Spring Observing Notes
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Occuttau'm@Newsteuer
Occuttau'm@Newsteuer Volume IV, Number 3 january, 1987 ISSN 0737-6766 Occultation Newsletter is published by the International Occultation Timing Association. Editor and compos- itor: H. F. DaBo11; 6N106 White Oak Lane; St. Charles, IL 60174; U.S.A. Please send editorial matters, new and renewal memberships and subscriptions, back issue requests, address changes, graze prediction requests, reimbursement requests, special requests, and other IOTA business, but not observation reports, to the above. FROM THE PUBLISHER IOTA NEWS This is the first issue of 1987. Some reductions in David Id. Dunham prices of back issues are shown below. The main purpose of this issue is to distribute pre- dictions and charts for planetary and asteroidal oc- When renewing, please give your name and address exactly as they ap- pear on your mailing label, so that we can locate your file; if the cultations that occur during at least the first part label should be revised, tell us how it should be changed. of 1987. As explained in the article about these If you wish, you may use your VISA or NsterCard for payments to IOTA; events starting on p. 41, the production of this ma- include the account number, the expiration date, and your signature. terial was delayed by successful efforts to improve Card users must pay the full prices. If paying by cash, check, or the prediction system and various year-end pres- money order, please pay only the discount prices. Full Discount sures, including the distribution o"' lunar grazing price price occultation predictions. Unfortunately, this issue IOTA membership dues (incl. -
Constellation Creation
Constellation Creation Constellations are fun to identify in the night sky, have helped humans navigate and chart the seasons for thousands of years, are the stuff of great legends and myths, but what can these patterns really tell us about stars? Students create constellation models as a team to find out. Grades Next Generation Science Standards • 5-8 • ESS1.A: The Universe and its Stars. The sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer. Stars range greatly in their distance from Earth. Time • 5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun • Prep 15 min compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth. • 30 min activity plus pre-activity • MS-ESS1-3– Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar class time system. discussion Materials Utah Science 7 copies of Orion and Big Dipper sheet in color, cut in half Standards 12 blue stars, 1 Betelgeuse, 1 Mizar prints in color • 6.1.3 Use computational thinking to analyze data and Cardboard or poster board determine the scale and Glue properties of objects in the solar system. Scissors or razor blade Popsicle sticks Extra copies of the Orion and Big Dipper sheet for your Earth observers Do Ahead • You want to have 7 stars for each constellation that students can hold. Cut out 6 blue stars and one Betelgeuse for Orion, glue onto board, glue Orion constellation on back, attach popsicle stick for holding. • Cut out 6 blue stars and 1 Mizar for the Big Dipper, glue onto board, glue Big Dipper on back, attach popsicle stick for holding. -
Central Coast Astronomy Virtual Star Party May 15Th 7Pm Pacific
Central Coast Astronomy Virtual Star Party May 15th 7pm Pacific Welcome to our Virtual Star Gazing session! We’ll be focusing on objects you can see with binoculars or a small telescope, so after our session, you can simply walk outside, look up, and understand what you’re looking at. CCAS President Aurora Lipper and astronomer Kent Wallace will bring you a virtual “tour of the night sky” where you can discover, learn, and ask questions as we go along! All you need is an internet connection. You can use an iPad, laptop, computer or cell phone. When 7pm on Saturday night rolls around, click the link on our website to join our class. CentralCoastAstronomy.org/stargaze Before our session starts: Step 1: Download your free map of the night sky: SkyMaps.com They have it available for Northern and Southern hemispheres. Step 2: Print out this document and use it to take notes during our time on Saturday. This document highlights the objects we will focus on in our session together. Celestial Objects: Moon: The moon 4 days after new, which is excellent for star gazing! *Image credit: all astrophotography images are courtesy of NASA & ESO unless otherwise noted. All planetarium images are courtesy of Stellarium. Central Coast Astronomy CentralCoastAstronomy.org Page 1 Main Focus for the Session: 1. Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs) 2. Boötes (the Herdsman) 3. Coma Berenices (Hair of Berenice) 4. Virgo (the Virgin) Central Coast Astronomy CentralCoastAstronomy.org Page 2 Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs) Canes Venatici, The Hunting Dogs, a modern constellation created by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687. -
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. -
Lecture 2 Our Place in the Universe (Cont'd)
Astronomy 110 –1 Lecture 2 Our Place in the Universe (Cont’d) 14/01/09 1 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. A few useful mathematical skills 14/01/09 2 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Powers of ten 103 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 102 = 10 x 10 = 100 101 = 10 100 = 1 10-1 = 1/10 = 0.1 10-2 = 1/10 x 1/10 = 0.01 10-3 = 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 = 0.001 Then: 300 = 3 x 100 = 3 x 102 2,500 = 2.5 x 1000 = 2.5 x 103 14/01/09 3 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Multiplying & dividing 101 x 101 = 100 = 102 101 x 102 = 10 x 100 = 1000 = 103 102 x 102 = 100 x 100 = 10000 = 104 When multiplying two powers of ten, add the exponents 1000 ÷ 100 = 103 ÷ 102 = 10 = 101 10 ÷ 10 = 101 ÷ 101 = 1 = 100 10 ÷ 100 = 101 ÷ 102 = 1/10 = 10-1 When dividing, subtract exponent of divisor from exponent of numerator 14/01/09 4 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Powers and roots (104)3 = 104 x 104 x 104 = 1012 Rule of thumb: when raising to a power, multiply exponents What about √(104)? √(104) = 102 taking roots is the same as raising to a fractional power, in this case 1/2 power: √(104) = (104)1/2 = 102 √ is the same as raising to 1/2 power 3√ is the same as raising to 1/3 power 4√ is the same as raising to 1/4 power 14/01/09 5 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. -
Naming the Extrasolar Planets
Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named. -
The Skyscraper 2009 04.Indd
A Better Galaxy Guide: Early Spring M67: One of the most ancient open clusters known and Craig Cortis is a great novelty in this regard. Located 1.7° due W of mag NGC 2419: 3.25° SE of mag 6.2 66 Aurigae. Hard to find 4.3 Alpha Cancri. and see; at E end of short row of two mag 7.5 stars. Highly NGC 2775: Located 3.7° ENE of mag 3.1 Zeta Hydrae. significant and worth the effort —may be approximately (Look for “Head of Hydra” first.) 300,000 light years distant and qualify as an extragalactic NGC 2903: Easily found at 1.5° due S of mag 4.3 Lambda cluster. Named the Intergalactic Wanderer. Leonis. NGC 2683: Marks NW “crook” of coathanger-type triangle M95: One of three bright galaxies forming a compact with easy double star mag 4.2 Iota Cancri (which is SSW by triangle, along with M96 and M105. All three can be seen 4.8°) and mag 3.1 Alpha Lyncis (at 6° to the ENE). together in a low power, wide field view. M105 is at the NE tip of triangle, midway between stars 52 and 53 Leonis, mag Object Type R.A. Dec. Mag. Size 5.5 and 5.3 respectively —M95 is at W tip. Lynx NGC 3521: Located 0.5° due E of mag 6.0 62 Leonis. M65: One of a pair of bright galaxies that can be seen in NGC 2419 GC 07h 38.1m +38° 53’ 10.3 4.2’ a wide field view along with M66, which lies just E. -
Critical Analysis of Article "21 Reasons to Believe the Earth Is Young" by Jeff Miller
1 Critical analysis of article "21 Reasons to Believe the Earth is Young" by Jeff Miller Lorence G. Collins [email protected] Ken Woglemuth [email protected] January 7, 2019 Introduction The article by Dr. Jeff Miller can be accessed at the following link: http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=5641 and is an article published by Apologetic Press, v. 39, n.1, 2018. The problems start with the Article In Brief in the boxed paragraph, and with the very first sentence. The Bible does not give an age of the Earth of 6,000 to 10,000 years, or even imply − this is added to Scripture by Dr. Miller and other young-Earth creationists. R. C. Sproul was one of evangelicalism's outstanding theologians, and he stated point blank at the Legionier Conference panel discussion that he does not know how old the Earth is, and the Bible does not inform us. When there has been some apparent conflict, either the theologians or the scientists are wrong, because God is the Author of the Bible and His handiwork is in general revelation. In the days of Copernicus and Galileo, the theologians were wrong. Today we do not know of anyone who believes that the Earth is the center of the universe. 2 The last sentence of this "Article In Brief" is boldly false. There is almost no credible evidence from paleontology, geology, astrophysics, or geophysics that refutes deep time. Dr. Miller states: "The age of the Earth, according to naturalists and old- Earth advocates, is 4.5 billion years. -
Winter Observing Notes
Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory Winter Observing Notes Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory PUBLIC OBSERVING – Winter Tour of the Sky with the Naked Eye NGC 457 CASSIOPEIA eta Cas Look for Notice how the constellations 5 the ‘W’ swing around Polaris during shape the night Is Dubhe yellowish compared 2 Polaris to Merak? Dubhe 3 Merak URSA MINOR Kochab 1 Is Kochab orange Pherkad compared to Polaris? THE PLOUGH 4 Mizar Alcor Figure 1: Sketch of the northern sky in winter. North 1. On leaving the planetarium, turn around and look northwards over the roof of the building. To your right is a group of stars like the outline of a saucepan standing up on it’s handle. This is the Plough (also called the Big Dipper) and is part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The top two stars are called the Pointers. Check with binoculars. Not all stars are white. The colour shows that Dubhe is cooler than Merak in the same way that red-hot is cooler than white-hot. 2. Use the Pointers to guide you to the left, to the next bright star. This is Polaris, the Pole (or North) Star. Note that it is not the brightest star in the sky, a common misconception. Below and to the right are two prominent but fainter stars. These are Kochab and Pherkad, the Guardians of the Pole. Look carefully and you will notice that Kochab is slightly orange when compared to Polaris. Check with binoculars. © Rob Peeling, CaDAS, 2007 version 2.0 Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory PUBLIC OBSERVING – Winter Polaris, Kochab and Pherkad mark the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. -
What Is an Ultra-Faint Galaxy?
What is an ultra-faint Galaxy? UCSB KITP Feb 16 2012 Beth Willman (Haverford College) ~ 1/10 Milky Way luminosity Large Magellanic Cloud, MV = -18 image credit: Yuri Beletsky (ESO) and APOD NGC 205, MV = -16.4 ~ 1/40 Milky Way luminosity image credit: www.noao.edu Image credit: David W. Hogg, Michael R. Blanton, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration ~ 1/300 Milky Way luminosity MV = -14.2 Image credit: David W. Hogg, Michael R. Blanton, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration ~ 1/2700 Milky Way luminosity MV = -11.9 Image credit: David W. Hogg, Michael R. Blanton, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration ~ 1/14,000 Milky Way luminosity MV = -10.1 ~ 1/40,000 Milky Way luminosity ~ 1/1,000,000 Milky Way luminosity Ursa Major 1 Finding Invisible Galaxies bright faint blue red Willman et al 2002, Walsh, Willman & Jerjen 2009; see also e.g. Koposov et al 2008, Belokurov et al. Finding Invisible Galaxies Red, bright, cool bright Blue, hot, bright V-band apparent brightness V-band faint Red, faint, cool blue red From ARAA, V26, 1988 Willman et al 2002, Walsh, Willman & Jerjen 2009; see also e.g. Koposov et al 2008, Belokurov et al. Finding Invisible Galaxies Ursa Major I dwarf 1/1,000,000 MW luminosity Willman et al 2005 ~ 1/1,000,000 Milky Way luminosity Ursa Major 1 CMD of Ursa Major I Okamoto et al 2008 Distribution of the Milky Wayʼs dwarfs -14 Milky Way dwarfs 107 -12 -10 classical dwarfs V -8 5 10 Sun M L -6 ultra-faint dwarfs Canes Venatici II -4 Leo V Pisces II Willman I 1000 -2 Segue I 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 -
Asterion and Chara – the Confusion of the Chase
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln July 2002 Asterion and Chara – the Confusion of the Chase Charles D. Bernholz University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Michael J. Lyons Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Bernholz, Charles D. and Lyons, Michael J., "Asterion and Chara – the Confusion of the Chase" (2002). Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries. 7. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SPECIAL FEATURE: DEVELOPING IDEAS OF SPACE www.iop.org/journals/physed Asterion and Chara—the confusion of the chase Charles D Bernholz1 and Michael J Lyons2 1 Memorial Library, State University of New York College at Cortland, Cortland, NY 13045, USA 2 Port Jervis High School, Port Jervis, NY 12771, USA E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The study of astronomy, as an important part of any science education programme, provides our students with insights into more than just the cosmos. It may also serve as a mechanism to link them to other natural and social sciences. This article examines equally valid interpretations of the constellation Canes Venatici as an example of how the study of astronomy may serve this multidisciplinary educational role. In addition, it is an extension of the thoughts of Stannard (2001) on communicating physics through story. -
What's in This Issue?
A JPL Image of surface of Mars, and JPL Ingenuity Helicioptor illustration. July 11th at 4:00 PM, a family barbeque at HRPO!!! This is in lieu of our regular monthly meeting.) (Monthly meetings are on 2nd Mondays at Highland Road Park Observatory) This is a pot-luck. Club will provide briskett and beverages, others will contribute as the spirit moves. What's In This Issue? President’s Message Member Meeting Minutes Business Meeting Minutes Outreach Report Asteroid and Comet News Light Pollution Committee Report Globe at Night SubReddit and Discord BRAS Member Astrophotos ARTICLE: Astrophotography with your Smart Phone Observing Notes: Canes Venatici – The Hunting Dogs Like this newsletter? See PAST ISSUES online back to 2009 Visit us on Facebook – Baton Rouge Astronomical Society BRAS YouTube Channel Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Newsletter, Night Visions Page 2 of 23 July 2021 President’s Message Hey everybody, happy fourth of July. I hope ya’ll’ve remembered your favorite coping mechanism for dealing with the long hot summers we have down here in the bayou state, or, at the very least, are making peace with the short nights that keep us from enjoying both a good night’s sleep and a productive observing/imaging session (as if we ever could get a long enough break from the rain for that to happen anyway). At any rate, we figured now would be as good a time as any to get the gang back together for a good old fashioned potluck style barbecue: to that end, we’ve moved the July meeting to the Sunday, 11 July at 4PM at HRPO.