IAUS283 Planetary Nebulae: an Eye to the Future P R O G R a M M E & a B S T R a C
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Exploring Pulsars
High-energy astrophysics Explore the PUL SAR menagerie Astronomers are discovering many strange properties of compact stellar objects called pulsars. Here’s how they fit together. by Victoria M. Kaspi f you browse through an astronomy book published 25 years ago, you’d likely assume that astronomers understood extremely dense objects called neutron stars fairly well. The spectacular Crab Nebula’s central body has been a “poster child” for these objects for years. This specific neutron star is a pulsar that I rotates roughly 30 times per second, emitting regular appar- ent pulsations in Earth’s direction through a sort of “light- house” effect as the star rotates. While these textbook descriptions aren’t incorrect, research over roughly the past decade has shown that the picture they portray is fundamentally incomplete. Astrono- mers know that the simple scenario where neutron stars are all born “Crab-like” is not true. Experts in the field could not have imagined the variety of neutron stars they’ve recently observed. We’ve found that bizarre objects repre- sent a significant fraction of the neutron star population. With names like magnetars, anomalous X-ray pulsars, soft gamma repeaters, rotating radio transients, and compact Long the pulsar poster child, central objects, these bodies bear properties radically differ- the Crab Nebula’s central object is a fast-spinning neutron star ent from those of the Crab pulsar. Just how large a fraction that emits jets of radiation at its they represent is still hotly debated, but it’s at least 10 per- magnetic axis. Astronomers cent and maybe even the majority. -
FY08 Technical Papers by GSMTPO Staff
AURA/NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation July 23, 2008 Revised as Complete and Submitted December 23, 2008 NGC 660, ~13 Mpc from the Earth, is a peculiar, polar ring galaxy that resulted from two galaxies colliding. It consists of a nearly edge-on disk and a strongly warped outer disk. Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska, Anchorage NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation December 23, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 2 1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory...................................................................................... 2 The Once and Future Supernova η Carinae...................................................................................................... 2 A Stellar Merger and a Missing White Dwarf.................................................................................................. 3 Imaging the COSMOS...................................................................................................................................... 3 The Hubble Constant from a Gravitational Lens.............................................................................................. 4 A New Dwarf Nova in the Period Gap............................................................................................................ -
Delite Eyepiece Between 100X and 200X for a Given Tele- Line for Tele Vue Optics
EQUIPMENT REVIEW to help prevent an errant eyepiece from blue, and twin-lobed, somewhat reminis- falling to the ground. cent of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76), When I test eyepieces, it’s important to although the emphasis was on the lobes Select these eyepieces to enhance your observing me to use them in a variety of telescopes so rather than the center. without ruining your credit. by Tom Trusock I can understand what aberrations the tele- Finally, I took the time to check the scope adds to the design. Through the contrast with the Fetus Nebula (NGC We test years, I’ve seen amateurs blame specific 7008). With a bright star just off the edge of aberrations on eyepiece design that were this planetary nebula, its large size and low the fault of the telescope. Always remem- surface brightness can make it difficult to ber, we deal with an optical system. pick out the distinctive shape, but it was in Because of this, I’m careful to review eye- clear view through the DeLites. pieces in various telescopes I am already familiar with. For this review, I used an Comparing sizes Tele Vue’s DeLite 18-inch f/4.5 Newtonian reflector These are excellent eyepieces. But which (equipped with the Tele Vue Paracorr), a one did I prefer? I found that my favorite 3.6-inch f/7 apochromatic refractor, and a eyepiece depended greatly on the telescope 6-inch f/15 Maksutov reflector. I used it in. Overall, each DeLite performed My testing showed all three scopes per- similarly, so I matched magnification to formed similarly, so the comments in gen- sky conditions. -
Planetary Nebulae
Planetary Nebulae A planetary nebula is a kind of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from old red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer that originated in the 1780s with astronomer William Herschel because when viewed through his telescope, these objects appeared to him to resemble the rounded shapes of planets. Herschel's name for these objects was popularly adopted and has not been changed. They are a relatively short-lived phenomenon, lasting a few tens of thousands of years, compared to a typical stellar lifetime of several billion years. The mechanism for formation of most planetary nebulae is thought to be the following: at the end of the star's life, during the red giant phase, the outer layers of the star are expelled by strong stellar winds. Eventually, after most of the red giant's atmosphere is dissipated, the exposed hot, luminous core emits ultraviolet radiation to ionize the ejected outer layers of the star. Absorbed ultraviolet light energizes the shell of nebulous gas around the central star, appearing as a bright colored planetary nebula at several discrete visible wavelengths. Planetary nebulae may play a crucial role in the chemical evolution of the Milky Way, returning material to the interstellar medium from stars where elements, the products of nucleosynthesis (such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon), have been created. Planetary nebulae are also observed in more distant galaxies, yielding useful information about their chemical abundances. In recent years, Hubble Space Telescope images have revealed many planetary nebulae to have extremely complex and varied morphologies. -
SEPTEMBER 2014 OT H E D Ebn V E R S E R V ESEPTEMBERR 2014
THE DENVER OBSERVER SEPTEMBER 2014 OT h e D eBn v e r S E R V ESEPTEMBERR 2014 FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT Calendar Taken on July 25th in San Luis State Park near the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, Jeff made this image of the Milky Way during an overnight camping stop on the way to Santa Fe, NM. It was taken with a Canon 2............................. First quarter moon 60D camera, an EFS 15-85 lens, using an iOptron SkyTracker. It is a single frame, with no stacking or dark/ 8.......................................... Full moon bias frames, at ISO 1600 for two minutes. Visible in this south-facing photograph is Sagittarius, and the 14............ Aldebaran 1.4˚ south of moon Dark Horse Nebula inside of the Milky Way. He processed the image in Adobe Lightroom. Image © Jeff Tropeano 15............................ Last quarter moon 22........................... Autumnal Equinox 24........................................ New moon Inside the Observer SEPTEMBER SKIES by Dennis Cochran ygnus the Swan dives onto center stage this other famous deep-sky object is the Veil Nebula, President’s Message....................... 2 C month, almost overhead. Leading the descent also known as the Cygnus Loop, a supernova rem- is the nose of the swan, the star known as nant so large that its separate arcs were known Society Directory.......................... 2 Albireo, a beautiful multi-colored double. One and named before it was found to be one wide Schedule of Events......................... 2 wonders if Albireo has any planets from which to wisp that came out of a single star. The Veil is see the pair up-close. -
Two Rings but No Fellowship: Lotr 1 and Its Relation to Planetary Nebulae
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1–16 (2013) Printed 17 October 2018 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Two rings but no fellowship: LoTr 1 and its relation to planetary nebulae possessing barium central stars. A.A. Tyndall1,2⋆, D. Jones2, H.M.J. Boffin2, B. Miszalski3,4, F. Faedi5, M. Lloyd1, J.A. L´opez6, S. Martell7, D. Pollacco5, and M. Santander-Garc´ıa8 1Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK 2European Southern Observatory, Alonso de C´ordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Santiago, Chile 3South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa 4Southern African Large Telescope. PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa 5Department of Physics, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, UK 6Instituto de Astronom´ıa, Universidad Nacional Aut´onoma de M´exico, Ensenada, Baja California, C.P. 22800, Mexico 7Australian Astronomical Observatory, North Ryde, 2109 NSW, Australia 8Observatorio Astron´omico National, Madrid, and Centro de Astrobiolog´ıa, CSIC-INTA, Spain Accepted xxxx xxxxxxxx xx. Received xxxx xxxxxxxx xx; in original form xxxx xxxxxxxx xx ABSTRACT LoTr 1 is a planetary nebula thought to contain an intermediate-period binary central star system ( that is, a system with an orbital period, P, between 100 and, say, 1500 days). The system shows the signature of a K-type, rapidly rotating giant, and most likely constitutes an accretion-induced post-mass transfer system similar to other PNe such as LoTr 5, WeBo 1 and A70. Such systems represent rare opportunities to further the investigation into the formation of barium stars and intermediate period post-AGB systems – a formation process still far from being understood. -
Reconsidering the Identification of M101 Hypernova Remnant
Reconsidering the Identification of M101 Hypernova Remnant Candidates S. L. Snowden1,2, K. Mukai1,3, and W. Pence4 Code 662, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 and K. D. Kuntz5 Joint Center for Astrophysics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250 ABSTRACT Using a deep Chandra AO-1 observation of the face-on spiral galaxy M101, we examine three of five previously optically-identified X-ray sources which are spatially correlated with optical supernova remnants (MF54, MF57, and MF83). The X-ray fluxes from these objects, if due to diffuse emission from the remnants, are bright enough to require a new class of objects, with the possible attribution by Wang to diffuse emission from hypernova remnants. Of the three, MF83 was considered the most likely candidate for such an object due to its size, nature, and close positional coincidence. However, we find that MF83 is clearly ruled out as a hypernova remnant by both its temporal variability and spectrum. The bright X-ray sources previously associated with MF54 and MF57 are seen by Chandra to be clearly offset from the optical positions of the supernova remnants by several arc seconds, confirming a result suggested by the previous work. MF54 does have a faint X-ray counterpart, however, with a luminosity and temperature consistent with a normal supernova remnant of its size. The most likely classifications of the sources are as X-ray binaries. Although counting statistics are limited, over the 0.3–5.0 keV spectral band the data are well fit by simple absorbed power laws with luminosities in the 1038 − 1039 ergs s−1 range. -
Nightwatch Club Events Calendar President's Message
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Thewithfilled skyby day. is stars, invisible Volume 32 Number 06 nightwatch June 2012 President's Message Club Events Calendar Busy days right now, both in the heavens and here on Earth. June 8 - General Meeting – Speaker Robert Stephens - I've heard lots of good reports of people successfully viewing the “A Journey Through the Asteroid Belt” eclipse on May 20. My own eclipse trip to Page, Arizona, was a June 16 - Star Party - White Mountain smashing success. The lunar eclipse early in the morning on June 22 - Star Party - Cottonwood Springs - joint with June 4 was clouded out, at least here in Claremont. By the time Palm Springs Braille Institute you read this, the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 5 will already have happened. I hope you got a chance to July 2 - School Star Party - Colony High School, Ontario see it—it won't happen again until 2117. July 5 - Board Meeting, 6:15 We also have some great club events coming up. Our speaker July 13 - General Meeting for the June 8 general meeting is Robert Stephens July 21 – Star Party – Cottonwood Springs (http://planetarysciences.org/stephens.html), who will give us “A July 24 - Ontario Library Main Branch - Dark to 9pm Journey Through the Asteroid Belt”. On June 16 we'll have a star July 25 – Star Party – Orange County Braille Institute, party at White Mountain. My annual curse has struck again—I'll Anaheim be in New York looking at fossils instead of on White Mountain looking at stars, but I hope you all have fun without me. -
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). -
Stargazer Vice President: James Bielaga (425) 337-4384 Jamesbielaga at Aol.Com P.O
1 - Volume MMVII. No. 1 January 2007 President: Mark Folkerts (425) 486-9733 folkerts at seanet.com The Stargazer Vice President: James Bielaga (425) 337-4384 jamesbielaga at aol.com P.O. Box 12746 Librarian: Mike Locke (425) 259-5995 mlocke at lionmts.com Everett, WA 98206 Treasurer: Carol Gore (360) 856-5135 janeway7C at aol.com Newsletter co-editor: Bill O’Neil (774) 253-0747 wonastrn at seanet.com Web assistance: Cody Gibson (425) 348-1608 sircody01 at comcast.net See EAS website at: (change ‘at’ to @ to send email) http://members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy nearby Diablo Lake. And then at night, discover the night sky like EAS BUSINESS… you've never seen it before. We hope you'll join us for a great weekend. July 13-15, North Cascades Environmental Learning Center North Cascades National Park. More information NEXT EAS MEETING – SATURDAY JANUARY 27TH including pricing, detailed program, and reservation forms available shortly, so please check back at Pacific Science AT 3:00 PM AT THE EVERETT PUBLIC LIBRARY, IN Center's website. THE AUDITORIUM (DOWNSTAIRS) http://www.pacsci.org/travel/astronomy_weekend.html People should also join and send mail to the mail list THIS MONTH'S MEETING PROGRAM: [email protected] to coordinate spur-of-the- Toby Smith, lecturer from the University of Washington moment observing get-togethers, on nights when the sky Astronomy department, will give a talk featuring a clears. We try to hold informal close-in star parties each month visualization presentation he has prepared called during the spring, summer, and fall months on a weekend near “Solar System Cinema”. -
Wind-Blown Bubbles and Hii Regions Around Massive
RevMexAA (Serie de Conferencias), 30, 64{71 (2007) WIND-BLOWN BUBBLES AND HII REGIONS AROUND MASSIVE STARS S. J. Arthur1 RESUMEN La evoluci´on de las estrellas muy masivas est´a dominada por su p´erdida de masa, aunque las tasas de p´erdida de masa no se conocen con mucha precisi´on, particularmente una vez que la estrella sale de la secuencia principal. Los estudios de las nebulosas de anillo y de las cascarones de HI que rodean a muchas estrellas Wolf-Rayet (WR) y variables azules luminosas (LBV) proporcionan algo de informaci´on acerca de la historia de la p´erdida de masa en las etapas previas. Durante la secuencia principal y la fase WR los vientos estelares hipers´onicos forman burbujas en el medio circunestelar e interestelar. Estas dos fases est´an separadas por una etapa en donde la estrella pierde masa a una tasa muy alta pero a baja velocidad. Por lo tanto, el ambiente presupernova es determinado por la estrella progenitora misma, aun´ hasta distancias de algunas decenas de parsecs de la estrella. En este art´ıculo, se describen las diferentes etapas en la evoluci´on del medio circunestelar alrededar de una estrella de masa 40 M mediante simulaciones num´ericas. ABSTRACT Mass loss dominates the evolution of very massive stars, although the mass loss rates are not known exactly, particularly once the star has left the main sequence. Studies of the ring nebulae and HI shells that surround many Wolf-Rayet (WR) and luminous blue variable (LBV) stars provide some information on the previous mass-loss history. -
The Agb Newsletter
THE AGB NEWSLETTER An electronic publication dedicated to Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and related phenomena Official publication of the IAU Working Group on Abundances in Red Giants No. 165 — 1 April 2011 http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/AGBnews Editors: Jacco van Loon and Albert Zijlstra Editorial Dear Colleagues, It is our pleasure to present you the 165th issue of the AGB Newsletter. Lots of nucleosynthesis work, pulsating stars, binaries, and AGB stars in stellar systems from globulars and the Bulge to Local Group galaxies and farther afield. Congratulations to Val´erio Ribeiro, who has just obtained his Philospher’s Degree. It’s great then to see that there are opportunitites for postdoctoral research, such as the one advertised by the group in Uppsala. Don’t miss the announcement of the very interesting workshop in wonderful Warsaw this Summer. Stefan Uttenthaler, back in Vienna, offered the following reaction to last month’s Food for Thought: ”Certainly, the PN population will not be fully representative of the underlying AGB population. Most likely not every AGB star will evolve into a PN, and also the binarity properties (incl. planets) of the population will have an impact on the evolution from the AGB to the PN phase. In fact, just in the previous issue of the Newsletter, De Marco & Soker note that the presence of a companion will alter the PN life time, and that only one quarter of all AGB stars will make a PN. Now concerning the Bulge my opinion is that in the absence of evidence that the PNe are not representative for the underlying AGB population (i.e.