Hubble Shatters the Cosmic Record for Most Distant Galaxy Star Parties Schools and Outreach Meetings and Events New Members Sinc

May, 2016 (Issue No. 142)

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Hubble Shatters The Cosmic Record For Most Distant Galaxy by Ethan Siegel Space Place Feature article

The farther away you look in the distant universe, the harder it is to see what's out there. This isn't simply because more distant objects appear fainter, although that's true. It isn't because the universe is expanding, and so the light has farther to go before it reaches you, although that's true, too. The reality is that if you built the largest optical telescope you could imagine -- even one that was the size of an entire planet -- you still wouldn't see the new cosmic record-holder that Hubble just discovered: galaxy GN-z11, whose light traveled for 13.4 billion years, or 97% the age of the universe, before finally reaching our eyes.

There were two special coincidences that had to line up for Hubble to find this: one was a remarkable technical achievement, while the other was pure luck. By extending Hubble's vision away from the ultraviolet and optical and into the infrared, past 800 nanometers all the way out to 1.6 microns, Hubble became sensitive to light that was severely stretched and redshifted by the expansion of the universe. The most energetic light that hot, young, newly forming stars produce is the Lyman-α line, which is produced at an ultraviolet wavelength of just 121.567 nanometers. But at high redshifts, that line passed not just into the visible but all the way through to the infrared, and for the newly discovered galaxy, GN-z11, its whopping redshift of 11.1 pushed that line all the way out to 1471 nanometers, more than double the limit of visible light!

Hubble itself did the follow-up spectroscopic observations to confirm the existence of this galaxy, but it also got lucky: the only reason this light was visible is because the region of space between this galaxy and our eyes is mostly ionized, which isn't true of most locations in the universe at this early time! A redshift of 11.1 corresponds to just 400 million years after the Big Bang, and the hot radiation from young stars doesn't ionize the majority of the universe until 550 million years have passed. In most directions, this galaxy would be invisible, as the neutral gas would block this light, the same way the light from the center of our galaxy is blocked by the dust lanes in the galactic plane.

To see farther back, to the universe's first true galaxies, it will take the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb's infrared eyes are much less sensitive to the light extinction caused by neutral gas than instruments like Hubble. Webb may reach back to a redshift of 15 or even 20 or more, and discover the true answer to one of the universe's greatest mysteries: when the first galaxies came into existence!

Images credit: (top); NASA, ESA, P. Oesch (Yale University), G. Brammer (STScI), P. Van Dokkum (Yale University), and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz) (bottom), of the galaxy GN-z11, the most distant and highest-redshifted galaxy ever discovered and spectroscopically confirmed thus far.

Newberry Star Park by Andy Howell

Chuck Broward and Rich Russin had scheduled the "Great American Refractor Shoot-Out" Newberry Star Park for the evening of March 30. The idea was to star test the various refracting telescopes that the Club owns. Unfortunately, weather did not cooperate, and the event devolved into housecleaning at Newberry Star Park. Chuck Broward, Lisa Eager, and - if I remember correctly - Bill Hensler was also present.

We decided that the following items are no longer needed by Alachua Astronomy Club and should be offered to AAC members before we post them for sale outside the Club. Selling price is negotiable, as no one really has a good idea about these items are worth.

3-inch Orion refractor. This instrument (on left in photo) gives an erect image for terrestrial viewing. Note - it has no right ascension and declination axes, and it's not usable for astronomy. It's only for terrestrial viewing.

German equatorial mount for a refractor up to 3 inches. The tripod is a bit wobbly (fixable), and has manual slow motion controls in right ascension and declination.

German equatorial mount, built like a tank as only the Russians know how. The technology is somewhat ancient. Perfect for Russophiles with strong arms.

16-inch mirror blanks (two). They have some chips on the edges, but large blanks like this a getting harder to find.

Special box of optics. Contains: Three 8 inch diameter flats 1 inch thick One mounted 5 inch lens, 24 inch FL One set of grinding tools concave and convex One 8 inch aluminized flat with a one inch hole in middle

Contact Chuck Broward, TEL 352-373-7527 or EMAIL [email protected], if interested in any of the above items.

Star Parties by Lisa Eager and Ivo Rabell

April 9, 2016

Newberry Star Park Star Party

I know, this is a bit late in coming, my apologies. We had a Star Party at NSP Saturday with quite a few people coming to observe. The Clear Sky Chart showed that things were to be clear for the evening, it didn't end up as clear as the chart was indicating. So we took what we could for our observing.

Here's who came out for the evening:

Dale and Julia Smith with their SCT Jim and Trey Keesling with a C6 Newtonian Tim and Joanne Malles with their 8" Dobsonian and friends Tim and Lisa Rich Russin with his Stellarvue 80 on an alt-az mount Chuck Broward with his Televue 85 on a TV mount Carlton and Leslie Oglesby Ankur and Pooja Jain with their children and snacks Andy Howell with his eyes Ed Honkus with his 10" SCT Tass Karahalios Tomi Greentree Jane Soper with Celestron 15 X 70 binoculars Bill Hensler with the Club's Nexstar C-11 Lisa Eager (me) with my 10" Dobsonian

Our evening started out with everyone setting up and then admiring the sunset. Tim, our resident artist, couldn't get enough pictures showing silhouettes against the sunset as a backdrop.

Everyone's next target was the few day old moon and earthshine. That was on the list of favorites with quite a few of us.

Then comes Jupiter. It looked really good for the whole evening, bright as it is right now, shining through the clouds that came through. So, Jupiter was also on the list of Saturday night favorites.

Andy particularly admired the Orion Trapezium Cluster, Bill liked the open star cluster NGC 2158 in Gemini, and Tass gave the nod to the Whale Galaxy NGC 4631 in the hunting dogs (it's Tass, so it's got to be a fuzzy).

Some of our newer members got to chat and get information from the club's older members. Our members do carry around a wealth of information that they readily will share. So if you're thinking about getting some new equipment, or already have some equipment, a Star Party might just me a good place to come to get information and try things out.

Until next time, Clear Skies!!

Schools and Outreach by Mike Toomey

April 29, 2016

Kids in the Woods School Outreach

We were originally rained out for Westwood Middle's Camp Kids in the Woods so we rescheduled for Friday, April 29. Again, it appeared that rain would wash out the stargazing portion of the event but our volunteers sat tight. With just minutes left before the official start time, the rain and clouds parted just enough to convince Andy Howell, Howard Cohen, Chuck Broward, Gregory Beckner, Preston Beckner and guest Ryan to set up their telescopes. Lisa Eager, Crill Hintermister and I assisted orientating the well-behaved middle schoolers (about 60 in all). Jupiter was the showcase for the evening, not to mention, the target least hindered by scattered clouds. Chuck and Andy tracked down a few double stars and Preston worked his way to the M3 globular cluster.

Chuck Broward wills the clouds to disappear at Kids in the Woods

That's a wrap for the 2015-16 school year. In all, we shared the skies with 600 students in Alachua and Levy Counties in spite of a number of rain outs. We have a few scout requests reaching the club's inbox this time of year. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in doing, let me know or check out the club's web calendar for future events!

Mike Toomey has served the AAC in many capacities since 1998, including President, Secretary, FirstLight Editor, Star Party Coordinator and School Outreach Coordinator. Mike resides in Gainesville with his unicorn Poppy Fair Eyes.

Meetings and Events

Rosemary Hill Observatory Saturday, May 7, 8-11 p.m. 4551 NE 110th Avenue, Bronson, FL Please register at the AAC event calendar

Transit of Mercury Monday, May 9 from 8am to 2pm Kika Silva Pla Planetarium Courtyard Santa Fe College

AAC Public Meeting Tuesday, May 10, 2016 from 7-9 p.m. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida Cultural Plaza, 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-2710

Professor (Emeritus) Nebil Misconi, Department of Engineering Technology, University of Central Florida will relate his life experiences in his talk titled "An Immigrant's Journey into the Cosmos."

Kanapaha Moonlight Walk Saturday, May 14, 7 p.m. 4700 SW 58th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608 Please register at the the AAC event calendar

New Members since February 1!

Linda Andiric Lena Buysse Cindy Daly Robert Donaghy Elizabeth Franceo James Keesling Susan Keesling Trey Keesling Victoria Kelly Kaleb Manske Bob O'Connell Jane Soper Tim Torometer James Visintin Wayne Zipperer

President First Light Editor Andy Howell Laura Wright

Thank you, Laura! Please find out more information about the After 1 1/2 years serving as observing program below on able editor of First Light, the Astronomical League's Laura Wright has decided to website is astroleague.org. step back. Laura, the Club can't thank you enough for your service to Alachua "Welcome to the Dark Sky Advocate Astronomy Club. I especially enjoyed Award! This award is unlike any other. If your research into the many different you have wanted to do something about observing programs that the a topic so important to our hobby — the Astronomical League sponsors. loss of our dark skies due to light pollution — this is a way you can help. Laura, when you are able to attend a Here lies a great opportunity for you, as public meeting, we have a very special your enter the Dark Sky Advocate Award, award to present you! to make a positive, dramatic impact on your community that will be long lasting It will be challenging, but we are looking and far reaching. Can you imagine any for the next editor of First Light. Please better way you can influence the future? let me know if you are interested.

AAC Library now online! Light pollution and light trespass are two subtle but pervasive problems that "Librarything" is the name of the online degrade our quality of life and destroy database which holds our book our enjoyment of the night skies. Too inventory. many amateur astronomers have silently Many thanks are due Gay Haldeman and witnessed the unnecessary destruction of Pam Mydock for entering all 150 of the the night, first beginning in the cities but Club's library books into an online now spreading to the remaining rural database. Some of the books are in the areas. We must not choose to ignore this overhead storage cabinet at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Most are at problem. Newberry Star Park where they can be borrowed whenever Alachua Astronomy To become a Dark Sky Advocate, the Club holds an event there. candidate must understand the problem of light pollution its causes and solutions. That usually is the monthly NSP star The candidate must know its cuses and party and outreach, which occurs near the time of new moon. solutions. The candidate must realize how it affects our society in general and Visit a random sample of our book amateur astronomy in particular. These holdings at our new web page objectives are achieved by the AAC Library completion of various activities, some are observing related, most are not. It's an education just to peruse the titles, authors, book covers, and reader To qualify for the award, the Dark Sky ratings. Check it out! Advocate candidate must accumulate at Membership Renewals least 75 points within both the Personal Enlightenment and Public Enlightenment According to Club By-Laws, members sections, giving a total of 150 or more who have not renewed their points." memberships by April 1 are dropped from membership. Sadly, we lost some members last month because of this. If you haven't paid your membership dues, Best regards, Laura please do so at the earliest opportunity.

You can renew online, mail a check to the address at the end of this email, or pay by cash at the next meeting. Thank you!

The Night Sky this Month

from seasky.org May's night sky

May 6 - New Moon. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 19:29 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

May 5, 6 - Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower. The Eta Aquarids is an above average shower, capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. Most of the activity is seen in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the rate can reach about 30 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust particles left behind by comet Halley, which has known and observed since ancient times. The shower runs annually from April 19 to May 28. It peaks this year on the night of May 5 and the morning of the May 6. The new moon will ensure dark skies this year for what could be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

May 9 - Rare Transit of Mercury Across the Sun. The planet Mercury will move directly between the Earth and the Sun. Viewers with telescopes and approved solar filters will be able to observe the dark disk of the planet Mercury moving across the face of the Sun. This is an extremely rare event that occurs only once every few years. There will be one other transit of Mercury in 2019 and then the next one will not take place until 2039. This transit will be visible throughout North America, Mexico, Central America, South America, and parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The best place to view this event in its entirety will be the eastern United States and eastern South America. (Transit Visibility Map and Information)

May 14 - International Astronomy Day. Astronomy Day is an annual event intended to provide a means of interaction between the general public and various astronomy enthusiasts, groups and professionals. The theme of Astronomy Day is "Bringing Astronomy to the People," and on this day astronomy and stargazing clubs and other organizations around the world will plan special events. You can find out about special local events by contacting your local astronomy club or planetarium. You can also find more about Astronomy Day by checking the Web site for the Astronomical League.

May 21 - Full Moon, Blue Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 21:15 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Flower Moon because this was the time of year when spring flowers appeared in abundance. This moon has also been known as the Full Corn Planting Moon and the Milk Moon. Since this is the third of four full moons in this season, it is known as a blue moon. This rare calendar event only happens once every few years, giving rise to the term, “once in a blue moon.” There are normally only three full moons in each season of the year. But since full moons occur every 29.53 days, occasionally a season will contain 4 full moons. The extra full moon of the season is known as a blue moon. Blue moons occur on average once every 2.7 years.

May 22 - Mars at Opposition. The red planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Mars. A medium-sized telescope will allow you to see some of the dark details on the planet's orange surface.

Contact email: [email protected]

Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. 2603 NW 13th St., #161 Gainesville FL 32609-2835

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