The Prairie Astronomer June 2016 Volume 57, Issue #6

The Prairie Astronomer June 2016 Volume 57, Issue #6

June: Nearest Star Party

PAC Member Rick Johnson Discovers an Unknown Virgo Cluster Galaxy - P. 9

Second Gravitational Wave Source Found by LIGO Saturn’s F Ring

MSRAL

The Newsletter of the Prairie Astronomy Club The Prairie Astronomer NEXT PAC MEETING: June 28, 6:30pm at Hyde Observatory PROGRAM CONTENTS

Solar Star Party: solar viewing starting at 6:30pm if weather permits. 4 Meeting Minutes Regular program starts at 8:00 pm with a club meeting and if solar viewing is not possible, there will be a program on solar viewing instead. 6 Boller-Sivill Observatory 7 NSP 8 Hap Griffin FUTURE PROGRAMS 9 New Galaxy July: Club dinner at Dinos; informal talk about Apollo space program by Discovered Don Eret. 13 Curiosity August: NSP Review and “Adventures in Astrophotography” by Mark 14 July Observing Dahmke 15 Ophiuchus September: To be determined 16 LIGO October: Club viewing night 18 Hubble November: How to Buy a Telescope 20 Saturn’s F Ring December: PAC Holiday Gathering, “The Thirty Meter Telescope” by 21 From the Archives Larry Stepp 22 Club Information

Buy the book! The Prairie Astronomy Club: Fifty Years of Amateur Astronomy. Order online from Amazon or lulu.com. EVENTS

PAC Meeting Tuesday June 28th, 2016, 6:30pm Hyde Observatory Solar Star Party

PAC Meeting PAC E-MAIL: Tuesday July 26th, 2016, 7:30pm [email protected] Hyde Observatory

PAC Meeting Tuesday August 30, 2016, 7:30pm PAC-LIST: Hyde Observatory Subscribe through GoogleGroups. To post messages to the list, send to the address: Newsletter submission deadline July 16 [email protected]

2016 STAR PARTY DATES ADDRESS The Prairie Astronomer c/o The Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc. P.O. Box 5585 Lincoln, NE 68505-0585

Photo by Brian Sivill WEBSITES Star Party Star Party Lunar Party www.prairieastronomyclub.org Date Date Date https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov www.hydeobservatory.info January Jan 1st Jan 8th www.nebraskastarparty.org February Jan 29th Feb 5th www.OmahaAstro.com March Mar 4th Mar 11th Panhandleastronomyclub.com April Apr 1st Apr 8th Apr 15th www.universetoday.com/ May Apr 29th May 6th May 13th www.planetary.org/home/ http://www.darksky.org/ June May 27th Jun 3rd July Jul 1st Jul 8th July 31st NSP - Aug 5th August Jul 29th Aug 5th Aug 12th August Aug 26th Sep 2nd Sep 9th September Sep 23rd Sep 30th October Oct 21st Oct 28th November Nov 25th Dec 2nd December Dec 23rd Dec 30th The Prairie Astronomer 3 PAC Meeting Minutes

Minutes for the meeting of May Coordinator, Dan Delzell will group who has come to Hyde 31, 2016 President Jim help find someone to do this in the past. The group was so Kvasnicka called the meeting to pleased with the experience, order, 15 members, 5 guests. The next PAC meeting will be they donated $100.00 to the Tuesday June 28, 7:30 at Hyde. Prairie Astronomy Club. Jim reviewed the upcoming events for the month. Platte River State Park will be Brett Boller showed some holding a Star Party on July 22. pictures of his progress on the The next PAC star Party is This is a joint event sponsored Boller-Sivill observatory at Friday June 3, Branched Oak is by PAC & OAS, the Omaha Branched Oak. Brian also having at star party that Astronomical Society. reviewed the plans we've had night. Brian Sivill mentioned of building a site to do trying to coordinate with The 2016 Nebraska Star Party astrophotography remotely. Branched Oak to avoid frequent will be held July 31 to Aug 5 at The Boller-Sivill facility is the conflicts. Merritt Reservoir. hopefully culmination of these efforts. Work is progressing MSRAL, the annual meeting of Jim reviewed membership well and we will receive the Mid-States Region of the advantages and dues. updates at meetings while this Astronomical League will be project continues. June 3-5 at the University of Jim provided his June observing Missouri. report, including a focus on Adjourn to the program, “The Hercules. Calibration Effort for the Alice Cooper YMCA will be having a Instrument on the New Summer camp on June 13-17, Club Business Horizons Spacecraft.” and they have asked us to provide a speaker. Volunteer Brian reported on a star party he Respectfully submitted by Lee hosted at West Point, with a Taylor

PAC Board Meeting Minutes

Board meeting minutes for June to make sure we had programs Beth asked some questions 14, 2016 in place for the rest of the year. about timing for programs, Beth passed around a like duration, starting times, spreadsheet of what has been etc. The consensus was to Members present: scheduled to date. Jim try to have speakers end by Jim Kvasnicka, President discussed the June program 8:30-8:45 PM. We discussed with Dave Churilla and solar several other options for Beth Jenckes, 2nd VP observing. Publicity was programs. Rick Johnson's John Reinert, Treasurer discussed, as well as the format photography was discussed. for Dave's program. Weather Mark offered to contact Rick. Lee Taylor, Secretary permitting, Dave will have One suggestion was Brett's Dan Delzell, Outreach 'scopes set up in front of Hyde to idea of a speaker who worked coordinator observe the sun as the program, for Teledyne, during an with the regular PAC meeting Mark Dahmke, newsletter editor informal meeting with Q & A afterward. In the event of bad and refreshments. Jim called the meeting to order weather, Dave will do a program and presented the agenda. The on solar observing for the Dan reccommended Brian main reason for meeting being meeting. and Brett provide updates on The Prairie Astronomer 4 their observatory construction at to work. Dan offered to provide We are having some Branched Oak. the tools, materials, and a difficulties contacting worker to do this. Mark offered members, Lee and John will Jim discussed planning for the to provide some spare materials be making better November meeting on 'How to as well. Jim wants this 'scope in communications on this. Buy a Telescope'. Several ideas circulation. were discussed. The consensus John also reported on was to have very little changed The sundial memorial for Earl is accounting for club bank from last year. Costs and still being planned. The issue is accounts. expectations were Jim's a base for it. We are discussing Beth wanted to present concerns for this. costs and designs. Ron Veys speakers with something as a suggested to Mark that the Jim also talked about the thank you and memento from mount be something special with December meeting, turnout, etc. the club. A pen is a remembrance of Earl being the We will check on Larry's suggestion. Lee asked about one who planned the alignment availability and ask the preparation, accommodation for Hyde. John is keeping us membership for consensus on and welcome for outside honest on spending for the what to do for a December speakers. Several ideas sundial. meeting. were talked about. Beth will 2017 Eclipse Update look into costs for a pen, as Telescope Checkout well as a thank you note for The committee met and Jim wanted to know what presenters. discussed planning with Michael equipment is where. Beth will Sibbernsen and representatives Mark would like to update the look into communications with from the State of Nebraska. We website with a new look, links Mark for a notice in the are still receiving requests for and so on. newsletter about what representatives/guests from the telescopes are where. We have There was no other new club. Jim had an idea for a dropbox file for records. We business, meeting adourned. presentation on the eclipse still don't have a secondary for before the event to prepare. Respectfully submitted by, the 13-inch. Dan offered to buy There was a lot of talk about a secondary, but we'll decide Lee Taylor where we would be and our what to do about it soon. personal plans. Mark reported that he will soon Dan suggested we provide have Earl Moser's 8-inch notice for those officers who refurbished! His goal is to have have decided to run for re- a plaque on it noting that it was elecition or will not be running Earl's. This will be intended for again next year. We discussed a young member to use while he ideas for this. or she is in the club and passed on to other youth as time John reported on passes. communications with the AL and dues. Mark is providing reports Jim asked about progress on the on contacts on Facebook and Zhumell that needs a base. Lee advertising charges from that. said he needs time and a place

xkcd.com The Prairie Astronomer 5 Boller-Sivill Observatory - Construction Update

Brian Sivill and Brett Boller

Currently, the building's base advantages: structure is set, the floor is fully -Stronger and lighter than tra- decked, and the column holes ditional trusswork. are cut. Sonotube column -Far more overhead clear- forms and rebar are soon to be ance, not requiring cross-mem- in place to facilitate pouring bers and their support. concrete for the telescope -Relatively easy to build, on- piers. The control room walls site or offsite. are standing and the first door -Permits almost any chosen is hung in the 8x12 control amount of sidewall to be includ- room. ed within the roof design, leav- It's starting to look like a REAL ing shorter walls for THING! observing/photographing. After we solve a few standing technical hurdles, and a few design choices, we won't have too much trouble getting all of es a beam designed by an the remaining sidewalls erect- Architectual Engineer. The ed. beams are composed of 2x12's Then on to roof and rail system with plywood plates sand- construction. Much progress, wiched on both sides, creating much excitement and anticipa- triangular structures which op- tion. pose lateral sway. Very simple to build and very strong. Brett and his father, Bill, recent- This design has a number of ly located a large amount of steel 'U' channel, which we are in the process of purchasing. The steel will be used for the rolling roof's rails and will com- prise the entire external portion of the rolling roof's support structure. The discovery of this 'scrap' steel is very exciting and pre- cipitous for our project. Without it, a wooden rail system would have been our only alternative, purely due to cost. The steel isn't free, but we're getting it at scrap value. Brett has also been communi- cating with Joe Mize of the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida regarding Joe's obser- vatory roof design. His roof us- The Prairie Astronomer 6 23rd Nebraska Star Party - 2016

The early registration deadline is Tuesday: registration and check-in, swap meet, June 30th! field school, free “Cattle Country” hamburger dinner. Join us this summer as we gather families from all Wednesday: (All at Valentine High School) field over the US and around the world in the sparsely school, registration, swap meet, speaker populated sand hills of North Central Nebraska to program, children’s program, dinner on your own. spend a good week under a galaxy of stars. Thursday: Brewer’s Niobrara Canoe or tube float, NSP Schedule of Events (July 31- August 5): optional dinner. Sunday: registration and check-in, optional Friday: public star party at 9pm. dinner. For more information see the NSP website. Monday: registration and check-in, field school, optional dinner. Register online!

The Prairie Astronomer 7 Hap Griffin Will Be Keynote Speaker at NSP

Hap Griffin lives in Sumter, SC retired in March 2012 after automatic tracking camera and is an avid serving the network for 16 years mount in the civilian realm for astrophotographer, owning his as its Vice-President and Chief use at NASA rocket launches. own observatory and a small Engineer. He holds a degree in business modifying cameras for Electrical Engineering and is better astronomical and infra-red Hap has been covering an accredited Professional performance. He has had a launches at KSC and Cape Engineer in South Carolina. number of his astronomical Canaveral for the major His hobbies include ham photographs published in books astronomy magazine Sky and radio, building electronic and magazines and has spoken Telescope for several years as projects, offroad riding and at numerous conferences across well as contributing to the camping, and playing guitar in the country on the subject of imagery team at a classic oldies band. astrophotography. AmericaSpace.com. He has developed the only known His love for the space program and all things space travel related goes back to his days following the Mercury and Gemini programs as a child. Hap began covering events at Kennedy Space Center at the end of the shuttle era with STS- 135 for the South Carolina Educational Television Network, where he spent a 34-year career in broadcast engineering. He

The Prairie Astronomer 8 Observatory Update: Announcing an Apparently Unknown Virgo Cluster Galaxy

Rick Johnson

It's not often an amateur gets to Since much of May had horrid the reflection announce a new galaxy. But it skies I broke with tradition and needed to be appears I have discovered a decided to look at the images to removed. previously unrecognized dwarf see if they needed more data irregular galaxy probably on the before they got too far west. But there was edge of the Virgo Cluster some Unfortunately, thanks to really something 60 million light-years distant. bad weather here this field had "wrong" with Considering how well studied already moved too far west and the reflection this cluster is I never expected into trees before I looked at it. that nagged at there'd be an undiscovered In looking at it I found an me. I went back a few days ago galaxy in the cluster. I'm posting apparent reflection. The for a second look. Reflections this out of my normal order as corrector of my SCT creates are smoother and usually have some may still have a chance to these all too often. I'd have streaks through them. This one get better data on it. My latitude marked it to redo in a slightly was mottled with no streaks. makes that impossible for me. different position to get rid of the Thus I decided it might be real Here's the story of its discovery. reflection but it was too late for after all. I checked the position that. So I marked the file to note against every catalog in VizieR

The Prairie Astronomer 9 but came up nearly empty. faint in the POSS II blue plate. I studies this area. Here is his Sloan reported two essentially decided it had to be real. Time reply when Sakib relayed my point sources in this area but no to call in my pros. Unfortunately information to him: "yes, this extended object. I had most were getting ready or had object is unknown as possible previously checked the GALEX already left for the AAS dwarf galaxy, only known as images for this area and came conference running June 12 SDSS source. It is also not up empty. But looking at the through the 16th. Those I could detected as HI-source in the Sloan image it showed what at reach dismissed it as a reflection ALFALFA HI survey in first appeared could be stronger even though it was in Sloan and Arecibo. Due to its texture, it noise against otherwise normal very faintly in the POSS II blue may be a peripheric dIr member level background noise. The plate. I'm sure they were too of the Virgo cluster." Later he three objects it noted didn't occupied with the conference to wrote: "sure, it is a real irregular match a bright speck in the give me any time. What to do? dwarf galaxy of bluish color and image but all fell between them. low surface brightness, But it didn't appear to be all When this happens I fall back on however, unseen in GALEX. noise. I decided it was real but Sakib Rasool who some of you Such kind objects may be gas- not in any catalog I could know. He has lots of contacts. rich, as well as gas-poor." I access. A check of the POSS One is Igor Karachentsev a should mention not being seeing plates showed something very Russian astrophysicist who by ALFALFA HI means it is radio

The Prairie Astronomer 10 quiet, somewhat rare for a dwarf "Well, I shall try to do images of Best wishes, galaxy. this galaxy with the 6-m Igor Karachentsev" telescope in the next spring. But Until it is studied we won't know the most important case would For those who can still catch it much more than this. I do be to measure its radial velocity. where it gets dark earlier than measure its size as about To get its optical spectra is a well after midnight that it is here 10,000 light-years if a member very difficult task. I may ask now the coordinates are 11h of the Virgo Cluster at about 60 somebody from Arecibo team to 48m 09.1s +12d 48' 49". I'm million light-years. search for HI-signal from your out of luck until next year. object, of course, if you agree." The previously unknown galaxy Now for the regular part of the is circled in dark green in the "I just asked Martha Haynes, post about what I thought I was annotated image, to the upper one of the authors of the Arecibo doing when I found the unknown right of HCG 59. I've stretched HI-survey, to look at a possible galaxy. the heck out of this one to bring HI-signal from "Johnson 1". If out the probably dwarf. That been successful, it may give us HCG 59 is a group of 5 galaxies makes for some nasty stuff its radial velocity and kinematic in about 2 degrees south of around bright stars that under a distance. I am waiting for Denebola in Leo. 4 of the normal stretch wouldn't be seen. Martha's reply at the beginning galaxies are about 200 million As you can imagine things have of next week. Congratulations light-years distant but one is a been rather hectic here the last with the finding so dim dwarf bit over a billion light-years couple days with a zillion emails galaxy. distant so obviously not a true flying about. The above pretty much boils things down to what is pretty much agreed with. Still lots of speculation on why GALEX and other survey's missed it. Apparently Sloan missed it due to the stars or star groups it is resolving being too far apart for the system to see it as an entity rather than just individual small sources. My timing on this was bad with the AAS going on at the same time. Now LIGO has a announced a second discovery of black holes merging today at the conference. A new galaxy in a nearby cluster is small potatoes but exciting for me just the same. I never expected when I built the observatory that it could achieve such a feat. Today's digital technology has changed things drastically from my film days. Here are additional emails from Russia: Sloan image of the newly discovered galaxy

The Prairie Astronomer 11 member. Quite a few other only a bit over 50,000 light-years from between retrograde and galaxies are in the field that are across. Less than half the size prograde motion. In fact two are at the 200 million light-year of 59E thanks to the latter's prograde (p) and two are distance indicating the group is much greater distance. 59A retrograde (r). I've caught far larger than the sub group appears to be a rather red and asteroids near this point before that is HCG 59. Hickson groups dead, or at least near dead but not with some on either have a very specific definition spiral. By redshift the closest side. Because they are moving that is meant to rule out galaxy member of the group is 59D so slowly all but one looks at clusters. But ignores if they are which is a really neat irregular first glance (maybe second as actually related. Thus this group galaxy full of star clouds. It's well) to be just a very distant, includes one that obviously isn't redshift puts it at 180 million near starlike galaxy. To be sure and excludes one that seems to light-years distant. Enough I checked each against the be worthy of including that is the difference from 59C's 220 Sloan images to verify nothing right distance but is too low of million light-year distance they was there when Sloan took the surface brightness to qualify. may not be related at all, just a field. Besides the positions For more on the specifics see line of sight group. An HST matched those given by the Hickson's paper at: image of this galaxy is at: Minor Planet Center's Minor http://articles.adsabs.harvard.ed https://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki Planet Checker. The night was u/full/1982ApJ...255..382H/0000 pedia/commons/6/6b/Hickson_C poor (most are of late), I doubt 382.000.html ompact_Group_59.jpg I'd have picked these up if they were moving normal speed HCG 59C is the largest of the 4 Four asteroids are in the image. across the sky given the poor truly related galaxies though They are moving very slowly as conditions. being somewhat edge on they are at the point in their appears smaller than 59A. It is orbits where they are changing

NASA's Juno Spacecraft to Risk Jupiter's Fireworks for Science

On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles (4,667 kilometers) of the cloud tops of our solar system's largest planet. Launched in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, traveling from pole to pole in about an hour, and coming within 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) of the cloud tops at closest approach. Juno's primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter's formation and evolution. The spacecraft will spend a little over a year investigating the planet's origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's study of Jupiter will help us to understand the history of our own solar system and provide new insight into how planetary systems form and develop in our galaxy and beyond. The Prairie Astronomer 12 Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Okoruso' Drill Hole

This May 11, 2016, self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Okoruso" drilling site on lower Mount Sharp's "Naukluft Plateau." The scene is a mosaic of multiple images taken with the arm-mounted Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI).

The Prairie Astronomer 13 July Observing: What to View Jim Kvasnicka This is a partial list of objects visible for the Double Star Program List upcoming month. Nu Draconis: Equal white pair. Planets Psi Draconis: Light yellow pair. Jupiter: Shines at magnitude -1.9 with a disk 33” 40/41 Draconis: Equal wide in the west. pair of pale yellow stars. Venus: Sets about a half hour after the Sun. Xi Scorpii: Yellow primary Mercury: Becomes visible around mid-month with a pale blue secondary. setting 45 minutes after the Sun. Struve 1999: Two yellow- Mars: Dims to magnitude -0.8 with a disk 13” orange stars. wide. Beta Scorpii: Blue-white primary with a pale Saturn: Dims to magnitude 0.3 in Ophiuchus with blue secondary. the rings open 26° from edge on. Nu Scorpii: Yellow and light blue stars. Uranus / Neptune: In Pisces and Aquarius. Delta Serpentis: Light yellow pair. Theta Serpentis: Blue-white stars. Messier List Challenge Object M3: Class VI globular cluster in Canes Venatici. M4: Class IX globular cluster in Scorpius. NGC 5595 and NGC 5597: A faint pair of M5: Class V globular cluster in Serpens Caput. galaxies in Libra separated by 4’. NGC 5595 is M53: Class V globular cluster in Coma slightly brighter. Berenices. M68: Class X globular cluster in Hydra. M80: Class II globular cluster in Scorpius. M83: Galaxy in Hydra.

Last Month: M58, M59, M60, M84, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, M99, M100 Next Month: M6, M7, M8, M9, M10, M12, M19, M20, M21, M23, M62, M107

NGC and other Deep Sky Objects

NGC 5907: Thin elongated galaxy in Draco. NGC 6543: Cat’s Eye Nebula in Draco. NGC 6369: Little Ghost Nebula in Ophiuchus. NGC 6633: Large loose open cluster in Ophiuchus. NGC 6072: Fairly bright planetary nebula in Scorpius. NGC 6302: Bug Nebula in Scorpius. NGC 6337: Pale blue planetary nebula in Scorpius. IC 4703: Eagle Nebula in Serpens Cauda, M16 is the open cluster.

The Prairie Astronomer 14 Focus on Constellations: Ophiuchus Jim Kvasnicka

Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, is a large medicine in general, is the staff of two intertwined constellation covering 948 square degrees serpents. Aesculapius was so successful that the making it the eleventh largest constellation. Most kingdom of Pluto, god of the Nether World, was of it lies just NW of the southern part of the threatened. Pluto appealed to Zeus, who killed summer Milky Way. The SE wing of the Aesculapius with a thunderbolt. Apollo constellation extends into the Milky Way almost to interceded on his dead son’s behalf with Zeus, the direction toward the Galactic Center. who relented and immortalized Aesculapius in the Because most of our Galaxy’s globular clusters heavens as the constellation Ophiuchus. are distributed around the direction toward the Galactic Center, Ophiuchus is rich in globular Number of Objects Magnitude 12.0 and clusters, which make up most of its showpiece Brighter objects. The constellation Ophiuchus is best seen in July. Galaxies: 1 Globular Clusters: 17 Showpiece Objects Open Clusters: 4 Planetary Nebulae: 8 Globular Clusters: M9, M10, M12, M14, M19, Dark Nebulae: 19 M62, M107 Planetary Nebulae: NGC 6309, NGC 6369 (Little Ghost Nebula), NGC 6572 Open Clusters: NGC 6633 Dark Nebulae: B57, B60, B61, B62, B63, B64, B59/65-7/78 (Pipe Nebula), B72 (Snake Nebula) Multiple Stars: Rho Ophiuchi, Lambda Ophiuchi, 24 Ophiuchi, 36 Ophiuchi, Omicron Ophiuchi

Mythology

Ophiuchus represented the god of medicine Aesculapius, son of Apollo. Aesculapius/Ophiuchus was taught the art of healing by Chiron, the Centaur in the constellation Centaurus. According to one story, when Aesculapius once killed a snake another came along with a medicinal herb in its mouth that revived the first snake. Aesculapius took some of the herb and gained the power to restore life. Hence the symbol of Aesculapius and

Photo: Till Credner - Own work: AlltheSky.com

The Prairie Astronomer 15 Second Gravitational Wave Source Found by LIGO

Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today

This image depicts two black holes just moments before they collided and merged with each other, releasing energy in the form of gravitational waves. Image credit: Numerical Simulations: S. Ossokine and A. Buonanno, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, and the Simulating eXtreme Spacetime (SXS) project. Scientific Visualization: T. Dietrich and R. Haas, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.

Lightning has struck twice – from such an event disturbs the to announce the new maybe three times – and very fabric of space and time, detection, “and with this we scientists from the Laser much like ripples in a pond. can tell you the era of Interferometer Gravitational- Today’s announcement is the gravitational wave astronomy wave Observatory, or LIGO, second set of gravitational wave has begun.” hope this is just the beginning of ripples detected by LIGO, a new era of understanding our following the historic first LIGO’s first detection of Universe. This “lightning” came detection announced in gravitational waves from in the form of the elusive, hard- February of this year. merging black holes occurred to-detect gravitational waves, Sept. 14, 2015 and it produced by gigantic events, “This collision happened 1.5 confirmed a major prediction such as a pair of black holes billion years ago,” said Gabriela of Albert Einstein’s 1915 colliding. The energy released Gonzalez of Louisiana State general theory of relativity. University at a press conference The second detection The Prairie Astronomer 16 occurred on Dec. 25, 2015, and the first detection,” said billion billion. The signal from was recorded by both of the twin Gonzalez. “Because of their the lastest event, named LIGO detectors. lighter masses compared to the GW151226, was produced by first detection, they spent more matter being converted into While the first detection of the time—about one second—in the energy, which literally shook gravitational waves released by sensitive band of the detectors. spacetime like Jello. the violent black hole merger It is a promising start to mapping was just a little “chirp” that lasted the populations of black holes in LIGO team member Fulvio only one-fifth of a second, this our universe.” Ricci, a physicist at the second detection was more of a University of Rome La “whoop” that was visible for an LIGO allows scientists to study Sapienzaa said there was a entire second in the data. Listen the Universe in a new way, third “candidate” detection of in this video. using gravity instead of light. an event in October, which LIGO uses lasers to precisely Ricci said he prefers to call a “This is what we call gravity’s measure the position of mirrors “trigger,” but it was much less music,” said González as she separated from each other by 4 significant and the signal to played the video at today’s press kilometers, about 2.5 miles, at noise not large enough to conference. two locations that are over 3,000 officially count as a detection. km apart, in Livingston, While gravitational waves are Louisiana, and Hanford, But still, the team said, the not sound waves, the Washington. So, LIGO doesn’t two confirmed detections researchers converted the detect the black hole collision point to black holes being gravitational wave’s oscillation event directly, it detects the much more common in the and frequency to a sound wave stretching and compressing of Universe than previously with the same frequency. Why space itself. The detections so believed, and they might were the two events so different? From the data, the researchers concluded the second set of gravitational waves were produced during the final moments of the merger of two black holes that were 14 and 8 times the mass of the Sun, and the collision produced a single, more massive spinning black hole 21 times the mass of the Sun. In comparison, the black holes detected in September 2015 were 36 and 29 times the Sun’s mass, merging into a black hole of 62 solar masses.

The scientists said the higher- An aerial view of LIGO Hanford. (Credit: Gary White/Mark frequency gravitational waves Coles/California Institue of Technology/LIGO/NSF). from the lower-mass black holes hit the LIGO detectors’ “sweet spot” of sensitivity. far are the result of LIGO’s frequently come in pairs. ability to measure the “The second discovery “has “It is very significant that these perturbation of space with an truly put the ‘O’ for black holes were much less accuracy of 1 part in a thousand massive than those observed in Observatory in LIGO,” said

The Prairie Astronomer 17 Albert Lazzarini, deputy director LIGO is now offline for run. Virgo will improve of the LIGO Laboratory at improvements. Its next data- physicists’ ability to locate the Caltech. “With detections of two taking run will begin this fall and source of each new event, by strong events in the four months the improvements in detector comparing millisecond-scale of our first observing run, we can sensitivity could allow LIGO to differences in the arrival time begin to make predictions about reach as much as 1.5 to two of incoming gravitational wave how often we might be hearing times more of the volume of the signals. gravitational waves in the future. universe compared with the first LIGO is bringing us a new way run. A third site, the Virgo In the meantime, you can help to observe some of the darkest detector located near Pisa, Italy, the LIGO team with the yet most energetic events in our with a design similar to the twin Gravity Spy citizen science universe.” LIGO detectors, is expected to project through Zooniverse. come online during the latter half of LIGO’s upcoming observation

Hubble's Bubble Lights up the Interstellar Rubble

This article is provided by NASA Space Place. Ethan Siegel With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov to explore space and Earth science!

When isolated stars like our perhaps the classic example of creating this bubble emits Sun reach the end of their lives, this phenomenon. At a distance stellar winds at approximately they're expected to blow off of 7,100 light years away in the 1700 km/s, or 0.6% the speed their outer layers in a roughly constellation of Cassiopeia, a of light. As those winds slam spherical configuration: a molecular gas cloud is actively into the material in the planetary nebula. But the most forming stars, including the interstellar medium, they push it spectacular bubbles don't come massive O-class star BD+60 outwards. The bubble itself from gas-and-plasma getting 2522, which itself is a appears off-center from the star expelled into otherwise empty magnitude +8.7 star despite its due to the asymmetry of the space, but from young, hot great distance and its presence surrounding interstellar medium stars whose radiation pushes in a dusty region of space. with a greater density of cold against the gaseous nebulae in Shining with a temperature of gas on the "short" side than on which they were born. While 37,500 K and a luminosity the longer one. The blue color most of our Sun's energy is nearly 400,000 times that of our is due to the emission from found in the visible part of the Sun, it ionizes and evaporates partially ionized oxygen atoms, spectrum, more massive stars off all the molecular material while the cooler yellow color burn at hotter temperatures, within a sphere 7 light years in highlights the dual presence of producing more ionizing, diameter. The bubble structure hydrogen (red) and nitrogen ultraviolet light, and also at itself, when viewed from a dark (green). higher luminosities. A star some sky location, can be seen 40-45 times the mass of the through an amateur telescope The star itself at the core of the Sun, for example, might emits with an aperture as small as 8" nebula is currently fusing energy at a rate hundreds of (20 cm). helium at its center. It is thousands of times as great as expected to live only another 10 our own star. As viewed by Hubble, the million years or so before dying thickness of the bubble wall is in a spectacular Type II The Bubble Nebula, discovered both apparent and spectacular. supernova explosion. in 1787 by William Herschel, is A star as massive as the one

The Prairie Astronomer 18 Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), of the Bubble Nebula as imaged 229 years after its discovery by William Herschel.

The Prairie Astronomer 19 Cassini Spots Disruption in Saturn’s Narrow F Ring

A bright disruption in Saturn's study these stealthy sculptors of California Institute of narrow F ring suggests it may the F ring. Technology in Pasadena, have been disturbed recently. manages the mission for This feature was mostly likely The image was taken in visible NASA's Science Mission not caused by Pandora (50 light with the Cassini spacecraft Directorate, Washington. The miles or 81 kilometers across) narrow-angle camera on April 8, Cassini orbiter and its two which lurks nearby, at lower 2016. onboard cameras were right. More likely, it was created designed, developed and The view was acquired at a by the interaction of a small assembled at JPL. The distance of approximately 1.4 object embedded in the ring imaging operations center is million miles (2.2 million itself and material in the core of based at the Space Science kilometers) from Saturn and at a the ring. Scientists sometimes Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or refer to these features as "jets." phase, angle of 105 degrees. For more information about Because these bodies are small Image scale is 8 miles (13 the Cassini-Huygens mission and embedded in the F ring kilometers) per pixel. visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov itself, they are difficult to spot at and The Cassini mission is a the resolution available to http://www.nasa.gov/cassini. cooperative project of NASA, NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The Cassini imaging team ESA (the European Space Instead, their handiwork reveals homepage is at Agency) and the Italian Space their presence, and scientists http://ciclops.org. Agency. The Jet Propulsion use the Cassini spacecraft to Laboratory, a division of the

The Prairie Astronomer 20 From the Archives: June 29, 1982

The Prairie Astronomer 21 CLUB MEMBERSHIP INFO CLUB OFFICERS

REGULAR MEMBER - $30.00 per year. Includes President Jim Kvasnicka (402) 423-7390 club newsletter, and 1 vote at club meetings, plus all [email protected] other standard club privileges. Vice President Brett Boller FAMILY MEMBER - $35.00 per year. Same as [email protected] regular member except gets 2 votes at club meetings. 2nd VP Beth Jenckes (Program [email protected] STUDENT MEMBER - $10.00 per year with Chair) volunteer requirement. Secretary Lee Taylor [email protected] If you renew your membership prior to your annual renewal date, you will receive a 10% discount. Treasurer John Reinert [email protected] Club members are also eligible for special subscription discounts on Sky & Telescope Club Observing Jim Kvasnicka Magazine. Chair [email protected]

Outreach Dan Delzell CLUB TELESCOPES Coordinator [email protected] To check out one of the club telescopes, please contact a club officer. Scopes can be checked out at a regular Website and Mark Dahmke Newsletter [email protected] club meeting and kept for one month. Checkout can Editor be extended for another month if there are no other requests for the telescope, but you must notify a club officer in advance. 100mm Orion refractor: David Pennington The Prairie Astronomer is published monthly 10 inch Meade Dobsonian: Lee Taylor by the Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc. 13 inch Truss Dobsonian: Available Membership expiration date is listed on the mailing label. Membership dues are: Regular $30/yr, Family $35/yr. Address all new memberships and renewals to: The Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc., PO Box 5585, Lincoln, NE 68505-0585. For other club information, please contact one of the club CLUB APPAREL officers listed to the right. Newsletter Order club comments and articles should be submitted to: apparel from Mark Dahmke, P. O. Box 5585, Lincoln, NE cafepress.com: 68505 or [email protected], no less than ten days prior to the club meeting. The Prairie Astronomy Club meets the last Tuesday of each month at Hyde Memorial Observatory in Lincoln, NE.

Shop through Amazon Smile to automatically donate to PAC: The Prairie Astronomer 22