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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. -
August 13 2016 7:00Pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho
Snake River Skies The Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society www.mvastro.org Membership Meeting President’s Message Saturday, August 13th 2016 7:00pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho. Public Star Party Follows at the Colleagues, Centennial Observatory Club Officers It's that time of year: The City of Rocks Star Party. Set for Friday, Aug. 5th, and Saturday, Aug. 6th, the event is the gem of the MVAS year. As we've done every Robert Mayer, President year, we will hold solar viewing at the Smoky Mountain Campground, followed by a [email protected] potluck there at the campground. Again, MVAS will provide the main course and 208-312-1203 beverages. Paul McClain, Vice President After the potluck, the party moves over to the corral by the bunkhouse over at [email protected] Castle Rocks, with deep sky viewing beginning sometime after 9 p.m. This is a chance to dig into some of the darkest skies in the west. Gary Leavitt, Secretary [email protected] Some members have already reserved campsites, but for those who are thinking of 208-731-7476 dropping by at the last minute, we have room for you at the bunkhouse, and would love to have to come by. Jim Tubbs, Treasurer / ALCOR [email protected] The following Saturday will be the regular MVAS meeting. Please check E-mail or 208-404-2999 Facebook for updates on our guest speaker that day. David Olsen, Newsletter Editor Until then, clear views, [email protected] Robert Mayer Rick Widmer, Webmaster [email protected] Magic Valley Astronomical Society is a member of the Astronomical League M-51 imaged by Rick Widmer & Ken Thomason Herrett Telescope Shotwell Camera https://herrett.csi.edu/astronomy/observatory/City_of_Rocks_Star_Party_2016.asp Calendars for August Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 New Moon City Rocks City Rocks Lunation 1158 Castle Rocks Castle Rocks Star Party Star Party Almo, ID Almo, ID 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 MVAS General Mtg. -
UC Irvine UC Irvine Previously Published Works
UC Irvine UC Irvine Previously Published Works Title Astrophysics in 2006 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5760h9v8 Journal Space Science Reviews, 132(1) ISSN 0038-6308 Authors Trimble, V Aschwanden, MJ Hansen, CJ Publication Date 2007-09-01 DOI 10.1007/s11214-007-9224-0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Space Sci Rev (2007) 132: 1–182 DOI 10.1007/s11214-007-9224-0 Astrophysics in 2006 Virginia Trimble · Markus J. Aschwanden · Carl J. Hansen Received: 11 May 2007 / Accepted: 24 May 2007 / Published online: 23 October 2007 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the Universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries. Keywords Cosmology: general · Galaxies: general · ISM: general · Stars: general · Sun: general · Planets and satellites: general · Astrobiology · Star clusters · Binary stars · Clusters of galaxies · Gamma-ray bursts · Milky Way · Earth · Active galaxies · Supernovae 1 Introduction Astrophysics in 2006 modifies a long tradition by moving to a new journal, which you hold in your (real or virtual) hands. The fifteen previous articles in the series are referenced oc- casionally as Ap91 to Ap05 below and appeared in volumes 104–118 of Publications of V. -
121012-AAS-221 Program-14-ALL, Page 253 @ Preflight
221ST MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 6-10 January 2013 LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA Scientific sessions will be held at the: Long Beach Convention Center 300 E. Ocean Blvd. COUNCIL.......................... 2 Long Beach, CA 90802 AAS Paper Sorters EXHIBITORS..................... 4 Aubra Anthony ATTENDEE Alan Boss SERVICES.......................... 9 Blaise Canzian Joanna Corby SCHEDULE.....................12 Rupert Croft Shantanu Desai SATURDAY.....................28 Rick Fienberg Bernhard Fleck SUNDAY..........................30 Erika Grundstrom Nimish P. Hathi MONDAY........................37 Ann Hornschemeier Suzanne H. Jacoby TUESDAY........................98 Bethany Johns Sebastien Lepine WEDNESDAY.............. 158 Katharina Lodders Kevin Marvel THURSDAY.................. 213 Karen Masters Bryan Miller AUTHOR INDEX ........ 245 Nancy Morrison Judit Ries Michael Rutkowski Allyn Smith Joe Tenn Session Numbering Key 100’s Monday 200’s Tuesday 300’s Wednesday 400’s Thursday Sessions are numbered in the Program Book by day and time. Changes after 27 November 2012 are included only in the online program materials. 1 AAS Officers & Councilors Officers Councilors President (2012-2014) (2009-2012) David J. Helfand Quest Univ. Canada Edward F. Guinan Villanova Univ. [email protected] [email protected] PAST President (2012-2013) Patricia Knezek NOAO/WIYN Observatory Debra Elmegreen Vassar College [email protected] [email protected] Robert Mathieu Univ. of Wisconsin Vice President (2009-2015) [email protected] Paula Szkody University of Washington [email protected] (2011-2014) Bruce Balick Univ. of Washington Vice-President (2010-2013) [email protected] Nicholas B. Suntzeff Texas A&M Univ. suntzeff@aas.org Eileen D. Friel Boston Univ. [email protected] Vice President (2011-2014) Edward B. Churchwell Univ. of Wisconsin Angela Speck Univ. of Missouri [email protected] [email protected] Treasurer (2011-2014) (2012-2015) Hervey (Peter) Stockman STScI Nancy S. -
Symbols and Astrological Terms in Ancient Arabic Inscriptions
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE, Vol. 5, No. 2, (2019), pp. 21-30 Open Access. Online & Print www.sci-cult.com DOI: SYMBOLS AND ASTROLOGICAL TERMS IN ANCIENT ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS Mohammed H. Talafha1* and Ziad A. Talafha2 1Dept. of Astronomy, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, XI. Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A 2Dept. of History, AL al-BAYT University, 25113 Mafraq, Jordan Received: 03/11/2018 Accepted: 11/02/2019 *Corresponding author: Mohammed H. Talafha ([email protected]) ABSTRACT In the past, the Arabs in Al-hara Zone used many stars to deduce the seasons of the year and also to deduce the roads, at that time this was the most convienent way to figure their ways and to know the time of the year they have to travel or to planet, The most important used stars at that time were the Pleiades, Canopus, Arcturus and other stars. This study shows the inscriptions found in Al-hara Zone in many field trips in the year 2018 which were written on smooth black rocks and how these inscriptions related to the stars and to the seasons – at that time - of the year. KEYWORDS: Arabic, Stars, Inscriptions, Al-hara Zone, Rock art from southern Syria and north-east of Jor- dan in Badia al-Sham, The Pleiades, Arabian Tribes, Canopus, Seasons, Pre-Islamic era. Copyright: © 2019. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 22 M.H. TALAFHA & Z.A. TALAFHA 1. INTRODUCTION the re-consideration and prospective of Qatar cultur- al heritage tourism map, among other studies. -
The Relative Sizes of the Sun and Stars 25
The relative sizes of the sun and stars 25 Stars come in many sizes, but their true appearances are impossible to see without special telescopes. The image to the left was taken by the Hubble Space telescope and resolves the red supergiant star Betelgeuse so that its surface can be just barely seen. Follow the number clues below to compare the sizes of some other familiar stars! Problem 1 - The sun's diameter if 10 times the diameter of Jupiter. If Jupiter is 11 times larger than Earth, how much larger than Earth is the Sun? Problem 2 - Capella is three times larger than Regulus, and Regulus is twice as large as Sirius. How much larger is Capella than Sirius? Problem 3 - Vega is 3/2 the size of Sirius, and Sirius is 1/12 the size of Polaris. How much larger is Polaris than Vega? Problem 4 - Nunki is 1/10 the size of Rigel, and Rigel is 1/5 the size of Deneb. How large is Nunki compared to Deneb? Problem 5 - Deneb is 1/8 the size of VY Canis Majoris, and VY Canis Majoris is 504 times the size of Regulus. How large is Deneb compared to Regulus? Problem 6 - Aldebaran is 3 times the size of Capella, and Capella is twice the size of Polaris. How large is Aldebaran compared to Polaris? Problem 7 - Antares is half the size of Mu Cephi. If Mu Cephi is 28 times as large as Rigel, and Rigel is 50 times as large as Alpha Centauri, how large is Antares compared to Alpha Centauri? Problem 8 - The Sun is 1/4 the diameter of Regulus. -
The Pleiades: the Celestial Herd of Ancient Timekeepers
The Pleiades: the celestial herd of ancient timekeepers. Amelia Sparavigna Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy Abstract In the ancient Egypt seven goddesses, represented by seven cows, composed the celestial herd that provides the nourishment to her worshippers. This herd is observed in the sky as a group of stars, the Pleiades, close to Aldebaran, the main star in the Taurus constellation. For many ancient populations, Pleiades were relevant stars and their rising was marked as a special time of the year. In this paper, we will discuss the presence of these stars in ancient cultures. Moreover, we will report some results of archeoastronomy on the role for timekeeping of these stars, results which show that for hunter-gatherers at Palaeolithic times, they were linked to the seasonal cycles of aurochs. 1. Introduction Archeoastronomy studies astronomical practices and related mythologies of the ancient cultures, to understand how past peoples observed and used the celestial phenomena and what was the role played by the sky in their cultures. This discipline is then a branch of the cultural astronomy, an interdisciplinary field that relates astronomical phenomena to current and ancient cultures. It must then be distinguished from the history of astronomy, because astronomy is a culturally specific concept and ancient peoples may have been related to the sky in different way [1,2]. Archeoastronomy is considered as a quite new interdisciplinary science, rooted in the Stonehenge studies of 1960s by the astronomer Gerald Hawkins, who tested Stonehenge alignments by computer, and concluded that these stones marked key dates in the megalithic calendar [3]. -
On the Habitability of Our Universe
Chapter for the book Consolidation of Fine Tuning On the Habitability of Our Universe Abraham Loeb Astronomy department, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. Is life most likely to emerge at the present cosmic time near a star like the Sun? We consider the habitability of the Universe throughout cosmic history, and conservatively restrict our attention to the context of “life as we know it” and the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM. The habitable cosmic epoch started shortly after the first stars formed, about 30 Myr after the Big Bang, and will end about 10 Tyr from now, when all stars will die. We review the formation history of habitable planets and find that unless habitability around low mass stars is suppressed, life is most likely to exist near ∼ 0.1M stars ten trillion years from now. Spectroscopic searches for biosignatures in the atmospheres of transiting Earth-mass planets around low mass stars will determine whether present-day life is indeed premature or typical from a cosmic perspective. arXiv:1606.08926v2 [astro-ph.CO] 24 Nov 2016 Contents 1 Introduction2 2 The Habitable Epoch of the Early Universe4 2.1 Section Background4 2.2 First Planets4 2.3 Section Summary and Implications5 3 CEMP Stars: Possible Hosts to Carbon Planets in the Early Universe6 3.1 Section Background6 3.2 Star-forming environment of CEMP stars7 3.3 Orbital Radii of Potential Carbon Planets9 3.4 Mass-Radius Relationship for Carbon Planets 13 3.5 Section Summary and Implications 15 4 Water -
Star Science in the Autumn Sky by John R
www.astrosociety.org/uitc No. 32 - Fall 1995 © 1995, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112. Star Science in the Autumn Sky by John R. Percy, University of Toronto and George Musser, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Be honest: Do the stars all look the same to you? If you look up at the night sky, you can see anything from dozens to thousands of them, depending on where you live. To most people, the stars are just points of light, each one like the other. To astronomers, however, stars are as varied as people. There are as many different kinds of stars in our galaxy as there are people on Earth. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and dispositions. And stars, like people, have their life cycles. They are born, grow up, and die (don't pay taxes, though). The study of the stars and their lives, the great People magazine of the skies, is known as astrophysics. Astrophysics sounds imposing. Say the word at a cocktail party and see how fast the conversation grinds to a halt. Star science, which is what astrophysics is, sounds much more friendly. The following activities will introduce you to star science as you ramble across the autumn sky. Though the stars are distant, you can come to understand their nature by making simple observations and drawing analogies to everyday things on Earth. When you can look at a star and see more than a point of light, the night sky will come alive. Activity 1. Finding your way with a star map Activity 2. -
Cycle 12 Abstract Catalog
Cycle 12 Abstract Catalog Generated April 04, 2003 ================================================================================ Proposal Category: GO Scientific Category: ISM AND CIRCUMSTELLAR MATTER ID: 9718 Title: SMC Extinction Curve Towards a Quiescent Molecular Cloud PI: Francois Boulanger PI Institution: Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale The lack of 2175 A bump in the SMC extinction curve is interpreted as an absence of small carbon grains. ISO Mid-IR observations support this interpretation by showing that PAH features are absent in the spectra of SMC and LMC massive star forming regions. However, the only ISO observation of an SMC quiescent molecular cloud shows all PAH features, indicating a PAH abundance relative to large dust grains similar to that of Milky Way clouds. We identified a reddened B2III star associated with this cloud. We propose to observe it with STIS. This observation will provide the first measure of the extinction properties of SMC dust away from star forming regions. It will allow us to disentangle the effects of metallicity and massive stars on the SMC extinction curve and dust composition and to assess the relevance of the SMC bump-free extinction curve to low metallicity and/or starburst galaxies in general. ================================================================================ Proposal Category: GO Scientific Category: STELLAR POPULATIONS ID: 9719 Title: Search For Metallicity Spreads in M31 Globular Clusters PI: Terry Bridges PI Institution: Anglo-Australian Observatory Our recent deep HST photometry of the M31 halo globular cluster (GC) Mayall~II, also called G1, has revealed a red-giant branch with a clear spread that we attribute to an intrinsic metallicity dispersion of at least 0.4 dex in [Fe/H]. -
The 13Th HEAD Program Book
13th Meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division Program Book Monterey CA 7-11 April 2013 13th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) 7-11 April 2013 Monterey, California Scientific sessions will be held at the: Portola Hotel and Spa 2 Portola Plaza ATTENDEE Monterey, CA 93940 SERVICES.......... 4 HEAD Paper Sorters SCHEDULE......... 6 Keith Arnaud Joshua Bloom MONDAY............ 12 Joel Bregman Paolo Coppi Rosanne Di Stefano POSTERS........... 17 Daryl Haggard Chryssa Kouveliotou TUESDAY........... 43 Henric Krawczynski Stephen Reynolds WEDNESDAY...... 48 Randall Smith Jan Vrtilek THURSDAY......... 52 Nicholas White AUTHOR INDEX.. 56 Session Numbering Key 100’s Monday and posters NASA PCOS X-RAY SAG 200’s Tuesday 300’s Wednesday HEAD DISSERTATIONS 400’s Thursday Please Note: All posters are displayed Monday-Thursday. Current HEAD Officers Current HEAD Committee Joel Bregman Chair Daryl Haggard 2013-2016 Nicholas White Vice-Chair Henric Krawczynski 2013-2016 Randall Smith Secretary Rosanne DiStefano 2011-2014 Keith Arnaud Treasurer Stephen Reynolds 2011-2014 Megan Watzke Press Officer Jan Vrtilek 2011-2014 Chryssa Kouveliotou Past Chair Joshua Bloom 2012-2015 Paolo Coppi 2012-2015 1 2 Peter B’s Entrance Cottonwood Plaza Jacks Restaurant Brew Pub s p o h S Cottonwood Bonsai III e Lower Atrium Bonsai II ung Restrooms o e nc cks L Ironwood Redwood Bonsai I a a J Entr Elevators Elevators a l o rt o P Restrooms s De Anza De Anza p Ballroom II-III Ballroom I o De Anza Sh Foyer Upper Atrium Entrance OOMS R Entrance BONZAI Entrance De ANZA BALLROOM FA ELEVATORS TO BONZAI ROOMS Y B OB L TEL O General eANZA D A H O Z T Session ANCE R OLA PLA T ENT R PO FA FA STORAGE A UP F ENTRANCE TO 3 De ANZA FOYER ATTENDEE SERVICES Registration De Anza Foyer Sunday: 1:00pm-7:00pm Monday-Wednesday: 7:30am-6:00pm Thursday: 8:00am-5:00pm Poster Viewing Monday-Wednesday: 7:30am-6:45pm Thursday: 7:30am-5:00pm Please do not leave personal items unattended. -
Orders of Magnitude (Length) - Wikipedia
03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Orders of magnitude (length) The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths. Contents Overview Detailed list Subatomic Atomic to cellular Cellular to human scale Human to astronomical scale Astronomical less than 10 yoctometres 10 yoctometres 100 yoctometres 1 zeptometre 10 zeptometres 100 zeptometres 1 attometre 10 attometres 100 attometres 1 femtometre 10 femtometres 100 femtometres 1 picometre 10 picometres 100 picometres 1 nanometre 10 nanometres 100 nanometres 1 micrometre 10 micrometres 100 micrometres 1 millimetre 1 centimetre 1 decimetre Conversions Wavelengths Human-defined scales and structures Nature Astronomical 1 metre Conversions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(length) 1/44 03/08/2018 Orders of magnitude (length) - Wikipedia Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 decametre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 hectometre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Nature Astronomical 1 kilometre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 10 kilometres Conversions Sports Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 100 kilometres Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 1 megametre Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Sports Geographical Astronomical 10 megametres Conversions Human-defined scales and structures Geographical Astronomical 100 megametres 1 gigametre