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Percival Lowell Society: Joe Sims Wanted to Be an Astronomer, Maybe Even Belt Asteroids, and Neos

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Percival Lowell Society: Joe Sims Wanted to Be an Astronomer, Maybe Even Belt Asteroids, and Neos THE LOWELL EXPANDING OUR UNIVERSE OBSERVER The quarterly newsletter of Lowell Observatory Issue 98 Fall 2013 (Right) Nick Moskovitz poses in front Nick Moskovitz of the SOAR 4-m telescope on Cerro Pachon in Chile, where he was Coming to Lowell observing near-Earth asteroids. The by Tom Vitron figure below illustrates the sheer size of various NEOs. The meteor from the Chelyabinsk event was only slightly smaller than the DCT dome, On February 15th, Earth and more than three times as large witnessed two close-up Near-Earth Object as “Big Red”, Percival Lowell’s 1911 (NEO) events, a predicted nearby pass and Model Y Stevens-Duryea touring the Chelyabinsk, Siberia event. Questions car. The Barringer Meteor created Meteor Crater in Arizona, whereas arose immediately: were the two events the Tunguska Comet explosion was related? What kind of meteor was seen the largest impact event on or near brilliantly exploding in the numerous car Earth in recorded history, occurring dashboard videos from Siberia? When the in 1908 near the Podkamennaya world went looking for answers, one of the Tunguska River in Siberia. leading experts quoted was astronomer Nick Moskovitz of MIT, who will be joining Lowell in 2014. “I was at Kitt Peak [National Observatory near Tucson] to see the flyby as we had one chance to try to see it well,” recounts Dr. Moskovitz. “We had some interviews that night about the flyby and [the interviewers] started asking about Chelyabinsk. I hadn’t heard much yet. We were able to see news about the event more 100m 56.3m 50m 18.9m 17m 12.8m 4.9m closely in the night. It added to the whole excitement. For weeks, there were some going on out in our Solar System are so With a distant eye on possibly still heated emails about the flyby and meteor tied to our existence, the origin of life and joining the astronaut corps (since he being related or not. I was pretty sure there such. That’s the most interesting thing to points out that the average acceptance age was no connection.” me,” says Dr. Moskovitz. “We can send is 37/38), Dr. Moskovitz is eager to take The clear skies of rural California had spacecraft to [solar system bodies]! These advantage of Arizona’s dark skies. a big impact on Dr. Moskovitz’s youth. are geologic playgrounds that we can send When he worked the night shift in high robots to and analyze the surface. We will IN THIS ISSUE school, he made it a habit to pull over to never send spacecraft outside our galaxy.” the side of the road after work and take a Focusing on what interested him 1 Nick Moskovitz Coming to Lowell star chart out so he could learn the sky. By most, Dr. Moskovitz gravitated to small 2 Director’s Update bodies like Kuiper Belt Objects, Main his junior year of high school, he knew he 3 Percival Lowell Society: Joe Sims wanted to be an astronomer, maybe even Belt Asteroids, and NEOs. “Astronomy an astronaut. is trending towards exploring the time 4 Comet ISON is Coming! Still not fully settled on planetary domain and evolution over time. NEOs are 4 Early Science with the DCT science when he arrived at the University perfect laboratories for testing phenomena. 5 Breaking Ground of Hawaii for graduate school, Dr. It’s important to keep the big picture in Moskovitz took advantage of its diverse mind. [NEOs and other small bodies] are 6 The Evolving Universe astronomy department to try several areas. not worth studying if you’re not thinking of 7 Lowell Webcam Debuts But planetary science would prevail. “It how they inform the evolution of the Solar 8 Upcoming Events came down to the fact that things that are System,” he adds. 2 THE LOWELL OBSERVER | Fall 2013 the past several years in hiring Then there is the mission, which is research into tenure-track positions question of what we will be and discovery in astronomy our scientific staff’s very top studying. Our astronomers and planetary sciences. All choices; in January 2014, Dr. enjoy a scientific blank check our friends and supporters Nick Moskovitz, yet another to pursue the topics that continue to play a vital role in top choice, will join our staff, interest them the most. I am enabling us to carry out that reinforcing our long-standing very much inclined to keep mission, a role that takes on excellence of research on things that way, but it still increasing importance as we small solar system bodies and doesn’t hurt to explore some work to diversify the sources near-Earth asteroids. options. Do we diversify into of support for our science. Our staff will — if new areas or expertise? Build Director’s We’ll keep you up to date our attempts to engineer on existing ones? How do we Update it bear fruit — labor work with our partners to on how these deliberations progress as we go into 2014 by Jeffrey Hall under somewhat reduced maximize our mutual interests dependence on federal grants and expertise? and our new telescope comes for their salaries. We aim At the center of all increasingly close to full A few weeks ago, I not to eliminate working these conversations will be science operations. Thank was talking with our Deputy through and with today’s the preservation and vitality you for supporting our second Director for Science, Deidre mainstream system, for doing of the centerpiece of our century of discovery! Hunter, about agenda items so is healthy and maintains for a staff meeting, and she competitiveness. But we do The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and its interacting companion mentioned we needed to wish to reduce the proposal- (NGC 5195) are among the best-known astronomical objects. M51 is located about 7.7 Mpc (25 million light- be thinking about what we writing burden around here years) away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The bright want Lowell Observatory to and to enable our staff to blue fuzzy objects are recently-formed star clusters. This look like scientifically in ten pursue projects that might to twenty years — a “science image was taken as part of the commissioning process be precluded because they with the Large Monolithic Imager on the Discovery Channel master plan” for Lowell as it are difficult to get funded, Telescope. This color composite came from seven 1-min were. perhaps because they are risky exposures in B and R, and five 1-min exposures in V. It will take us some time or speculative, or because Image credit: Massey/Neugent/Lowell Observatory/NSF to sort that out, but there are the accepted wisdom is that a few things that can be said we already know the answer, up front. or because they are simply By that time, we should unglamorous. have a formidable suite of Beyond these items, observing facilities: The the crystal ball becomes Discovery Channel Telescope a bit murkier. Perhaps we should be long since into will have a larger graduate full operations, delivering upwards of 300 science nights student presence, building per year for Lowell and our on the predoctoral program partner institutions; we hope started some years ago with the Navy Precision Optical substantial success by Lisa Interferometer will be peering Prato and Will Grundy. skyward with greatly increased Maybe our tenured and sensitivity; and we will surely tenure-track staff itself will be observing with a diverse have grown or perhaps we will set of current, planned, and have made an effort to expand not-yet-imagined instruments our intellectual environment — perhaps even telescopes — through expanded capacity of wonderful accuracy and to host researchers on precision. sabbaticals or in visiting We will continue to positions. Maybe we have have a science staff of the first expanded infrastructure to rank. We have been successful accommodate these activities. THE LOWELL OBSERVER | Fall 2013 3 Eager to share one of his passions of Percival Lowell science with students, Joe initiated an Society: Joe Sims after-school meteorology club for those interested in grades three through five. by Tom Vitron After the January 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle accident, and the popular arrival A great journey on the mighty of Comet Halley, the class turned into an iron horse (a.k.a. railroad) brought astronomy club due to a greater interest pioneers westward, including Percival in the subject. “During the life of the Lowell and the Clark Telescope to club, I was able to take students along Flagstaff in the mid-to-late 1890s. A with their parents down to Florida’s similar journey brought Percival Lowell Space Camp on three occasions and one Society member Joe Sims and his mother time to Huntsville, AL where at the time Marjorie to Mars Hill a century later for (early 1990s) we toured Marshall Space an immersive and unforgettable visit in Center and observed the current space (Above) Joe Sims and his mother Marjorie at 1998. station being developed.” Joe also put in extra hours to assist the award-winning the Flagstaff train station after visiting Lowell “We set out for Lowell taking the in June, 1998. (Below) Marjorie looking school newsletter and develop a morning southern passageway and upon leaving through Lowell’s solar telescope. Flagstaff would return via the northern news program, other non-traditional route,” recalls Joe, a retired schoolteacher educational vehicles to extend learning who taught for 30 years in South beyond the classroom. “The reason I began these clubs was to give as many Carolina. “We stayed in Flagstaff for a students as possible an opportunity to week, seeing the Grand Canyon, Meteor experience something they may never Crater, and visiting Lowell daily day and have gotten to do otherwise,” says Joe.
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