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Binocular Universe: Northern Exposure
Binocular Universe: Northern Exposure March 2013 Phil Harrington he northern circumpolar sky holds many binocular targets that we can enjoy throughout the year. This month, let's take aim at the constellation Ursa TMinor, the Little Bear. You may know it better as the Little Dipper, an asterism made up of the seven brightest stars in the Little Bear. Above: Winter star map from Star Watch by Phil Harrington. Above: Finder chart for this month's Binocular Universe. Chart adapted from Touring the Universe through Binoculars Atlas (TUBA), www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm Call it what you will, this star group is most famous as the home of the North Star, Polaris [Alpha (α) Ursae Minoris]. Earth's rotational axis is aimed just three- quarters of a degree away from Polaris, causing it to trace out a very tiny circle around that invisible point every 24 hours. The North Celestial Pole is slowly moving closer to Polaris. It will continue to close to within 14 minutes of arc around the year 2105, when it will slowly start to pull away. While Polaris is currently the pole star, the 26,000-year wobble of Earth's axis, called precession, causes the Celestial Pole's aim to trace a 47° circle in the sky. For instance, during the building of the pyramids nearly 4,600 years ago, the North Pole was aimed toward the star Thuban in Draco. Fast forward 5,200 years from now and the pole will be point near Alderamin in Cepheus. Most of us at one time or another have heard someone misspeak by referring to Polaris as the brightest star in the night sky. -
Copyrighted Material
Index Abulfeda crater chain (Moon), 97 Aphrodite Terra (Venus), 142, 143, 144, 145, 146 Acheron Fossae (Mars), 165 Apohele asteroids, 353–354 Achilles asteroids, 351 Apollinaris Patera (Mars), 168 achondrite meteorites, 360 Apollo asteroids, 346, 353, 354, 361, 371 Acidalia Planitia (Mars), 164 Apollo program, 86, 96, 97, 101, 102, 108–109, 110, 361 Adams, John Couch, 298 Apollo 8, 96 Adonis, 371 Apollo 11, 94, 110 Adrastea, 238, 241 Apollo 12, 96, 110 Aegaeon, 263 Apollo 14, 93, 110 Africa, 63, 73, 143 Apollo 15, 100, 103, 104, 110 Akatsuki spacecraft (see Venus Climate Orbiter) Apollo 16, 59, 96, 102, 103, 110 Akna Montes (Venus), 142 Apollo 17, 95, 99, 100, 102, 103, 110 Alabama, 62 Apollodorus crater (Mercury), 127 Alba Patera (Mars), 167 Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), 110 Aldrin, Edwin (Buzz), 94 Apophis, 354, 355 Alexandria, 69 Appalachian mountains (Earth), 74, 270 Alfvén, Hannes, 35 Aqua, 56 Alfvén waves, 35–36, 43, 49 Arabia Terra (Mars), 177, 191, 200 Algeria, 358 arachnoids (see Venus) ALH 84001, 201, 204–205 Archimedes crater (Moon), 93, 106 Allan Hills, 109, 201 Arctic, 62, 67, 84, 186, 229 Allende meteorite, 359, 360 Arden Corona (Miranda), 291 Allen Telescope Array, 409 Arecibo Observatory, 114, 144, 341, 379, 380, 408, 409 Alpha Regio (Venus), 144, 148, 149 Ares Vallis (Mars), 179, 180, 199 Alphonsus crater (Moon), 99, 102 Argentina, 408 Alps (Moon), 93 Argyre Basin (Mars), 161, 162, 163, 166, 186 Amalthea, 236–237, 238, 239, 241 Ariadaeus Rille (Moon), 100, 102 Amazonis Planitia (Mars), 161 COPYRIGHTED -
The Comet's Tale, and Therefore the Object As a Whole Would the Section Director Nick James Highlighted Have a Low Surface Brightness
1 Diebold Schilling, Disaster in connection with two comets sighted in 1456, Lucerne Chronicle, 1513 (Wikimedia Commons) THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section – British Astronomical Association Journal – Number 38 2019 June britastro.org/comet Evolution of the comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) along a total of ten days on January 2018. Composition of pictures taken with a zoom lens from Teide Observatory in Canary Islands. J.J Chambó Bris 2 Table of Contents Contents Author Page 1 Director’s Welcome Nick James 3 Section Director 2 Melvyn Taylor’s Alex Pratt 6 Observations of Comet C/1995 01 (Hale-Bopp) 3 The Enigma of Neil Norman 9 Comet Encke 4 Setting up the David Swan 14 C*Hyperstar for Imaging Comets 5 Comet Software Owen Brazell 19 6 Pro-Am José Joaquín Chambó Bris 25 Astrophotography of Comets 7 Elizabeth Roemer: A Denis Buczynski 28 Consummate Comet Section Secretary Observer 8 Historical Cometary Amar A Sharma 37 Observations in India: Part 2 – Mughal Empire 16th and 17th Century 9 Dr Reginald Denis Buczynski 42 Waterfield and His Section Secretary Medals 10 Contacts 45 Picture Gallery Please note that copyright 46 of all images belongs with the Observer 3 1 From the Director – Nick James I hope you enjoy reading this issue of the We have had a couple of relatively bright Comet’s Tale. Many thanks to Janice but diffuse comets through the winter and McClean for editing this issue and to Denis there are plenty of images of Buczynski for soliciting contributions. 46P/Wirtanen and C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) Thanks also to the section committee for in our archive. -
Naming the Extrasolar Planets
Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named. -
Amateur Observers Find an Asteroid's Moon
Amateur Observers Find an Asteroid’s Moon By: Kelly Beatty | July 14, 2017 A team of amateurs observers, some armed with just 3-inch telescopes, have found that the main-belt asteroid 113 Amalthea probably has a small companion. Each year, amateur astronomers get worldwide predictions for hundreds of events during which a distant asteroid briefly occults (hides) a star. But some of these cover-ups — like the one involving asteroid 113 Amalthea last March 14th — are anticipated more eagerly than others. That date has been circled on Paul Maley's calendar for about 8 months. A retired NASA staffer and a key member of the International Occultation Timing Association, last year Maley started enlisting amateur observers in Texas to observe the occultation of a 10th-magnitude star by 13th-magnitude Amalthea. And all that planning paid off, because the observing team has discovered that this asteroid probably has a small satellite. It's a robust "probably." As detailed in the IAU's Electronic Telegram 4413, issued on July 12th, a "fence" of 10 observing sites spread across the occultation's predicted path yielded seven positive occultations and three "misses." One of those misses, by Sam Insana in Gila Bend, Arizona, fell between five positive occultation tracks to his north and two to his south. It's colored orange in the diagram below: These lines represent the projected paths of a 10th-magnitude star recorded by observers on March 14, 2017, as the star passed behind the asteroid Amalthea. The small brown circle just below the yellow oval correspond to the location of the asteroid's moon at the time. -
The British Astronomical Association Handbook 2017
THE HANDBOOK OF THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION 2017 2016 October ISSN 0068–130–X CONTENTS PREFACE . 2 HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2017 . 3 CALENDAR 2017 . 4 SKY DIARY . .. 5-6 SUN . 7-9 ECLIPSES . 10-15 APPEARANCE OF PLANETS . 16 VISIBILITY OF PLANETS . 17 RISING AND SETTING OF THE PLANETS IN LATITUDES 52°N AND 35°S . 18-19 PLANETS – EXPLANATION OF TABLES . 20 ELEMENTS OF PLANETARY ORBITS . 21 MERCURY . 22-23 VENUS . 24 EARTH . 25 MOON . 25 LUNAR LIBRATION . 26 MOONRISE AND MOONSET . 27-31 SUN’S SELENOGRAPHIC COLONGITUDE . 32 LUNAR OCCULTATIONS . 33-39 GRAZING LUNAR OCCULTATIONS . 40-41 MARS . 42-43 ASTEROIDS . 44 ASTEROID EPHEMERIDES . 45-50 ASTEROID OCCULTATIONS .. ... 51-53 ASTEROIDS: FAVOURABLE OBSERVING OPPORTUNITIES . 54-56 NEO CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH . 57 JUPITER . .. 58-62 SATELLITES OF JUPITER . .. 62-66 JUPITER ECLIPSES, OCCULTATIONS AND TRANSITS . 67-76 SATURN . 77-80 SATELLITES OF SATURN . 81-84 URANUS . 85 NEPTUNE . 86 TRANS–NEPTUNIAN & SCATTERED-DISK OBJECTS . 87 DWARF PLANETS . 88-91 COMETS . 92-96 METEOR DIARY . 97-99 VARIABLE STARS (RZ Cassiopeiae; Algol; λ Tauri) . 100-101 MIRA STARS . 102 VARIABLE STAR OF THE YEAR (T Cassiopeiæ) . .. 103-105 EPHEMERIDES OF VISUAL BINARY STARS . 106-107 BRIGHT STARS . 108 ACTIVE GALAXIES . 109 TIME . 110-111 ASTRONOMICAL AND PHYSICAL CONSTANTS . 112-113 INTERNET RESOURCES . 114-115 GREEK ALPHABET . 115 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / ERRATA . 116 Front Cover: Northern Lights - taken from Mount Storsteinen, near Tromsø, on 2007 February 14. A great effort taking a 13 second exposure in a wind chill of -21C (Pete Lawrence) British Astronomical Association HANDBOOK FOR 2017 NINETY–SIXTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W1J 0DU Telephone 020 7734 4145 PREFACE Welcome to the 96th Handbook of the British Astronomical Association. -
Planetary Companions Around the K Giant Stars 11 Ursae Minoris and HD 32518
A&A 505, 1311–1317 (2009) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200911702 & c ESO 2009 Astrophysics Planetary companions around the K giant stars 11 Ursae Minoris and HD 32518 M. P. Döllinger1, A. P. Hatzes2, L. Pasquini1, E. W. Guenther2, and M. Hartmann2 1 European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany e-mail: [email protected] 2 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany Received 22 January 2009 / Accepted 10 August 2009 ABSTRACT Context. 11 UMi and HD 32518 belong to a sample of 62 K giant stars that has been observed since February 2004 using the 2m Alfred Jensch telescope of the Thüringer Landessternwarte (TLS) to measure precise radial velocities (RVs). Aims. The aim of this survey is to investigate the dependence of planet formation on the mass of the host star by searching for plane- tary companions around intermediate-mass giants. Methods. An iodine absorption cell was used to obtain accurate RVs for this study. Results. Our measurements reveal that the RVs of 11 UMi show a periodic variation of 516.22 days with a semiamplitude of −1 −7 K = 189.70 m s . An orbital solution yields a mass function of f (m) = (3.608 ± 0.441) × 10 solar masses (M) and an eccentricity of e = 0.083 ± 0.03. The RV curve of HD 32518 shows sinusoidal variations with a period of 157.54 days and a semiamplitude of −1 −8 K = 115.83 m s . An orbital solution yields an eccentricity, e = 0.008 ± 0.03 and a mass function, f (m) = (2.199 ± 0.235) × 10 M. -
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1 2 Spiral Galaxy M51. Herrero, E. Image from Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM) 3 4 5 CONTENTS The Institute 6 Board of trustees 8 Scientific advisory board 9 Board of Directors 9 Staff 10 Scientific Research 16 Scientific results 25 Publications SCI 31 Papers in which only one institute is participating 31 Papers published by two institutes in collaboration 39 Papers published by three institutes in collaboration 40 Publications non SCI 40 Papers in which only one institute is participating 40 Papers published by two institutes in collaboration 46 Books edited 47 Courses 47 Contribution to conferences and seminars 48 Contribution to conferences 48 Seminars 59 Internal seminars 59 External seminars 59 Theses 61 Finished Theses 61 PhD Theses 61 Master theses 62 On going theses 62 PhD Theses 62 Master theses 62 Visiting scientists 64 Technological development activities 65 Technical reports and documents 65 Technical reports and documents developed by only one institute 65 Technical reports and documents developed by three institutes in collaboration 69 Technological development activities 69 Finished activities 69 Ongoing activities 69 Projects managed by the IEEC 69 Finished projects 69 Ongoing projects 70 Other scientific activities 72 Space missions 73 Mission proposals 82 Ground instrument projects 89 Montsec Astronomical Observatoyy (OAdM) 95 European Projects 99 Workshops organized by the IEEC 103 Outreach activities 107 Objectives, indicators and achievement 114 6 IEEC ▪ THE INSTITUTE The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) was founded in February of 1996 as an initiative of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca (FCR), in collaboration with the University of Barcelona (UB), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) with the objective of creating a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional institute devoted to space research and their applications. -
Asteroid Regolith Weathering: a Large-Scale Observational Investigation
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2019 Asteroid Regolith Weathering: A Large-Scale Observational Investigation Eric Michael MacLennan University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation MacLennan, Eric Michael, "Asteroid Regolith Weathering: A Large-Scale Observational Investigation. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2019. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5467 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Eric Michael MacLennan entitled "Asteroid Regolith Weathering: A Large-Scale Observational Investigation." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geology. Joshua P. Emery, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Jeffrey E. Moersch, Harry Y. McSween Jr., Liem T. Tran Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Asteroid Regolith Weathering: A Large-Scale Observational Investigation A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Eric Michael MacLennan May 2019 © by Eric Michael MacLennan, 2019 All Rights Reserved. -
Comet Hitchhiker
Comet Hitchhiker NIAC Phase I Final Report June 30, 2015 Masahiro Ono, Marco Quadrelli, Gregory Lantoine, Paul Backes, Alejandro Lopez Ortega, H˚avard Grip, Chen-Wan Yen Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology David Jewitt University of California, Los Angeles Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Mission Concept - Pre-decisional - for Planning and Discussion Purposes Only. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and in part at University of California, Los Angeles. Comet Hitchhiker NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Preface Yes, of course the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was in my mind when I came up with a concept of a tethered spacecraft hitching rides on small bodies, which I named Comet Hitchhiker. Well, this NASA-funded study is not exactly about traveling through the Galaxy; it is rather about exploring our own Solar System, which may sound a bit less exciting than visiting extraterrestrial civilizations, building a hyperspace bypass, or dining in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. However, for the “primitive ape-descended life forms that have just begun exploring the universe merely a half century or so ago, our Solar System is still full of intellectually inspiring mysteries. So far the majority of manned and unmanned Solar System travelers solely depend on a fire breathing device called rocket, which is known to have terrible fuel efficiency. You might think there is no way other than using the gas-guzzler to accelerate or decelerate in an empty vacuum space. -
The Minor Planet Bulletin, Alan W
THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 42, NUMBER 2, A.D. 2015 APRIL-JUNE 89. ASTEROID LIGHTCURVE ANALYSIS AT THE OAKLEY SOUTHERN SKY OBSERVATORY: 2014 SEPTEMBER Lucas Bohn, Brianna Hibbler, Gregory Stein, Richard Ditteon Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, CM 171 5500 Wabash Avenue, Terre Haute, IN 47803, USA [email protected] (Received: 24 November) Photometric data were collected over the course of seven nights in 2014 September for eight asteroids: 1334 Lundmarka, 1904 Massevitch, 2571 Geisei, 2699 Kalinin, 3197 Weissman, 7837 Mutsumi, 14927 Satoshi, and (29769) 1999 CE28. Eight asteroids were remotely observed from the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. The observations were made on 2014 September 12-14, 16-19 using a 0.50-m f/8.3 Ritchey-Chretien optical tube assembly on a Paramount ME mount and SBIG STX-16803 CCD camera, binned 3x3, with a luminance filter. Exposure times ranged from 90 to 180 sec depending on the magnitude of the target. The resulting image scale was 1.34 arcseconds per pixel. Raw images were processed in MaxIm DL 6 using twilight flats, bias, and dark frames. MPO Canopus was used to measure the processed images and produce lightcurves. In order to maximize the potential for data collection, target asteroids were selected based upon their position in the sky approximately one hour after sunset. Only asteroids with no previously published results were targeted. Lightcurves were produced for 1334 Lundmarka, 1904 Massevitch, 2571 Geisei, 3197 Weissman, and (29769) 1999 CE28. -
A R T O F R E S I L I E N
Art of Resilience NEO _Aster_2090-2092___2019-04-10-00-53-37-75 TITLE NEO_2034_2019-04-10-00-55-51-305 (NEO: Near Earth Object) APPROACH Visualizations of Big Data - data art as an emerging form of science communication: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction; visualizing the risk posed by potential Earth impacts. WHAT Photographic 3D render from an artscience datavisualization dealing with the prediction of potential asteroid impacts on Earth. TECHNIQUE Custom predictive software and code made in openFrameworks in C++ (see addendum) to generate an accurate datavisualization and predictions of bolide events based on data from NASA and KAGGLE. The computation of Earth impact probabilities for near- Earth objects is a complex process requiring sophisticated mathematical techniques. PROCESS The datavisualizations resulted in svg. and obj. files which allows 3D model export, 3D printing and lasercutting techniques. For the Art of Resilience a photographic 3D render was selected by the artist for this exhibition. ART OF RESILIENCE On the 18th of december 2018 an asteroid some ten metres across detonated with an explosive energy ten times greater than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The shock wave shattered windows of almost 7200 buildings. Nearly 1500 people were injured. Although astronomers have managed to locate 93% of the extremely dangerous asteroids, nobody saw it coming. Can art contribute to save the Earth from future threats the means of super forecasting and increase our resilience in regards to potential future asteroid impacts? ARTISTIC STATEMENT Artists often channel the future; seeing patterns before they form and putting them in their work, so that later, in hindsight, the work explodes like a time bomb.