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BRAS Newsletter August 2013
www.brastro.org August 2013 Next meeting Aug 12th 7:00PM at the HRPO Dark Site Observing Dates: Primary on Aug. 3rd, Secondary on Aug. 10th Photo credit: Saturn taken on 20” OGS + Orion Starshoot - Ben Toman 1 What's in this issue: PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE....................................................................................................................3 NOTES FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT ............................................................................................4 MESSAGE FROM THE HRPO …....................................................................................................5 MONTHLY OBSERVING NOTES ....................................................................................................6 OUTREACH CHAIRPERSON’S NOTES .........................................................................................13 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION .......................................................................................................14 2 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Hi Everyone, I hope you’ve been having a great Summer so far and had luck beating the heat as much as possible. The weather sure hasn’t been cooperative for observing, though! First I have a pretty cool announcement. Thanks to the efforts of club member Walt Cooney, there are 5 newly named asteroids in the sky. (53256) Sinitiere - Named for former BRAS Treasurer Bob Sinitiere (74439) Brenden - Named for founding member Craig Brenden (85878) Guzik - Named for LSU professor T. Greg Guzik (101722) Pursell - Named for founding member Wally Pursell -
An Intriguing Globular Cluster in the Galactic Bulge from the VVV Survey ? D
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. minni48_vf5 ©ESO 2021 June 29, 2021 An Intriguing Globular Cluster in the Galactic Bulge from the VVV Survey ? D. Minniti1; 2, T. Palma3, D. Camargo4, M. Chijani-Saballa1, J. Alonso-García5; 6, J. J. Clariá3, B. Dias7, M. Gómez1, J. B. Pullen1, and R. K. Saito8 1 Departamento de Ciencias Físicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Fernández Concha 700, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile 2 Vatican Observatory, Vatican City State, V-00120, Italy 3 Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Laprida 854, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina 4 Colégio Militar de Porto Alegre, Ministério da Defesa, Av. José Bonifácio 363, Porto Alegre, 90040-130, RS, Brazil 5 Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta, Av. Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile 6 Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Nuncio Monseñor Sotero Sanz 100, Of. 104, Providencia, Santiago, Chile 7 Instituto de Alta Investigación, Sede Iquique, Universidad de Tarapacá, Av. Luis Emilio Recabarren 2477, Iquique, Chile 8 Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Trindade 88040-900, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Received ; Accepted ABSTRACT Context. Globular clusters (GCs) are the oldest objects known in the Milky Way so each discovery of a new GC is astrophysically important. In the inner Galactic bulge regions these objects are difficult to find due to extreme crowding and extinction. However, recent near-IR Surveys have discovered a number of new bulge GC candidates that need to be further investigated. Aims. Our main objective is to use public data from the Gaia Mission, the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV), the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in order to measure the physical parameters of Minni 48, a new candidate globular star cluster located in the inner bulge of the Milky Way at l = 359:35 deg, b = 2:79 deg. -
Planetary Nebula IC 5148 and Its Ionized Halo? D
A&A 620, A84 (2018) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833981 & © ESO 2018 Astrophysics Planetary nebula IC 5148 and its ionized halo? D. Barría1, S. Kimeswenger1,2, W. Kausch2, and D. S. Goldman3 1 Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte, Av. Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile e-mail: [email protected] 2 Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Leopold–Franzens Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria 3 Astrodon Imaging, 407 Tyrolean Court. Roseville, California, 95661, USA Received 29 July 2018 / Accepted 2 October 2018 ABSTRACT Context. Many round or roundish planetary nebulae (PNe) show multiple shells and halo structures during their evolutionary stage near the maximum temperature of their central star. Controversial debate is ongoing if these structures are recombination halos, as suggested by hydrodynamic modeling efforts, or ionized material. Recently, we discovered a halo with somewhat unusual structures around the sparsely studied PN IC 5148 and present for the first time spectroscopy going out to the halo of such a PN. Aims. We investigate the spatial distribution of material and its ionization state from the center of the nebula up to the very outskirts of the halo. Methods. We obtained long-slit low resolution spectroscopy (FORS2 at VLT) of the nebula in two position angles, which we used to investigate the nebular structure and its halo in the optical range from 450 to 880 nm. In addition we used medium resolution spectra taken with X-shooter at VLT ranging from 320 nm to 2.4 µm to derive atmospheric parameters for the central star. We obtained the distance and position in the Galaxy from various methods combined with Gaia DR2 data. -
198 7Apj. . .312L. .11J the Astrophysical Journal, 312:L11-L15
.11J The Astrophysical Journal, 312:L11-L15,1987 January 1 .312L. © 1987. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. 7ApJ. 198 INTERSTELLAR DUST IN SHAPLEY-AMES ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES M. Jura and D. W. Kim Department of Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles AND G. R. Knapp and P. Guhathakurta Princeton University Observatory Received 1986 August 11; accepted 1986 September 30 ABSTRACT We have co-added the IRAS survey data at the positions of the brightest elliptical galaxies in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog to increase the sensitivity over that of the IRAS Point Source Catalog. More than half of 7 8 the galaxies (with Bj< \\ mag) are detected at 100 /xm with flux levels indicating, typically, 10 or 10 M0 of cold interstellar matter. The presence of cold gas in ellipticals thus appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Subject headings: galaxies: general — infrared: sources I. INTRODUCTION infrared emission from the elliptical galaxy in the line of sight. The traditional view of early-type galaxies is that they are Our criteria for a real detection are as follows: essentially free of interstellar matter. However, with advances 1. The optical position of the galaxy and the position of the in instrumental sensitivity, it has become possible to observe IRAS source agree to better than V. (The agreement is usually 21 cm emission (Knapp, Turner, and Cunniffe 1985; Wardle much better than T.) and Knapp 1986), optical dust patches (Sadler and Gerhard 2. The flux is at least 3 times the r.m.s. noise. -
Winter Constellations
Winter Constellations *Orion *Canis Major *Monoceros *Canis Minor *Gemini *Auriga *Taurus *Eradinus *Lepus *Monoceros *Cancer *Lynx *Ursa Major *Ursa Minor *Draco *Camelopardalis *Cassiopeia *Cepheus *Andromeda *Perseus *Lacerta *Pegasus *Triangulum *Aries *Pisces *Cetus *Leo (rising) *Hydra (rising) *Canes Venatici (rising) Orion--Myth: Orion, the great hunter. In one myth, Orion boasted he would kill all the wild animals on the earth. But, the earth goddess Gaia, who was the protector of all animals, produced a gigantic scorpion, whose body was so heavily encased that Orion was unable to pierce through the armour, and was himself stung to death. His companion Artemis was greatly saddened and arranged for Orion to be immortalised among the stars. Scorpius, the scorpion, was placed on the opposite side of the sky so that Orion would never be hurt by it again. To this day, Orion is never seen in the sky at the same time as Scorpius. DSO’s ● ***M42 “Orion Nebula” (Neb) with Trapezium A stellar nursery where new stars are being born, perhaps a thousand stars. These are immense clouds of interstellar gas and dust collapse inward to form stars, mainly of ionized hydrogen which gives off the red glow so dominant, and also ionized greenish oxygen gas. The youngest stars may be less than 300,000 years old, even as young as 10,000 years old (compared to the Sun, 4.6 billion years old). 1300 ly. 1 ● *M43--(Neb) “De Marin’s Nebula” The star-forming “comma-shaped” region connected to the Orion Nebula. ● *M78--(Neb) Hard to see. A star-forming region connected to the Orion Nebula. -
Arxiv:0807.0009V2
Draft version October 29, 2018 A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 08/22/09 THE RESOLVED PROPERTIES OF EXTRAGALACTIC GIANT MOLECULAR CLOUDS Alberto D. Bolatto1, Adam K. Leroy2, Erik Rosolowsky3,4, Fabian Walter2, & Leo Blitz5 Draft version October 29, 2018 ABSTRACT We use high spatial resolution observations of CO to systematically measure the resolved size-line width, luminosity-line width, luminosity-size, and the mass-luminosity relations of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in a variety of extragalactic systems. Although the data are heterogeneous we analyze them in a consistent manner to remove the biases introduced by limited sensitivity and resolution, thus obtaining reliable sizes, velocity dispersions, and luminosities. We compare the results obtained in dwarf galaxies with those from the Local Group spiral galaxies. We find that extragalactic GMC properties measured across a wide range of environments are very much compatible with those in the Galaxy. The property that shows the largest variability is their resolved brightness temperature, although even that is similar to the average Galactic value in most sources. We use these results to investigate metallicity trends in the cloud average column density and virial CO-to-H2 factor. We find that these measurements do not accord with simple predictions from photoionization-regulated star formation theory, although this could be due to the fact that we do not sample small enough spatial scales or the full gravitational potential of the molecular cloud. We also find that the virial CO-to-H2 conversion factor in CO-bright GMCs is very similar to Galactic, and that the excursions do not show a measurable metallicity trend. -
Long-Period Variables in NGC 147 and NGC 185⋆
A&A 532, A78 (2011) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201116951 & c ESO 2011 Astrophysics Long-period variables in NGC 147 and NGC 185 D. Lorenz1, T. Lebzelter1,W.Nowotny1, J. Telting2, F. Kerschbaum1,H.Olofsson3,4, and H. E. Schwarz 1 University of Vienna, Department of Astronomy, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] 2 Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain 3 Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden 4 Onsala Space Observatory, 43992 Onsala, Sweden Received 24 March 2011 / Accepted 25 May 2011 ABSTRACT Context. Previous studies on the stellar content of the two nearby dwarf galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185 reveal a rich population of late-type giants in both systems, including a large number of carbon-rich objects. These stars are known to show pronounced photo- metric variability, which can be used for a more detailed characterisation of these highly evolved stars. Owing to their well-studied parameters, these Local Group members are ideal candidates for comparative studies. Aims. Through photometric monitoring, we attempt to provide a catalogue of long-period variables (LPVs), including Mira variables, semi-regular variables, and even irregular variables in NGC 147 and NGC 185. We investigate the light variations and compare the characteristics of these two LPV populations with the results found for other galaxies, such as the LMC. Methods. We carried out time-series photometry in the i-band of the two target galaxies with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), covering a time span of ≈2.5 years. -
Spatial Distribution of Galactic Globular Clusters: Distance Uncertainties and Dynamical Effects
Juliana Crestani Ribeiro de Souza Spatial Distribution of Galactic Globular Clusters: Distance Uncertainties and Dynamical Effects Porto Alegre 2017 Juliana Crestani Ribeiro de Souza Spatial Distribution of Galactic Globular Clusters: Distance Uncertainties and Dynamical Effects Dissertação elaborada sob orientação do Prof. Dr. Eduardo Luis Damiani Bica, co- orientação do Prof. Dr. Charles José Bon- ato e apresentada ao Instituto de Física da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul em preenchimento do requisito par- cial para obtenção do título de Mestre em Física. Porto Alegre 2017 Acknowledgements To my parents, who supported me and made this possible, in a time and place where being in a university was just a distant dream. To my dearest friends Elisabeth, Robert, Augusto, and Natália - who so many times helped me go from "I give up" to "I’ll try once more". To my cats Kira, Fen, and Demi - who lazily join me in bed at the end of the day, and make everything worthwhile. "But, first of all, it will be necessary to explain what is our idea of a cluster of stars, and by what means we have obtained it. For an instance, I shall take the phenomenon which presents itself in many clusters: It is that of a number of lucid spots, of equal lustre, scattered over a circular space, in such a manner as to appear gradually more compressed towards the middle; and which compression, in the clusters to which I allude, is generally carried so far, as, by imperceptible degrees, to end in a luminous center, of a resolvable blaze of light." William Herschel, 1789 Abstract We provide a sample of 170 Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs) and analyse its spatial distribution properties. -
Ghost Hunt Challenge 2020
Virtual Ghost Hunt Challenge 10/21 /2020 (Sorry we can meet in person this year or give out awards but try doing this challenge on your own.) Participant’s Name _________________________ Categories for the competition: Manual Telescope Electronically Aided Telescope Binocular Astrophotography (best photo) (if you expect to compete in more than one category please fill-out a sheet for each) ** There are four objects on this list that may be beyond the reach of beginning astronomers or basic telescopes. Therefore, we have marked these objects with an * and provided alternate replacements for you just below the designated entry. We will use the primary objects to break a tie if that’s needed. Page 1 TAS Ghost Hunt Challenge - Page 2 Time # Designation Type Con. RA Dec. Mag. Size Common Name Observed Facing West – 7:30 8:30 p.m. 1 M17 EN Sgr 18h21’ -16˚11’ 6.0 40’x30’ Omega Nebula 2 M16 EN Ser 18h19’ -13˚47 6.0 17’ by 14’ Ghost Puppet Nebula 3 M10 GC Oph 16h58’ -04˚08’ 6.6 20’ 4 M12 GC Oph 16h48’ -01˚59’ 6.7 16’ 5 M51 Gal CVn 13h30’ 47h05’’ 8.0 13.8’x11.8’ Whirlpool Facing West - 8:30 – 9:00 p.m. 6 M101 GAL UMa 14h03’ 54˚15’ 7.9 24x22.9’ 7 NGC 6572 PN Oph 18h12’ 06˚51’ 7.3 16”x13” Emerald Eye 8 NGC 6426 GC Oph 17h46’ 03˚10’ 11.0 4.2’ 9 NGC 6633 OC Oph 18h28’ 06˚31’ 4.6 20’ Tweedledum 10 IC 4756 OC Ser 18h40’ 05˚28” 4.6 39’ Tweedledee 11 M26 OC Sct 18h46’ -09˚22’ 8.0 7.0’ 12 NGC 6712 GC Sct 18h54’ -08˚41’ 8.1 9.8’ 13 M13 GC Her 16h42’ 36˚25’ 5.8 20’ Great Hercules Cluster 14 NGC 6709 OC Aql 18h52’ 10˚21’ 6.7 14’ Flying Unicorn 15 M71 GC Sge 19h55’ 18˚50’ 8.2 7’ 16 M27 PN Vul 20h00’ 22˚43’ 7.3 8’x6’ Dumbbell Nebula 17 M56 GC Lyr 19h17’ 30˚13 8.3 9’ 18 M57 PN Lyr 18h54’ 33˚03’ 8.8 1.4’x1.1’ Ring Nebula 19 M92 GC Her 17h18’ 43˚07’ 6.44 14’ 20 M72 GC Aqr 20h54’ -12˚32’ 9.2 6’ Facing West - 9 – 10 p.m. -
National Observatories
Sidney C Wolff NOAO/DIR NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORIES NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORIES Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Kitt Peak National Observatory National Solar Observatory La Serena, Chile Tucson, Arizona 85726 Sunspot, New Mexico 88349 ANNUAL REPORT October 1996 - September 1997 October 30,1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS L INTRODUCTION IL AURA BOARD m. SCffiNTDJIC PROGRAM A. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 1. The Search for High Z Supernovae 2. Nearby Stars and Planets 2 B. Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) 3 1. The History of Star Formation in Distant Galaxies 3 2. Oxygen Abundance and the Age of the Universe 4 3. The Age of Elliptical Galaxies - Is There Enough Time? 5 C. National Solar Observatory (NSO) 5 1. Results from GONG 5 2. High-Resolution Images of Solar Magnetic Fields 6 3. Active Optics Control Loop Closed at the Sac Peak Vacuum Tower Telescope 7 IV. DIVISION OPERATIONS 7 A. CTIO 7 Telescope Upgrades and Instrumentation 7 1. 4-m Upgrades 8 2. Major Instrumentation Efforts 9 3. SOAR 4-m Telescope Project 9 4. CCD Implementation and ARCON Controller Development 10 5. Existing Small General-User Telescopes on Cerro Tololo 10 6. New "Tenant" Installations and Upgrades 10 7. Other 11 B. KPNO 12 1. Image Quality Improvements 12 2. WTYN Queue Observing Experiment 12 3. WTYN 13 4. KPNO Instrumentation Improvements 14 5. Burrell-Schmidt 14 C. NSO 15 1. Kitt Peak 15 2. Sacramento Peak 17 3. Digital Library Development 21 D. USGP/ScOpe 21 E. NOAO Instrumentation 25 1. CCD Mosaic Imager 26 2. -
Astronomy Magazine Special Issue
γ ι ζ γ δ α κ β κ ε γ β ρ ε ζ υ α φ ψ ω χ α π χ φ γ ω ο ι δ κ α ξ υ λ τ μ β α σ θ ε β σ δ γ ψ λ ω σ η ν θ Aι must-have for all stargazers η δ μ NEW EDITION! ζ λ β ε η κ NGC 6664 NGC 6539 ε τ μ NGC 6712 α υ δ ζ M26 ν NGC 6649 ψ Struve 2325 ζ ξ ATLAS χ α NGC 6604 ξ ο ν ν SCUTUM M16 of the γ SERP β NGC 6605 γ V450 ξ η υ η NGC 6645 M17 φ θ M18 ζ ρ ρ1 π Barnard 92 ο χ σ M25 M24 STARS M23 ν β κ All-in-one introduction ALL NEW MAPS WITH: to the night sky 42,000 more stars (87,000 plotted down to magnitude 8.5) AND 150+ more deep-sky objects (more than 1,200 total) The Eagle Nebula (M16) combines a dark nebula and a star cluster. In 100+ this intense region of star formation, “pillars” form at the boundaries spectacular between hot and cold gas. You’ll find this object on Map 14, a celestial portion of which lies above. photos PLUS: How to observe star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies AS2-CV0610.indd 1 6/10/10 4:17 PM NEW EDITION! AtlAs Tour the night sky of the The staff of Astronomy magazine decided to This atlas presents produce its first star atlas in 2006. -
A Basic Requirement for Studying the Heavens Is Determining Where In
Abasic requirement for studying the heavens is determining where in the sky things are. To specify sky positions, astronomers have developed several coordinate systems. Each uses a coordinate grid projected on to the celestial sphere, in analogy to the geographic coordinate system used on the surface of the Earth. The coordinate systems differ only in their choice of the fundamental plane, which divides the sky into two equal hemispheres along a great circle (the fundamental plane of the geographic system is the Earth's equator) . Each coordinate system is named for its choice of fundamental plane. The equatorial coordinate system is probably the most widely used celestial coordinate system. It is also the one most closely related to the geographic coordinate system, because they use the same fun damental plane and the same poles. The projection of the Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere is called the celestial equator. Similarly, projecting the geographic poles on to the celest ial sphere defines the north and south celestial poles. However, there is an important difference between the equatorial and geographic coordinate systems: the geographic system is fixed to the Earth; it rotates as the Earth does . The equatorial system is fixed to the stars, so it appears to rotate across the sky with the stars, but of course it's really the Earth rotating under the fixed sky. The latitudinal (latitude-like) angle of the equatorial system is called declination (Dec for short) . It measures the angle of an object above or below the celestial equator. The longitud inal angle is called the right ascension (RA for short).