 433 Eros, is discovered by Gustav Wi in Berlin and Auguste Charlois in 1897 Nice. 102 years later Eros becomes the first asteroid to be Hale founds the Yerkes Observatory (see picture at bo om orbited by an earth probe. previous page), ou i ed with a 40 inch refractor telescope which was the largest in the world at the me. Hale realized George Darwin, son of naturalist Charles Darwin, proposes larger lenses would sag under their own weight and that that the Earth and Moon had once beena single body, with larger telescopes would need to reflect not refract. Hale’s the moon having been pulled from a molten earth by solar father pays $25,000 for a 60 inch mirror to be made for his des. He proposes the moon had been much closer and son but Yerkes Observatory cannot afford to build the that dal interac on with the earth was causing it slow and mount or dome and so the mirror went into storage for a recede from the earth. number of years before it was put into use elsewhere. 1899 In Russia the self-educated and hearing impaired visionary The Great Refraktor is completed at Potsdam Observatory. Konstan n Tsiolkovsky lays the founda on for spaceflight This double refractor has two integrated and parallel with the development of the rocket equa on (though he telescopes; a photographical telescope with a lens diameter did not publish at this me). Developing insights that are of 80cm and a telescope for direct star observa on with a s ll in use today, Tsiolkovsky is regarded as the Russian lens of 50cm. It is the 4th largest refrac ng telescope in the father of rocketry and a pioneer of astronau cs. world but was the largest photographically corrected telescope. Quota on from Tsiolkovsky (pictured below) - "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle 1895-1900: forever." David Gill and Jacobus Kapteyn collaborate on the first stellar survey. Produced from Gill’s photographic plates and published in 3 volumes over 5 years, the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung catalogues the rela ve distances and posi ons of nearly 454,875 (or so) stars and is the most complete survey of its me.
1900 Quantum physics is born on October 19, 1900 when Max Planck produces Planck's law of black-body radia on. On December 7th he states his quantum hypothesis. On July 2 the first airship flight is made by the Ferdinand von Zeppelin designed LZ1. Kodak introduce their first Brownie (camera).
1901: Annie Jump Cannon proposes a sequence of classifying stars by the absorp on lines in their spectra which is s ll in use today.
About the author Andrew Collings is a poten al astro imager (well.. he has a telescope and camera) who would like to spend more me than he does taking photos of the night sky and wri ng stories about dragons. If he had his way, both would happen somewhere where it is dark by 2pm, colder than a deep freeze and the sky goes all green and streaky.
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 6 February 2017
Equipment Review Phil Stephen reviews the newly released Skywatcher Sky Panorama Eyepieces Sky-Watcher Sky Panorama 82o Eyepiece Kit review
The people at Sky -Watcher have recently introduced a new 82 degree (Sky Panorama) 3 piece eyepiece kit to the market. RRP $699.00(AUD).The kit includes a hard metal case of good quality with hard foam on the bo om and so foam on the top, protec ng the eyepieces. The case is lockable and 2 keys are provided inside the case.
The eyepieces come in 7mm, 15mm (both 1 ¼’’) and a 23mm (2’’) focal lengths. The focal lengths of these eyepieces will suit a range of telescopes and I found them near perfect for my test scope, a Sky- Watcher 12’’ FlexTube Dobsonian. Each eyepiece has excellent build quality and provides very good value for the asking price.
The eyepieces feature 7 element, 82 degrees (AFOV) and fully mul coated design, with screw down eyecups. I am unable to source any informa on from Sky-Watcher or elsewhere for that ma er as to the eye relief specs.
Suffice it to say, the eye relief for each of these eyepieces is comfortable, albeit ght for spectacle wearers. The measured weights from my digital scales were 857 grams for the 23mm eyepiece and 375 grams and 317 grams for the 15mm and 7mm eyepieces, respec vely. could not detect any obvious as gma sm. Nor could I detect any Kidney Beaning, which is the bane of some wide I must say, when I first looked at these eyepieces I thought angle eyepieces. Viewing through the 18’’custom Dob at them a li le ugly, not being of tradi onal design, but their 87x just made things be er, with less coma because of a aesthe cs grew on me. They certainly look be er in hand Baader coma corrector in this scope. The Tarantula Nebula than they do depicted on the internet. was simply stunning, with beau ful nebulosity and plenty of contrast. Equally impressive was using the eyepiece in a I had the opportunity to test these eyepieces in a variety of friend’s Takahashi 102mm refractor. At 35x the eyepiece telescopes, including a custom 18’’ Dobsonian (owner produced beau ful wide field views of all objects made) and a Takahashi 102mm TSA refractor, together with encountered, although not quite as bright due to limited my 12’’ Sky-Watcher FlexTube Dob. I was treated to crisp aperture. I was quite surprised by the amount detail I saw well corrected views in all these telescopes and noted the through this scope whilst viewing NGC 253 with the 23mm. 23mm was the pick of the three. For the most part, I used my own 12’’ Sky-Watcher Dob, as I thought this would be a The 15mm and 7mm typical rig used in the field as well as at Astronomy clubs.
I have reviewed these 2 eyepieces together as they were The 23mm somewhat similar. Both of these eyepieces had similar eye This eyepiece was the one I used the most during tes ng relief to the 23mm with the 7mm being definitely ghter. and is the flagship of the three. At 857grams it is quite That said, the viewing through these eyepieces (without heavy. The eyepiece balanced ok in my Sky-Watcher by spectacles) was s ll comfortable. Both eye pieces had a using the tension handles on the side of the scope, as long similar focus, which was convenient when swapping as I did not a ach the shroud. between focal lengths. The edge of the field of view was
slightly so for each of these eyepieces and they appeared Other Dobsonians may require a li le balancing to get this a li le less than 82 degrees to my eyes, par cularly the right. Viewing through this eyepiece was a wonderful 7mm. Again, there was a li le bit of coma at the edge of the experience and it certainly produced the ‘wow factor’ on a field produced by my Sky- Watcher f5 mirror. number of viewed objects at 65X.Objects snapped into focus without the need for searching. The view was flat and Other than that, I detected no other obvious op cal crisp with good contrast and ample eye relief. I noted the aberra ons. In my 12’’ telescope with a 1500mm focal edge of the view was black and sharp. I checked for coma length the eyepieces produced 100x (15mm) and 214x and detected a li le at the very edge of the field. However, (7mm). These eyepieces were perfect for ge ng closer this is not the fault of the eyepiece, but rather the result of when viewing certain objects such as globulars and planets. the fast F5 mirror of my Dobsonian (Newtonian) telescope. I
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 7 February 2017
Equipment Review Phil Stephen reviews the newly released Skywatcher Sky Panorama Eyepieces
I spent some me observing Tuc 47.The stars were pinpointed in both eyepieces. With the 7mm eyepiece I could explore the inner core of this object. Mars was s ll up at the me of this review, but was well past its prime. I was therefore quite surprised to get such well resolved views from both eyepieces. The 7mm produced enough power to see some detail of the red planet. Both of these eyepieces would be very useful when Mars is in opposi on in 2018.
Some concluding comments The Sky-Watcher Sky Panorama 82 degree eyepiece kit is a no nonsense good quality triplet of eyepieces that will serve the astronomer well (whether the kit is used for casual astronomy or serious club use). For someone looking for a set of eyepieces for a new telescope they would not be disappointed with this kit. I only wished they were available when I purchased my 12’’ Sky-Watcher Flex Tube several years ago.
About the author Phil Stephen is an enthusias c deep sky observer, having logged years of observing, ensuring that he gets the best possible performance from his equipment.
The author’s test rig, a 12” Sky-Watcher FlexTube Dobsonian is shown at right.
2017 Flinders Ranges AstroCamps
There a 5 astrocamps planned for 2017:
Alpana Sta on - May 25-29, August 17-21 The Springs - April 21-25, September 15-18
Please be aware that places for these camps fill very quickly, so if you are considering a ending, book ASAP!
Please note that a dedicated Astro Imaging workshop will be held at The Springs over the weekend of March 24-26, 2017. A full program will be available in mid-January.
If you would like to know more about these camps, please contact:
Joe Grida ([email protected]) phone 08 8391 5377 for a detail sheet.
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 8 February 2017
Astro News Interes ng news stories sourced around the world
Weather observed for first me on a hot, giant, Jupiter-like alien planet
A weather system — including strong winds and changing cloud cover — has been observed in the atmosphere of a giant gas planet outside our solar system for the first me.
Key points repeatedly shi ed posi on on a mescale of tens to • HAT-P-7b is a Jupiter-like exoplanet hundreds of days. • Four years of data from Kepler telescope shows Dr David Armstrong, a co-author of the research, said the changes in light reflected from atmosphere of the planet's shi ing bright spot showed the atmosphere of the planet planet changed as winds pushed clouds around. • Data indicates strong winds circle the planet, wind speeds vary drama cally leading to violent storms "These results show that strong winds circle the planet, • Observa ons open door to spo ng weather systems transpor ng clouds from the night side to the dayside," he on future exoplanets said in a statement. "The winds change speed drama cally, leading to huge cloud forma ons building up then dying HAT-P-7b is 16 mes the size of Earth and lies more than away." 1,000 light years away in the Cygnus constella on. With its violent weather systems and unaccommoda ng A team of UK astronomers analysed four years of data from temperatures, the planet is unlikely to be habitable. the planet taken by the Kepler space telescope. Described as 'Jupiter-like', the giant gas planet orbits its star every 2.2 days. The planet is dally locked, so one side of the Changes in the amount of light reflected by the planet's planet always faces its star. Temperatures on this side of the atmosphere indicated the brightest point on the planet planet average 2,400 degrees Celsius.
Above: An ar st's impression of HAT-P-7b (Supplied: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScl))
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 9 February 2017
Astro News Interes ng news stories sourced around the world
A changing weather system Dr O'Toole said future ground-based and space-based Dr Simon O'Toole (pictured) of the telescopes will be used to detect weather on other Australian Astronomical Observatory exoplanets, including those in the Goldilocks Zone — the said previous studies had looked at a habitable zone around a star where the temperature is just snapshot of the atmospheric condi ons right for liquid water to exist on a planet. of exoplanets, but had not observed how those condi ons con nued over me in "We can hopefully make more direct measurements when a weather system. we go to the next genera on of ground-based telescopes, so the Giant Magellan Telescope, the 30-metre telescope, or "Certainly people have measured how the next genera on of space telescopes, in par cular things change spa ally, across the surface, but not how something like the James Webb Space Telescope," Dr things change over me, and that's the big advance here," O'Toole said. he said. "It's very promising and very exci ng that this is even being "It's a subtle but important difference." Dr O'Toole said the a empted now. Ten years ago there was no chance of doing observa on opened the door on future exoplanet weather- it." spo ng.
"In the big zoo of planets that we know about, we're learning a lot about these [gas giant exoplanets] and hopefully we can fold that back into our learning more generally about Jupiter- like planets and planet forma on, the bigger picture of how planets form. This is one piece of the puzzle."
Above: An ar st's impression of the Kepler telescope as it travels through space (Supplied: NASA Ames/W Stenzel)
Story Source: by James Bullen | ABC Science |13 December 2016
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 10 February 2017
Solar System Highlights by John Newell The major planets during February 2017
The Sun will rise at 6:40am and set at 8:18pm on the first of 10:37pm the 28th. the month. On the 28th it will rise at 7:05am and set at 7:51pm. Jupiter in Virgo, rises at 11:35pm on the first, rises with the Moon on the 15th and rises at 9:47pm on the 28th. First quarter of the Moon will be on the 4th, perigee on 7th at 12:29am, full Moon will be on the 11th at 11:03am. Last Saturn rises at 3:03am on the first, rises with the Moon on quarter is on the 19th and the new Moon will be on the 27th the 21st, moves from Ophiuchus into beau ful Sagi arius on at 1:28am. the 24th and rises at 1:26am on the 28th.
Mercury will rise at 4:55am on the first. On the 28th it will Uranus in Pisces, magnitude 6.3, sets at 11:24pm on the rise at 6:35am. first, sets with the moon on the 2nd and sets at 9:41pm on the 28th. Venus will look nice near Mars and the crescent Moon on the first, se ng at 10:15pm. On the 28th she will be with the Neptune in Aquarius at magnitude 7.8 sets at 9:40pm on Moon again, se ng at 8:47pm. the first and will be near to solar conjunc on by the end of the month. Mars now in Pisces sets at 10:36pm on the first near to the Moon and Venus and sets a er the Moon and Venus on the Pluto magnitude 14.3 in Sagi arius, rises at 4:47am on the 28th at 9:40pm. first, rises with the Moon on the 23rd and on the 28th it rises at 3:04am. Ceres dimming from magnitude 8.2 to 8.4 by the end of the month, sets at 12:09am on the first, sets with the Moon on The JAXA sample return mission Hayabusa2 is well on track the 3rd, moves from Pisces into Cetus on the 13th, and sets for a July 2018 arrival at the asteroid Ryugu. It is using an ion at engine to match its orbit with that of the asteroid.
Diary of phenomena Members may find it comfor ng to know that there is even more water on other planets and moons of the solar system February 2017 than there is here on Earth. It now seems likely that Titan, d h(UT) Ceres, Enceladus, Europa, Pluto and others may have a lot 1 2 Mars 2.2oN of Moon more water or water ice than the Earth has. 2 10 Uranus 3.3oN of Moon 4 4 FIRST QUARTER 5 21 Aldebaran 0.3oS of Moon 6 13 Moon at perigee 6 19 Jupiter stationary 7 18 Moon furthest North (18.9o) 11 0 FULL MOON * Eclipse 11 14 Regulus 0.8oN of Moon Moon Phases - February 2017 15 16 Jupiter 2.6oS of Moon 18 19 LAST QUARTER 18 21 Moon at apogee 20 23 Saturn 3.6oS of Moon 21 20 Moon furthest South (-18.8o) 22 19 Pluto 2.8oS of Moon 26 0 Mercury 2.4oS of Moon 26 14 NEW MOON ** Eclipse 26 20 Neptune 0.1oS of Moon 27 0 Mars 0.6oN of Uranus
* Feb 11 - Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon not visible from Adelaide ** Feb 26 - Annular solar eclipse visible from the southern p of South America to southern and western Africa
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 11 February 2017
Southern Hemisphere Comets by Michael Ma azzo A roundup of bright & telescopic comets visible for southern hemisphere observers
Comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Padjusakova
• Closest to Sun on 2016 Dec 31 at 0.53AU. opportunity begins in early February as the comet rapidly • Closest to Earth on 2017 Feb 11 at 0.084AU.(12.6 recedes from morning twilight through Aquila and Hercules. million kms!) • Maximum magnitude 6 in February 2017 Southerners at 35oS la tude will pick up the magnitude 6 • Orbital period: 5.26 years comet low in the northeast from the morning of February 9. Observers in northern Australia will fare be er. 45P is one of the brighter short period comets. The famous Unfortunately moonlight interrupts the show from February Japanese comet hunter M. Honda was the first to spot it in 10. 1948, on Dec 3, followed by Slovakian observers A. Mrkos and L. Padjusakova a few days later, es ma ng it at At closest approach on February 11, the comet is situated in magnitude 9. Hercules, midway between Beta and Delta.
Since discovery, the comet has been observed 12 mes out On the morning of February 13, the comet will be situated of 13 appearances. The current appari on of 2016-2017 will inside the northern crown, Coronae Borealis. be one of the the most favourable. The comets rapid westerly mo on and fading will be evident as it treks through Bootes, Canes Vena ci and Coma During December 2016, the comet was situated in Berenices. Sagi arius, low in the evening sky. It brightened rapidly from magnitude 12 at the start of the month, to magnitude 7 by At midnight on February 20, the now magnitude 8 comet will months end, spor ng a faint ion tail a couple of degrees long rise above the north-eastern horizon, prior to moonrise. in photos. By the end of February, the comet rises a er 10pm and is My last observa on prior to solar conjunc on, occurred on situated in Leo, to the north of Delta Leonis. It is be er January 6 when the comet was situated only 3 degrees observed during me of transit at 2am and will be a difficult above the evening horizon in twilight, s ll shining at object at magnitude 10. magnitude 7.0 Check my southern comets website for photos and more The comet reached solar conjunc on on 2017 January 27, informa on: h p://members.westnet.com.au/mma / passing 9 degrees north of the Sun. The Earth approach in sc.htm February favours northern hemisphere observers. Their
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 12 February 2017
Variable Vagaries by David Benn This regular column will cover happenings in the ever-changing world of variable stars.
This month’s topic was inspired by a forum post reply to a 100,000 km compared with only a few thousand km on the ques on about whether rapid fluctua ons can be measured Sun. A good example of the threat posed to a planet orbi ng by amateur astronomers. Robert Buchheim from California a flare star can be found in the video about DG CVn in the responded by way of example regarding fast photometry of Links sec on. brightness changes in UV Cet in the meframe of 10 seconds. The plot shows a UV Cet flare in 1959 that returned to quiescence in less than 2 hours. UV Cet belongs to the broad class of erup ve variables and became the prototype of the sub-class called flare stars. It Perhaps surprisingly, UV Cet type stars are rela vely dim red was discovered in 1948 by W.J. Luyten who had previously dwarf stars (some may be even smaller brown dwarfs) with found similar stars star ng in 1924. At discovery, UV Cet’s masses of only a few tenths of the Sun and expected brightness changed by 4 magnitudes and the spectrum life mes longer than the current age of the universe. Most changes revealed a temperature increase of 10,000 K! flare stars have been detected within about 40 light years. Within a day the star had returned to its pre-flare quiescent Some may even. Many flare stars are associated with star state. forming regions in (e.g. Orion and Taurus).
As an AAVSO ar cle about UV Cet says: Some stars may have a primary classifica on and also exhibit flares, such as BY Dra stars that are considered to be both At irregular and unpredictable intervals, they can rota ng and flare stars. drama cally increase in brightness over a broad wavelength range from X-rays to radio waves for anywhere from a few Examples of well-known or famous flare stars are: minutes to a few hours. The fact that such small, unassuming stars can suddenly undergo incredibly energe c events make • Proxima Centauri (alpha Cen C or V0645 Cen: BY), the flare stars one of the more intriguing targets for variable closest star to the Sun; star observers. • Barnard’s star (V2500 Oph) with highest proper
mo on, traversing a Moon diameter in 200 years; The mechanism is thought to be essen ally the same as solar • Wolf 359 or CN Leo, remarkable because it is one of flares (not prominences), caused by a sudden release of the faintest and lowest mass stars, and infamous magne c energy. It’s a very good thing the Sun doesn’t have amongst Star Trek fans for the disastrous Ba le of the same magnitude varia on as UV Cet (6.8 to 12.95 in V) Wolf 359 against the Borg in my favourite episode due to flares! Some stars’ flares can occupy a significant “The Best of Both Worlds”. frac on, up to 20%, of their circumference. That’s more than
Above: Visual observa ons of UV Cet 200 days either Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger. side of Jan 23 1959 (source: AAVSO Interna onal Source: h ps://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-swi Database) -mission-observes-mega-flares-from-a-mini-star
Useful links: UV Cet forum post: h ps://www.aavso.org/comment/52545#comment-52545 UV Cet VSX record: h ps://www.aavso.org/vsx/index.php?view=detail.top&oid=9105 AAVSO UV Ce ar cle: h ps://www.aavso.org/vsots_uvcet h ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare_star h ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare h ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_359 DG CVn video and ar cle: h ps://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-swi -mission-observes-mega-flares-from-a-mini-star
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 13 February 2017
Alone in the dark A guide to observing faint fuzzies in our night sky by Joe Grida Jonckheere 320 - a planetary nebula in Orion
I first came across this object on DeepSky Forum (they don't react to filter) which (www.deepskyforum.com) in December 2015. I had ends in faint knots, N knot observed the well known planetary NGC 2022 in Orion brighter with a peak in it, S very before, and was aware of the 4 Abell planetaries faint, uncertain if I saw a knot at (10,12,13,14) but never seen them. the end or the extension itself to the S” As Jimi Lowery noted in his post in DSF, “Jonckheere 320 is a small planetary nebula that you do not hear much about. It See Uwe’s sketch at right. was found by the Belgium astronomer Robert Jonckheere on January 22, 1906. He thought it was a double star un l he Wri ng in Cosmic Challenge: The Ul mate Observing List for looked at it with a larger telescope and could see it was a Amateurs, Philip S. Harrington writes: “Photographs, such as nebula”. the one below by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Planetary Camera in 2003 revealed a more complex internal The planetary is located at RA 05:05:36 and Dec +10:42:24. structure than the typical bipolar planetary. Two pairs of This places the 26x14 arc second, 12.9 mag object just less lobes are clearly visible extending from the nebula’s core. than halfway between Bellatrix in Orion and Aldebaran in One is approximately aligned north-south and the other o Taurus, 4.2 directly east of the open cluster NGC 1662. southeast-northwest. As a result of this complex morphology, J320 has been classified as a polypolar planetary. Try saying Noted US observer, Sue French, says "This planetary is easily that fast!” visible in my 105mm refractor even at 28x, but it looks like a star. it begins to appear non-stellar at 87x and shows a very The trick when observing this object is to start with a wide small disk at 127x". field view. Make sure you have the correct field. Use the chart at bo om le to help you. Centre the field, and slowly German observer, Uwe Glahn reports: “bright, barely increase the magnifica on. As soon as you suspect a fuzzy laminar at 110x, good response with [OIII], observa on of the object, add an OIII filter in the light path. The stars should details be er with no filter, no color detected, CS steadily now disappear, leaving you with the planetary in plain view. with averted vision (checked it with CS filter to prevent mistake with bright knot), bright elongated bar with the Phil Stephen, the challenge is for you to observe this object brighter spot at the SE, very faint extensions to the N and S from the western suburbs of Adelaide. Good luck!
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 14 February 2017
Contact informa on Here’s how to contact various members of Council, Regional Co-ordinators and SIG’s 2017 COUNCIL
President & Public Officer Joe Grida (08) 8391 5377 [email protected] Vice President Paul Curnow 0402 079 578 [email protected] Secretary Peter McKeough 0418 688 654 [email protected] Assistant Secretary Rob Bronca (08) 8266 7504 [email protected] Treasurer Lyne e O’Born (08) 8268 3352 [email protected] Editor Joe Grida (08) 8391 5377 [email protected] Publicity Officer Paul Curnow 0402 079 578 [email protected] Observatories Director Lyn Grida (08) 8391 5377 [email protected] Technical Informa on Officer Dr Tony Beresford (08) 8338 1231 [email protected] Instrument Officer Paul Haese 0408 808 390 [email protected] Librarian Susan Baker 0415 655 378 [email protected] Beginners’ Councillor Colin Hill (08) 8523 0211 [email protected] Councillors Greg Weaver (08) 8293 2341 [email protected] David Benne 0419 419 552 david.benne @assa.org.au David Rawnsley 08 8255 9332 [email protected] Philip Pudney 0408 818 839 [email protected] Robert Jenkins 0419861308 [email protected]
Honorary Life Members: Ian Anderson, Ian Bedford, Dr Tony Beresford, Trish Ellin, Joe Grida, Lyn Grida, Colin Hill, Blair Lade, Paul Rogers, Michael Williams
Note: To address all members of the ASSA Council, send email to: [email protected]
REGIONAL GROUPS SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS Astro Imaging Jeff Lusher 0412 889 710 Whyalla Variable Stars David Benn 0407 261163 The group meets on the first Thursday of the month. Radio Astronomy Peter Gray 0418 829 632 Coordinator: Peter Mayfield Light Pollu on Mar n Lewicki 0413 494 366 Ph: 0405 410 895 Email: [email protected] OTHER CONTACTS Aboriginal & Ethno Astronomy Paul Curnow 0402 079 578 Northern Yorke Peninsula Comets & Meteors Michael Ma azzo 0420 959 664 The NYP’pers hold combined Planetarium Paul Curnow 0402 079 578 members’ and public viewing nights monthly. Society Historian Terry Wardle [email protected]
Schools Viewing Nights Coordinator TBA Coordinator: Tony Henderson Ph: 0429 352 382 Webmaster Phillip Pudney 0408 818 839 Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Riverland Awards Commi ee [email protected]
The Riverland group hold South Australia Telescope (36”) [email protected] combined members’ and public viewing nights monthly. Na onal Police Check Coordinator Paul Rogers 08 8263 7666
[email protected] Co-ordinator: Tim Vivian Ph: 0417 800 225 ASSA 125th Birthday Celebra ons [email protected] Email: [email protected]
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 15 February 2017
Members’ Gallery Highligh ng members’ astrophotos
Above: Horsehead & Flame Nebulae in Orion, imaged by Jus n Tilbrook, Penwortham, SA. Skywatcher 8” F/4 astrograph , Baader type 3 coma corrector,. Skywatcher HEQ Pro 5 mount, Orion mini guider. Unmodded Cannon 1100D DSLR camera. 45 x 120 sec at ISO 6400. Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. Processed in PhotoShop CS2.
Below: Nightscape mosaic taken at Point Riley, Yorke Peninsula by Jarrod Koh on 27 September 2016. It comprises about 40 photos s tched together. Nikon D810A. Sigma Art 35mm F/1.4. A blended exposure. Foreground ISO 2000, F4, 180 seconds. Stars ISO 2000, F/2.8, 60 seconds.
Bulle n of the ASSA Inc 16 February 2017