Volume 21, Number 4 N Hagerstown, MD N April 2005 In This Issue: Chick-fil-A

The Birth, Life and Death of a Star

Our Friendly Skies

Secretary’s Report

Volunteers Needed!

Greencastle-Antrim Winter Carnival

And More...

Next meeting April 20h at the Planetarium 7:30 PM

www.TristateAstronomers.org Secretary’s Report By Rod Martin - TSA ([email protected]) The March membership meeting of the April 15-16 Public Star Party at the the Tristate Astronomers was called Antietam Battlefield. to order at 7:32 p.m. with a salute and THE OBSERVER tribute to the new official banner of the Historic space program photos were club. Rave reviews followed the shared by new members along with a is the monthly newsletter of unveiling of the banner designed by promise of a future "Observer" article. the TriState Astronomers. Andy Smetzer. It will be displayed at TSA is a nonprofit group that all TSA functions and public star Ot he r to pi cs in cl ud ed Be tt y' s was established in 1985 to parties. announcement of a Saturn's Moons promote astronomy and Lecture at the Air and Space encourage related activities to Dan talked about programs since the Museum, and Chris Rogers offered interested persons in the , Pennsylvania and last meeting including an indoor email addresses to members which West Area. display at Greencastle-Antrim, which the board will followup. Membership in the TSA costs was used to help fund their field trips, $15.00 annually. The group and the March 15 Chik-fil-A event. The program consisted of a short meets on the third Wednesday Observed highlights included the PowerPoint about the Transit of of the month in the Sun, Saturn, Orion nebula, and Venus by Rod and part 1 of a video planetarium of the Washington Betty's cow. tape called "Telescope Building with County Board of Education in John Dobson" provided by Betty. Hagerstown, Maryland. Mark your calendars for April 8 Outdoor observing sessions are Northern Middle School, April 21 The meeting concluded with good usually scheduled each month Thorpewood, possibly April 22 fellowship, banter, discussion, and a during weekend of the new moon, weather permitting. Fountain Rock, and most importantly salute to the banner. o

Our next Club Star Party will be held TSA OFFICERS th April 8 at Northern Middle School, Northern Ave, Hagerstown Bruce Booher ...... Chairman or Rod Martin ...... Secretary April 9th at Beaver Creek Country Club Bob Miller . . . Treasurer and first clear night Membership Chairman Andy Smetzer ...... Publicity Dir. Hubble Space Telescope Public Lecture Series George Klarmann . . Pgrm. Coord. Space Telescope Science Institute, MD William Horning ...... Alcor Rep. Speaker: Dr. Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute Dan Kaminsky. . Newsletter Editor Topic: Fifteen Years of Intriguing & Astounding Hubble Images Reed Waters ...... Ex Officio Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Time: 8 PM Place: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Auditorium Mailing Address: Price: Free admission and free parking Phone: 410-338-4700 TriState Astronomers Internet: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/public-talks.shtml Washington Co. Planetarium 820 Commonwealth Ave. Upcoming Regional Star Parties Hagerstown, MD 21740

Date Event Location More Information Web Site: www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf/ April 16 -17 NEAF Solar SP Suffern, NY www.sungazer.net/field.html www.tristateastronomers.org June 2 - 6 Cherry Springs SP Cherry Springs Park, PA www.astrohbg.org/public_observing.php Webmaster - Andy Smetzer June 3 - 5 Jersey StarQuest SP Hope, NJ www.princetonastronomy.org Shreveport Airport / Footlight Ranch, July 6 - 10 Mason Dixon SP www.masondixonstarparty.org/ York County, PA July 6 - 10 Green Bank Star Quest Green Bank, WV www.greenbankstarquest.org/ August 5 - 6 Stellafane Springfield, VT www.stellafane.com NEW MEMBERS ARE Sept 9 - 11 Black Forest SP Cherry Springs State Park, PA www.bfsp.org/starparty/index.cfm ALWAYS WELCOME! Tuckahoe State Park, MD Sept 28 - Oct 2 Delmarva No Frills SP www.delmarvastargazers.org/archive/nofrills2005/ Contents © Copyright 2005 Oct 1 NOVAC Star Gaze Manassas, VA www.novac.com/gaze/ TriState Astronmers Nov 1 - 8 Mid Atlantic S P Robbins, NC www.masp.org/ unless otherwise noted THE BIRTH, LIFEby Wadim AND Kaminsky DEA - TSA TH OF STARS ([email protected]) uring the last few decades, advances in Such an object is called a “protostar”. This state lasts technologies have given us the opportunities to about 10 million years. Ddiscover more about the stars than ever was known in previous centuries. Stars The protostars are glowing clouds of interstellar gas and are formed in the arms of dust that continue to collapse, releasing gravitational spiral galaxies and are energy as they shrink and grow continually denser. obscured from our view by Because the atoms move faster and faster as they fall dense, dusty molecular toward the center, friction is created and the temperature clouds. Despite these inside the core rises as gas atom collisions increase. difficulties, astrophysicists When gas pressure equals the gravity, the protostar were able to come up with reaches its equilibrium. At this point, if critical temperature the outline of how stars are at the core of a protostar is not reached, it becomes a formed. Of enormous help brown dwarf. If critical temperature is reached then was the emergence of the nuclear fusion begins and at this moment a protostar quantum theory (see The Observer March 2005) that becomes a star. provided the theoretical foundation for the microcosmic world of atomic and subatomic particles and a chance to How long does the process of build mathematical models of macrocosmic objects like star formation last? The time stars. depends on the star's mass. For low mass stars the After the Big Bang cosmic process can take billions of explosion, the initial state of the years. For massive stars it universe was very hot and takes less time, as little as expanding rapidly outward. several thousand years. In Hydrogen and helium were the evolution, stars go through changing phases where their first elements of the infant appearance and their interior structure changes. All stars universe. There were no stars or spend a significant amount of time fusing hydrogen to planets. The stars started to form helium; this phase of a stars life is called the main 200 million years after the Big sequence. Examples of main sequence stars are the Sun, Bang in areas where there were Vega, Sirius and Spica. When hydrogen in the star is high concentrations of gases and depleted the star expands and becomes a red giant. dust clouds. The Orion nebula or the Lagoon nebula (in Examples of red giants are Betelgeuse, Arcturus, Sagittarius) are examples. Aldebaran, and Antares.

The formation process begins when a cloud of gases and Following birth, the stars lead a rather new tranquil life as a dust start to collapse in on itself and fragment into clumps resident of a galaxy. The primary energy source for this as a result of mutual gravitational attraction (e.g. the stable period of a star's life is thermonuclear fusion. Pleiades star cluster in Taurus). As these clumps gather However after billions of years, when all the hydrogen and more atoms the gravitational attraction increases and helium that generated the star energy is exhausted and the more atoms are pulled into the clumps and the center burning stopped, the star resumes collapsing which is the becomes denser, increasing the acceleration of collapse. final stage of her present existence. What happens next depends on the mass of the star, it could became either a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole (see The Observer January 2005).

In 2003 a joint NASA and Princeton University project launched the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) that captured the oldest light of the universe, the cooled remnants of the hot cosmic explosion of the Big Bang, called the cosmic microwave background. With the probe scientists determined the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years old with a margin of error of 1% and the birth of stars happening 200 millions years after the The visible image of the Orion Nebula on the left shows no outward Big Bang. The probe also helped to determine the make up sign that it is a hotbed for new star formation. The infrared image of the universe. o on the right shows invisible protostars found in the outlined area. Star Grazing at the Chick-fil-A by Bill McCarrey - TSA ([email protected]) he Tri-State Astronomy Club Cassini Division was clearly visible along with Titan was out in public Tuesday and at least two other Tnight March 15th at the Chik- moons . The club fil-A in Hagerstown, MD scope gave a nice participating in their Kids Night "Star look at the Orion Grazing" Party. The public was Nebula, even with all treated to telescopic views of the ambient light of sunspots on the setting sun and of the pa rking light the crescent moon. As the sky fixtures nearby. Too began to darken the keen eyes of bad Jupiter was not Dan Kaminsky aimed the club’s 8” visible until later, it Celestron scope at Saturn, which of surely would have course is always was a crowd been another prime Cynthia, daughter of Dan Kaminsky, looks at the pleaser. target for viewing. Orion Nebula through the Club’s 8” Celestron.

Clear skies prevailed throughout the evening so those braving the cool temperatures had a nice view of the observed objects (several ooohs, wows, and cool). All in attendance were invited to the Antietam Star Party next month with the promise of more scopes and breath-taking views.. HINT, HINT come bring your scope and/or help.

Even with the chilly temps it was a fun night for all. The folks at Chik-fil-A seemed pleased with the clubs presentation...(free dinner and an invite to return in the fall). Thanks to all club members participating! o Andy Smetzer waits for the Ted Shusterman sets up his next group of kids. Coulter CT-100 Andy Smetzer and gave onlookers spectacular veiws of lunar craters along the terminator of the crescent moon (great shadowing) with their 6 inch light buckets. Bill McCarrey had his little 3 ½ "Mak" tracking a crescent Mercury "swimming" toward the horizon until Andy admires the vintage CT-100 disappearing behind the Andy Smetzer, Mike Sager, Bill McCarrey and Cynthia Kaminsky enjoy building. Ted a refreshing meal compliments of Chick-fil-A. Shusterman brought his vintage Coulter CT-100 All readers of The Observer are encouraged to which he had trained on send articles, comments, suggestions, ideas, several objects during the course of the event. stories, photos, observing notes, sightings, announcements, items wanted or for sale, During the last hour most questions, tips, product reviews or anything of the scopes were aimed A close-up of the Coulter CT-100 else to [email protected] at the ringed beauty. The OUR FRIENDLY SKIES APRIL 2005

by Rod Martin, Planetarium Resource Teacher and Andy Smetzer, TriState Astronomers

Visible Evening Planets: Visible Evening Planets: SATURN is visible in the west. JUPITER is all night.

Visible Morning Planets: MARS is dimmer and low at dawn.

Our two largest planets are visible in the night sky this month. Jupiter is huge, and Saturn displays a remarkable ring system. Both are easy to spot and bright.

Jupiter is the brightest planet in our nighttime sky. It rises near sunset and sets near sunrise, being highest around midnight to 1 a.m. Jupiter reaches opposition on April 3. That is the time that it is directly opposite the Sun in our sky. This marks the beginning of the best time to observe the planet. Use binoculars to see its four largest satellites and a small telescope to see a couple of the equatorial cloud bands. The satellites were discovered by Galileo, and it is fun to watch their changing positions from hour to hour or night to night. Jupiter is magnitude -2.5 within the the Sun's surface will be blocked. If you choose to observe constellation Virgo. this event, remember to either project the solar image or use safe eye protection. Sunglasses aren't enough and even Saturn is the dominant planet in the western evening sky short glimpses at the Sun can cause permanent damage. this month. It is around zero magnitude in the Gemini twins. A low power telescope is needed to see its rings. They are This month the Moon passes by several planets and space visible at 25 power. Increasing the power will reveal details objects. The waning crescent passes Mars on April 3 and 4, and gaps in the ring system. Binoculars may show the the waxing crescent passes the Pleiades or Seven Sisters satellite Titan which has been a target of recent space on April 11, the nearly quarter passes Saturn on April 15, probes. and the gibbous passes Jupiter on April 21 and 22. Use this to help see the phases as well as other bright objects. Mercury is tough to see this month. Near the end of April, Mercury shows up in the morning sky. It reaches greatest On April 1 the Sun rises at 5:54 EST, sets at 6:35 EST for 12 elongation on April 26, but is very difficult to see because of hours and 41 minutes of daylight. By April 30, sunrise is at its low altitude. 6:12 EDT, sunset is at 8:04 EDT for daylight of 13 hours and 52 minutes. The Sun moves from the zodiac constellation Mars is the dimmest of the current visible, major planets. It Pisces the Fish into Aries the Ram on April 18. is faint at magnitude 1. Look for it low in the southeast as the morning sky begins to brighten. It moves from Capricornus to Aquarius this month. William Brish Planetarium The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 22. Unfortunately, that is near the full moon. Sometimes fireballs show up for "Galaxies" continues through April. Learn about the variety this shower. of the "star islands" in space and some of the strange objects they harbor.

The programs are held each Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Sun and Moon sharp when schools are in session. If schools are closed or dismissed early due to inclement weather, the planetarium Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, April 3. Don't programs are also cancelled. forget to turn your clocks forward one hour. Fees are $3 for adults, $2 for children and students, and The Moon reaches last quarter on April 1, new on April 8, senior citizens with a WCPS Gold Card are admitted free. first quarter on April 16, and full on April 24. A very small Gold Cards are available at the main office of each school. partial eclipse of the Sun may be seen on April 8, the time of the new Moon. Between 6:00 and 6:40 p.m., the edge of the For more information visit the website at Moon will pass over the edge of the Sun. Only about 3% of http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/content/d_i_planet.cfm. The Back Page

AprilVolunteer 8, 2005, Friday s Needed Northern MS, Northern Avenue, Hagerstown, MD Northern Middle School is holding their Science Night. We have been asked to help out. More information to follow.

Please contact TSA chairman Bruce Booher at [email protected] to volunteer.

April 15/16, 2005 Friday/Saturday, Dusk to 11PM Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD Our new club banner is displayed prominently at the This is our major annual public outreach event Greencastle-Antrim HS Winter Carnival. sponsored by the TriState Astronomer. It is a very popular. We need volunteers to bring scopes, greet visitors, answer question, hand out fliers and more. Greencastle-Antrim

Please contact TSA chairman Bruce Booher at [email protected] to volunteer. Winter Carnival By Mike Sager - TSA ([email protected]) April 21, 2005, Thursday, 7:00PM Thorpewood, Catoctin, MD (near Thurmont, MD) Thorpewood in Catoctin, MD is interested in holding On March 4th, TSA was represented at the Greencastle- Antrim High School Winter Carnival by Andy, Bill, Dan and a Star Party as part of its nature and educational Mike Sager. mission and has asked The TriState Astronomers for help. Rain date for this event is April 28, 2005. An Because of the overcast additional Star Party is has been planned for the fall sky, the club spent the (October 20, 2005) as well. www.thorpewood.org evening in the mostly tropical atmosphere of the Please contact TSA Chairman Bruce Booher at library. Andy and Dan [email protected] to volunteer and get provided all of the club directions. handouts/exhibits and displayed some of their own personal materials April 22, 2005, Friday, Dusk to 10:00PM and photos. Bill and Mike During a brief lull in the crowds, Bill Fountain Rock Elementary School, Hagerstown, MD set up their scopes and McCarrey, Mike Sager and Andy Fountain Rock Elementary School is having an laptops. Smetzer look through an Orion catalog. overnight sleep over for students. They have asked if we could setup some scopes as part of their Bill tracked the path of obstructed Saturn with his ETX and activities. Mike aimed his reflector on the tree in the court yard hoping to fool observers in to thinking the seed pods hanging from the Please contact TSA chairman Bruce Booher at tree were celestial objects. It didn't work! One laptop [email protected] to volunteer. displayed Bill's pictures of last summers Venus Transit and the other a presentation in which various solar system objects were shown in motion. May, 2005, 7:00 pm Girl Scouts Camp Out, Caledonia State Park, PA The new club banner was Andy Smetzer has been contacted by the Gettysburg on display and there was Council of The Girl Scouts about helping with a Star significant interest in the Party at their camp out in Caledonia Park in PA. materials and Folks from the Gettysburg College Astronomy presentation particularly Department will be there too. More details to come. in Andy's and Bill's photos and the hands on viewing Please contact TSA member Andy Smetzer at through the reflector. Quite a few questions [email protected] to volunteer and get more were asked and the information The TSA booth in its full glory. turnout was excellent. o