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Star Dust National Capital Astronomers, Inc Star Dust National Capital Astronomers, Inc. October 2010 Volume 69, Issue 2 http://capitalastronomers.org Next Meeting October 2010 When: Sat. Oct. 9, 2010 Joseph Weingartner Time: 7:30 pm George Mason University Where: UM Observatory The Dusty Universe Speaker: Joseph Weingartner, Abstract: GMU Almost everywhere astronomers look, we find microscopic grains of solid Table of Contents material, known as dust. Although dust is usually a trace constituent, it plays Preview of Oct. 2010 Talk 1 several important roles in astrophysics. I'll describe the observations that reveal the existence and nature of dust, some of the physical processes Comet Names 2 associated with dust, and their consequences for star and planet formation. Hopewell Oct. 30 3 Biography: Occultations 5 Hardcopy Star Dust 6 Joe Weingartner is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University. He does theoretical astrophysics, Treasurer’s Report 6 with an emphasis on the physics of cosmic dust. Prior to his arrival at George S&T Subscriptions 7 Mason, Joe spent 4 years as a postdoc at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. He received his PhD in physics from Princeton in Calendar 7 1999. Directions to Dinner/Meeting Members and guests are invited to join us for dinner at the Garden Restaurant located in the UMUC Inn & Conference Center, 3501 University Blvd E. The meeting is held at the UM Astronomy Observatory on Metzerott Rd about halfway between Adelphi Rd and University Blvd. Need a Ride? Please contact Jay Miller, 240-401- 8693, if you need a ride from the metro to dinner or to the meeting at the observatory. Please try to let him know in advance by e-mail at [email protected]. Observing after the Meeting Following the meeting, members and Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), NASA guests are welcome to tour through the Observatory. Weather-permitting, Star Dust © 2010. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. October 2010 Vol 69, Iss 2 2 several of the telescopes will also be Comet Code: Understanding How Comets are Named set up for viewing. October, 2010 By Tom Koonce, Lancaster, CA Star Dust is published ten times yearly September through Two hundred years ago, the discoverer of a prominent comet usually had his June, by the National Capital or her name incorporated into the official name of the object, but not always. Astronomers, Inc. (NCA). The first named comet was Halley’s Comet, named after Sir Edmund Halley who had calculated its orbit and made the discovery that it was a regular visible visitor to the inner solar system. The comet is now officially known as ISSN: 0898-7548 Comet Halley. The name credit for the comet 2P/Encke, discovered in 1786 by Pierre Méchain, was given to the man who calculated its orbit, Johann Editor: Michael Chesnes Franz Encke. If the comet was exceptionally bright and non-periodic, they were known as “The Great Comet of…” followed by the year in which they Editorial Advisors: were observed. Elizabeth Warner The naming of comets became standardized in the early twentieth century, Jeffrey Norman retaining the names of up to the first three independent discoverers. Comet Wayne Warren White-Ortiz-Bolelli (formal designation C/1970 K1) was named for its Harold Williams discoverers amateur astronomer Graeme White, Air France Pilot Emilio Ortiz, John D. Gaffey, Jr. and professional astronomer Carlos Bolelli. More recently, comets have been discovered by robotic space-borne instruments, and the instrument’s name is PDF Distributor: Jay Miller included like Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (C/1983 H1), discovered by a team of scientists using the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), and two amateur astronomers, George Alcock and Genichi Araki. Please Get Star Dust The “Old Style” of naming comets gave them a provisional designation of the Electronically year of their discovery followed by a lower case letter indicating its order of discovery in that year. Comet Bennett is designated Comet 1969i, the 9th NCA members able to receive Star comet discovered in 1969. This worked well until 1987 when more than 26 Dust, the newsletter of the NCA, via comets were discovered in a single year. The alphabet was used again with a e-mail as a PDF file attachment, "1" subscript (Comet Skorichenko-George, 1989e1). In 1989, the count got as instead of hardcopy via U.S. Mail, high as 1989h1 with 34 comets discovered that year. Once the orbit had been can save NCA a considerable established, the comet was given a permanent designation in order of time of amount of money on the printing and closest approach to the Sun, consisting of the year followed by a Roman postage in the production of Star numeral. For example, Comet Bennett (1969i) became 1970 II. Dust (the NCA’s single largest expense) and also save some trees. More and more comets began to be discovered and the naming procedure If you can switch from paper to became unwieldy, so in 1994 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) digital, please contact Michael L. approved a new naming system called the "New Style". Using the New Style, Brabanski, the NCA Sec-Treasurer, comets are designated by the year of their discovery followed by a letter at [email protected] or indicating the half-month of the discovery. “A” denotes the first half of 301-649-4328 (h). January, “B” denotes the second half of January, “C” denotes the first half of Thank you! February, “D” denotes the second half of February, etc., and a number indicating the order of discovery. As an example, the third comet discovered Reminder in the second half of October 2010 would be designated 2010 U3. "I" and "Z" are not used when describing the half of a particular month the comet was After the meeting, everyone is invited discovered because they can be easily confused as the numbers 1 and 2 to join us at Plato's Diner in College respectively. Park. Plato's is located at 7150 Baltimore Ave. (US Rt. 1 at Calvert Prefixes are also added to indicate the nature of the comet, with” P/” Rd.), just south of the university's indicating a periodic comet, “C/” indicating a non-periodic comet, “X/” campus. What if it's clear and you indicating a comet for which no reliable orbit could be calculated (typically want to stick around and observe? comets described in historical chronicles), “D/” indicating a comet which has No problem -- just come over when broken up or been lost, and “A/” indicating an object at first thought to be a you're through. This is very informal, comet but later reclassified as an asteroid. Periodic comets also have a and we fully expect people to wander number indicating the order of their discovery. in and out. Continued on Page 3 Star Dust © 2010. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. October 2010 Vol 69, Iss 2 3 2010-2011 Officers Continued from Page 2 President: Thus Halley's Comet, the first comet to be identified as periodic, has the systematic name 1P/1682 Q1. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was the ninth Joseph C. Morris periodic comet jointly discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and [email protected] David Levy but its systematic name is D/1993 F2. It was discovered in 1993 703-620-0996 (h) and the prefix "D/" is applied, since it was observed to break up and crash into 703-983-5672 (w) Jupiter. Vice-President: Now you can decode the name designations of comets. Stars are another John Hornstein story altogether… For example, Betelgeuse = Alpha Orionis = HR 2061 = BD [email protected] +7 1055 = HD 39801 = SAO 113271 = PPM 149643, whose coordinates in 301-593-1095 (h) the sky are RA 05:55:10.306, Dec +07:24:25.35 (2000.0), the bright red supergiant in Orion. There is a system determined by the IAU for naming all Secretary-Treasurer: astronomical objects. It just takes some time and study to make sense of it. Michael L. Brabanski [email protected] 301-649-4328 (h) Open House & Star Party at Hopewell Observatory Asst. Secretary-Treasurer: Haymarket, VA Jeffrey B. Norman [email protected] Saturday Evening, October 30 Jeff Guerber Trustees: • Wayne Warren (2011) You, your family, and friends, are invited to join us for an Open House and Star Party at Hopewell Astronomical Observatory on SATURDAY EVENING, • Walter Faust (2012) OCT. 30, 2010. Hopewell Observatory is a private, independent observatory • Benson Simon (2013) association, located on about 4 acres atop a ridge in the Bull Run Mountains, • Andrew Seacord (2014) about 6 miles northwest of Haymarket, Virginia. Appointed Officers and Weather permitting, we'll be able to see the planets Jupiter and Uranus, fall Committee Heads: constellations, galaxies (including Andromeda), star clusters, nebulae, and Exploring the Sky some of the summer Milky Way. If the weather is bad, we'll just have a tour of Joseph C. Morris the observatory. [email protected] We'll open the observatory around sunset, and remain open until everyone Telescope Making leaves; come whenever you like, and stay as late as you want. Telescopes Guy Brandenburg permanently installed in Hopewell's roll-off-roof observatory building include a [email protected] 12" homemade Wright-Newtonian, a 14" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain, and 202-635-1860 a 6" refractor. If you have a scope, too, by all means bring it along! There is a grassy field with plenty of room to set up, and electricity is available (bring your own extension cord). You are welcome to bring a picnic dinner or snacks NCA Webmaster (but bring your own water); we will provide hot water, coffee, tea and cocoa.
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