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March 2020 March the Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club March 2020 March The Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club More on Edited by Adam Thanz this image. See FN1 Chapter 1 Cosmic Reflections William Troxel - BMAC Chair More on this image. See FN2 William Troxel More on Cosmic Reflections this image. See FN3 Greetings BMACers. March is here. The other day I was reading Planetarium, this was why I asked Adam and Jason if we could an article while getting my tires changed. It was about the do a program. If you did not get to come attend, and if the concept of time in our society. The article expressed that we, as members want, I will try to get another meeting in the future to Earth people, feel like we have less time. Because we are highlight the theater again. amateur astronomers, we understand time in a bit broader field. I March is a real busy month. You know that we will be holding our am not sure where I heard the following, however "We all have SunWatch solar viewing on clear Saturdays and Sundays thru the same amount of time, it is more about how we chose to the last week of October. The official time is 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. spend the time we have." I want to encourage each of you to at the Dam. If the weather is poor, the SunWatch is cancelled. always face each day learning as much as you can. March also starts the Spring session of the StarWatch night The February meeting had a wonderful turnout and we enjoyed viewing programs on the Saturday evenings of March and April one of the wonderful shows in the Park's Planetarium. Jason was starting at dusk. If poor weather, a tour of the night sky will take the host. The show's title was "Einsteins Gravity Playlist." place in the planetarium theater. Both of these programs are Following the show Jason pulled up the night sky as it would be open to the public. outside had we had a clear night. One of the very cool features Don't forget that we (the club) hosts these public viewings. You about the Park’s Planetarium is that we were able to show the are welcome to come out and enjoy, but if you would like to help skies of the southern hemisphere. Judging from the sounds I and be a host, you must go through the park’s volunteer heard when the dome seemed to move I think everyone was program. Contact Adam or Jason and they will get you started impressed as I. (Note: I was one of those making noises.) with the process. Many of our new members shared with me that they had not had the chance to come out and see one the programs in the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter March 2020 3 I also want to tell you about our speaker this month. March welcomes Noah Frère. He is finishing his Masters from UT Knoxville and he's a member of the Smokey Mountain Astronomical Society, the Knoxville Observers and O.R.I.O.N. He will speak about “The Purple Edge Problem.” This is Noah’s thesis for his Masters in Astrophysics degree. Many of you may recall Noah from a past StarFest. I hope you will plan on coming out and giving him a big BMAC welcome. Please feel free to bring your questions. The meeting will be March 6th at 7 p.m. in the Discovery Theater classroom on the lower level of the Bays Mountain Park Nature Center. Until next time, this is your chairman wishing for each of you… Clear skies. 4 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter March 2020 Chapter 2 BMAC Notes More on this image. See FN4 More on BMAC News this image. See FN3 Sad News For eclipse-chasers, the mention of TSE 2021 brings up I’m sorry to say that new BMAC member Jim Harrington passed logistically and climatologically challenging visions of either an away in mid January. I didn’t know much about him as he inland trans-Antarctic trek for 48s of totality near the edge of the recently joined the club a few months ago. He and his wife path of totality, or a protracted sea-bound voyage through pack- moved to our area about a year or so ago. Upon finishing getting ice strewn passages under quite oft-cloudy skies. settled, he wanted to get back into helping with public observing For those who have been hopefully awaiting a less daunting and events. He just finished going through the volunteer orientation much higher-probability-of-success alternative for a TSE 2021 and was going to start helping with this next StarWatch season. I viewing opportunity, we are now very pleased to announce we think he would have done well. [Ed.] have have designed, engineered, and matured just the ticket - from 39,000 feet above the surface of the Earth in a specially chartered Airbus A321-200 aircraft to be launched from Punta EFLIGHT 2021 Total Solar Eclipse Flight 04 Arenas, Chile. December 2021 Our eclipse-viewing-optimized "EFLIGHT 2021-SUNRISE" will centrally intercept the Moon's umbral shadow at mid-eclipse for An advance time-sensitive opportunity to secure your space... 1m 45s of totality as it descends upon the Earth soon after local Knowing your deep interest in TSE (Total Solar Eclipse) 04 sunrise. With the totally-eclipsed Sun majestically standing seven December 2021, herein is our 'cure' for the isolation, solar diameters above the apparent horizon, totality will be remoteness, and access challenges that otherwise characterize framed in the dark horizontal tunnel of the the conical lunar its path of totality. umbra as it sweeps over the northern Scotia sea enveloping our aircraft. This will be a dramatically amazing sight to behold the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter March 2020 6 corona from the clear dark skies and rarified air above 80% of the Earth's atmosphere. For a full and detailed technical description of our EFLIGHT 2021- SUNRISE dedicated ~ 5-1/2 hour end-to-end duration eclipse- charter plans see: https://tinyurl.com/EFLIGHT2021 Participation (and seat-row selection) on the flight will limited by the number of available sun-side windows for eclipse viewing and will be on a first-come/first-serve basis. (When they are gone, they are gone!) For information on securing space see: questions? --> reserve your space: Tim Todd (TEI), [email protected]; 1-925-825-6104 questions? --> technical contact: Glenn Schneider, [email protected]; 1-520-621-5865 Cheers and Clear Skies (of course, from 39,000 feet!; See you on- board), Glenn Schneider, Tim Todd and John Beattie 7 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter March 2020 Chapter 3 Celestial Happenings Jason Dorfman More on this image. See FN5 Jason Dorfman More on Celestial Happenings this image. See FN3 As March begins, here at the Park we also begin our SunWatch the very center of the Sun the temperature is almost 30 million program, which is our solar observing program that runs from degrees Fahrenheit. The nuclear fusion process in the Core March through the end of October. Therefore, I thought a short releases energy in the form of photons, which are radiated article about the Sun and what you can observe with the proper outward through the next layer called the Radiative Zone. The filters would be good for March. If you have never viewed the photons are absorbed and re-radiated by the atoms in this layer Sun through a telescope, then you should definitely plan a visit to millions of times as the energy is slowly carried outward. the park on a weekend afternoon to observe our closest star. About 70% of the distance from the center to the surface, we Overview of the Sun reach the outermost layer of the Sun's interior called the Our Sun is a star just like all the thousands of stars we see in the Convective Zone. Here, the energy transport mechanism night sky. With a radius of 432,168 miles, it is enormous changes from radiation to one of convection; like a boiling pot of compared to the Earth. However, it is just an average star when water, large volumes of hot gas ascend through the Convective compared to the multitude of stars in our galaxy. There are many Zone and cool along the way. We see smaller convective cells at other stars that are several times larger than the Sun. It is made the surface, called granules. mostly of hydrogen and helium, about 71% and 27%, The interface layer where the Radiative Zone meets the respectively. The remaining 2% consists of elements heavier Convective Zone is known as the Tachocline. It is now believed than helium, which scientists simply refer to as "metals." that the Sun's complex magnetic field is generated from a The interior of the Sun is divided into different layers. In the very magnetic dynamo in this region due to shear flows that result center is the Core where hydrogen atoms are converted into from the changing fluid flow velocities as the energy transport helium atoms through the process of nuclear fusion. The mechanism changes from radiative to convective across this pressures and temperatures in the core are extremely high. At region. The Sun's complex magnetic field is responsible for many Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter March 2020 9 of the features that we'll explore later and understanding how it The other is the Solar Orbiter, a joint ESA/NASA mission that operates an important part of understanding our Sun and its launched just last month on February 10.
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