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Home , KY Cygni, Mu Cephei, VV Cephei

SNAKE RIVER SKIES

January 2010 Message from the President Well, the cold weather has and will once again show voted to suspend the Monthly Events hit us and clear nights are its rings to us. January meeting (see note probably going to be rare to the left) and the for the time being. So when Viewing of the winter November meeting and Membership meeting for you see clear skies, take will continue hold elections in October. the Magic Valley Astro- advantage of them with the most prominent October falls within the final nomical Society will not because you won't know being of course Orion and quarter of the and be held this month. In lieu how long the skies will last. Taurus. Taurus proceeds within the purview of the of the meeting, the mem- Bundle up, grab your dew Orion in the evening sky society by-laws. bers are asked to help at shield or heater, and enjoy and easily recognizable by the CSI Centennial Ob- the glimpses of our bright its giant V, the Pleiades These changes were done servatory. The Observa- winter sky. cluster and the orange as a means to hopefully tory will open for public star . Be sure to alleviate some crowding on stargazing at 6:15 pm. The events schedule will look for the Hyades Cluster your year end calendars. Our regular meetings re- soon be posted to the that actually makes up the sume in February. website (thanks Rick) and V shape of Taurus. The Finally, I would like to hopefully there will Hyades are the nearest remind everyone to renew Family Nights will be on something everyone will to the Solar their dues from when you the 5th at 6:15pm and the take advantage of and System (151 light ) first joined. Usually most 19th at 6:30pm. Admis- come out and join fellow and consists of 300-400 members renew from Nov- sion is $1.50 and free for club members for a night of . Jan. Dues are: children 6 and under. stargazing during 2010. $20 per individual Directly overhead at the $20 per family Bimonthly Astronomy will begin setting Zenith you will find Auriga. $10 per student Talk— “Apocalypse just after sunset and in the The brightest star is 2012: Fact and Fiction” east you will find . Capella which is easiest to Please contact treasurer will be on the 15th at 7:15 Small telescopes and pick out as Capella is the Jim Tubbs for renewal. with telescope viewing binoculars will show Mars sixth brightest star in the from 8:15-Midnight. quite well. night sky. Clear skies until next month—Terry Wofford, Observing Calendar is begins to open up This past year the board President MVAS. on page 5.

Welcome to the Astronomical Society Welcome to the club and There will always be a very your own telescope. Tele- hello. We hope you have a interesting program, class scopes are also set up out- good time, enjoy the hobby, or presentation at these side on the stargazer’s and bring good skies with meetings, as well as good deck. Star Parties are year you. We hold indoor meet- fellowship. There is always round, so please dress ac- ings each month in the Rick something new to learn. cordingly as the Observa- Allen Room , Herrett Center Following our meetings we tory is not heated, nor air at the College of Southern have a star party at the conditioned. Wishing you The full Moon on January 1 Idaho Campus in Twin Falls , Centennial Observatory dark skies and clear nights! ID , USA . Our meetings 2010. This combination made also at the Herrett Center . for very poor viewing. image start at 7:00pm on the sec- Our star parties are free credit: Wikimedia Commons ond Saturday of the month. The MVAS Board. and you don’t have to bring PAGE 2 NEWSLETTER TITLE MONTHLY British Columbia Astronomer’s are trying to curb nighttime glare Written by Douglas Quan municipal officials in North America are A representative for Lali said Lali does- listening. n't yet have a stance on a dark-sky preserve in B.C.'s southern Interior. The City of Toronto recently passed Susan Roline, the mayor of Merritt, mandatory building standards to re- said the idea is feasible, but all stake- duce nighttime glare. And a city super- holders will need to be consulted. She visor in San Francisco is set to begin said the area is currently used for min- hearings on a proposal to force down- ing exploration, logging operations and town buildings to shut off their interior ranching. Roline agreed though that lights at night. shining lights up at the sky is "not a Some B.C. municipalities have light necessity." restrictions in place, but it's been more of a piecemeal approach, said Mark Light pollution's other effects Eburne, chair of light pollution abate- Bird enthusiasts have also become (Image: courtesy of Steven Whitehouse) ment for the Vancouver branch of the major light pollution-reduction advo- Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. cates. Editor’s note: This article is one of the most re- "Most cities have a noise bylaw, not cent that has been sent via a relative who lives in Canada and shares an equal passion about many have a light pollution bylaw," he Turns out, migratory birds are often Astronomy as the Editor does. said. drawn to the bright lights emanating from downtown office buildings, monu- Light pollution is a worldwide problem and not This year, Eburne -- armed with a ments and broadcast towers, and con- just a problem in the U.S. power-point presentation -- started fuse the lights with the moon and stars Amateur astronomers are trying to per- traveling to municipal council meetings they use to navigate. suade municipal officials in B.C.'s to educate officials on the topic. southern Interior to cut out nighttime His key message: "Being green is also Birds will flutter in the light and drop glare from city lights and turn 1,700 being dark at night." from exhaustion, or crash into the hectares of mostly rural land into a structures, experts say. Some birds dark-sky preserve. Dark-sky preserve might survive the night but then get Advocates of a dark-sky preserve in trapped in the urban centre during the If approved, the area -- nestled in the the Nicola Valley say astronomers day and get disoriented by reflections Nicola Valley between Merritt, Kam- from as far as Australia and Africa in glass structures. Hundreds can be loops, Kelowna and Princeton -- would have visited the region's high plateaus. killed in one night at one building, ac- draw astronomy buffs from around the "This area that I speak of is pristine cording to the Fatal Light Awareness world and offer nighttime skies not and it is our wish to keep it that way," Program, a Toronto-based charity unlike what Galileo would've seen in Greenhalgh wrote in a recent letter to whose volunteers help rescue birds the 1600s, proponents say. "You're Harry Lali, the MLA who represents the that have fallen to the ground. "At a separating yourself from the doldrums region. flick of the switch, the problem disap- of life, going out there and reconnect- pears," said Michael Mesure, FLAP's ing with the universe from which we Advocates stress that they are not anti- executive director. came," said Paul Greenhalgh, presi- development. They just want munici- dent of the Fraser Valley Astronomers palities to make sure that all new de- Society. "For me, it's a purging." velopments and street lights be Continued on the next page equipped with full cut-off light fixtures that direct light downward. The Royal Amateur astronomers camp out under the stars An unfettered view of the stars and during the eight-day Merritt Star Quest in B.C. is just one of many benefits of Astronomical Society of Canada has (courtesy of Randy Giesbrecht) curbing light pollution, advocates told laid out criteria for what constitutes a ctvbc.ca. It also reduces the number of dark-sky preserve, but essentially migratory birds that get disoriented there should be no artificial lighting and from city lights and crash into build- little or no sky glow visible from within ings; cuts back on energy use; and the area. results in a more restful sleep for hu- mans. The society has recognized nine dark- sky preserves across the country: four Though reducing light pollution doesn't in Ontario; two in Alberta; two in New have the same urgency as reducing Brunswick; and one in Saskatchewan. emissions, there is evidence MONTHLY NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 3 A shot of the moon taken Beginning next year, new building with an 8-inch Dobsonian construction will have to adhere to telescope. new regulations as part of the city's (courtesy of "Green Standard." There's a ban on Paul Green- up-lighting exterior light fixtures and a halgh) requirement that all exterior light fix- tures be shielded to prevent glare or There is also an emerging body of "light trespass" onto neighboring research that suggests strong corre- properties. lations between light pollution and people's health. The rules apply to low-rise non- residential buildings, as well as mid- to high-rise residential and commer- The Northern Lights as seen from Abbotsford, Earlier this year, the American Medi- B.C. (courtesy of Paul Greenhalgh) cal Association adopted a resolution cial buildings. to support light pollution reduction Greenhalgh and others said while efforts. Meanwhile, the City of San Francisco these are positive steps, they want is set to begin hearings on a proposal municipalities to adopt comprehen- The association cited research that to deal with interior lights of buildings sive light pollution-reduction plans shows light pollution can disrupt the in their downtown core. The proposal that address everything from the human circadian rhythm, suppress would require downtown office build- lighting of billboards to the lighting of melatonin production, depress im- ings to either turn off their lights at residential and commercial develop- mune systems, and increase cancer night or adopt automatic lighting con- ments to so-called vanity or decora- rates. trols. tive lighting, such as rooftop lights.

The association also said streetlight "If anyone visits our downtown sky- "You can't stop progress, but you can glare can decrease nighttime visibility line, you'll see thousands of lights manipulate it so that it works to the by constricting the pupils. "Many turned on. It represents a huge waste benefit of all those concerned," he older citizens are significantly af- of energy," said Supervisor David said. fected by glare as the eye ages, lead- Chiu, who is sponsoring the motion. ing to unsafe driving conditions," the "We all learned as kids -- every four- Douglas Quan is a freelance writer association said. year-old knows -- they have to turn based in Vancouver, B.C. This article off the lights." was written on Mon Dec. 28, 2009 for Cities respond CATV,CA in B.C. The message is resonating with BC Hydro offers an incentive program some municipalities. The City of To- to municipalities to get rid of ineffi- ronto has adopted a bi-annual Lights cient streetlights that shine light in all Out! public awareness campaign and directions and replace them with full cut-off streetlights that direct light "bird-friendly" development guide- lines. downward. That's what the City of The Olympic Rings shine across Coal Harbour Critics say lights like these are unnecessary Calgary did, and it now saves $1.7 as seen from Stanley Park (looking south) in million in electrical costs, according to Vancouver, BC, CA. The city of Vancouver is BC Hydro. one of the most beautiful and sadly one of the most light polluted cities in the Pacific North- west. The winter games begin in February With the exception of decorative light- 2010. Source, Unknown. ing, all new City of Vancouver street lights are required to be full cut-off fixtures.

and should be replaced with cut-off lights that direct light downward. (courtesy International Dark Sky Association)

PAGE 4 NEWSLETTER TITLE MONTHLY January has a Birthday Star

Editor’s Note: This article is based upon an It is so large that it could fit 6.4 quadril- polar of , which actual star name and NOT for any astrology star lion in it. If were a golf ball was named for the King of Aethopia in lore and beliefs. (about 1.7 in/4.3 cm), Greek mythology and is considered to would be greater than the length of two represent a king. Cepheus is sort of a Golden Gate Bridges laid end-to-end house-shaped constellation, and m (about 3.4 mi./5.5 km). (Mu) Cephei is located halfway be- tween the two stars at the bottom of Mu Cephei is a and the the house, or the front porch. prototype of the class of the Mu Ce- phei variables. Its apparent brightness The Garnet Star is located on the map varies without recognizable pattern below. The red dot below and to the between magnitude +3.62 and +5 in a left of Alderamin (outside the Constel- period of 2 to 2.5 years. Mu Cephei is lations diagram, the yellow lines, is the 38,000 times brighter than the , Garnet Star. Visible to the naked eye The birthstone for January is the Gar- with an absolute visible magnitude of in dark sky conditions (outside the city net and the Garnet star or Mu Cephei Mv = −7.0. Combining its absolute visi- of Twin Falls, Burley, or Jerome) you (μ Cephei), would therefore be the star ble brightness, its radiation may not realize its actual redness until for January. Mu Cephei is a red super- and its interstellar gives a viewed through a telescope or binocu- giant star in the constellation Cepheus. of around 350,000 solar lu- lars. minosities, making it one of the most It is one of the largest and most lumi- luminous stars known. Its distance is Usually at a public star party CSI Her- nous stars known in the . It not very well known. Parallax meas- rett Center Centennial Observatory appears garnet red due to its spectral urements or distance estimates in the manager Chris Anderson or any tele- class of M2Ia The deep red color of Mu scientific literature give values between scope operator will be glad to show Cephei was noted by , 390 and 1,600 (1,300 and you the Garnet Star, or any other red who described it as "a very fine deep 5,200 ly). (Carbon) stars. garnet color, such as the periodical Mu Cephei is now in the dying stage of This article was taken from Wikipedia and modi- star ο Ceti," and it is thus commonly fied for the newsletter. Wikipedia Gnu general known as Herschel's "Garnet Star".[ stars. It has begun to fuse into use license has been applied. called it Garnet Sidus carbon, whereas a star in his catalogue. fuses into helium. The he- lium-carbon cycle shows that Mu Ce- An alternative name, Erakis, used in phei is in the last phase of its life and is Antonín Bečvářs is possibly about to explode as a super- probably due to confusion with Mu nova (in astronomical terms; at least Draconis, which was previously called some millions of years). When a star al-Rāqis in Arabic. becomes a it is destroyed, leaving behind a vast gaseous cloud A very luminous red supergiant, Mu which, for a star as massive as Mu Cephei is one of the largest and bright- Cephei, may leave a rem- est stars visible to the naked eye and nant. in the entire . It is best seen from the Northern hemisphere from Emissions from the star suggest the August to January. presence of a wide ring of dust and with outer radius four times that The star is approximately 1,650 times of the star (i.e 2,600 Solar radii) and larger than our sun's solar radius, and inner boundary twice the radius of the were it placed in the Sun's position, its star (1,300 Solar radii). If replaced to radius would reach between the our Sun, such disk would practically of Jupiter and Saturn. Mu Cephei could span between 5.5 Astronomical Units fit almost 4.5 billion into its vol- (within Jupiter's orbital zone) and 11 ume. Only five known stars (VY Canis Astronomical Units (beyond Saturn's Majoris, KW Sagitarii, KY Cygni, V354 ). Image: astronomy.net and XEPhem Software © Cephei and VV Cephei) are believed to 1994-2010 John Huggins All Rights Reserved. be larger than it. Finding the Garnet Star is very easy once you locate the Northern Circum- Credit for the main image of Mu Cephei (Garnet Star) unknown. Common use license is used. MONTHLY NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 5

SKY CALENDAR FOR JANUARY 2010

1 Moon near (morning sky) at 16h UT. 1 Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 21h UT (358,682 km; 33.3'). 2 Moon near Beehive cluster (M44) (morning sky) at 16h UT.

3 Earth at Perihelion (closest to Sun) at 0h UT. Saturn NASA/ESA Hubble image 3 Moon near Mars (morning sky) at 6h UT. Mag. -0.8. 3 Quadrantid Meteor Shower peaks at 19h UT. Produces up to 100 meteors per hour. Radiant is in Boötes. Bright moonlight this year makes viewing very unfavorable. 4 Moon near Regulus (morning sky) at 2h UT. 4 at inferior conjunction with the Sun at 19h UT. Mercury passes into the morning sky. 6 Moon near Saturn (morning sky) at 13h UT. Mag. +0.9. 7 Last Quarter Moon at 10:39 UT. 8 Moon near Spica (morning sky) at 0h UT. 11 Moon near (morning sky) at 14h UT. 11 at superior conjunction with the Sun at 20h UT. Passes into the evening sky (not visible). 15 Annular Solar Eclipse from 5:14 to 8:59 UT, mid-eclipse at 7:06 UT. Eclipse visible along a 300-km wide path from central Africa to east Asia. 15 New Moon at 7:11 UT. Start of lunation 1077. 17 Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 2h UT (distance 406,435 km; angular size 29.4'). 18 Moon near Jupiter (evening sky) at 4h UT. Mag. -2.1. 23 First Quarter Moon at 10:53 UT. 25 Moon near the Pleiades (evening sky) at 11h UT. 27 Mercury at greatest elongation, 25° west from Sun (morning sky) at 5h UT. Mag. -0.1. 27 Mars nearest to Earth at 19:02 UT (61.7 million miles). Diameter 14.1 arcseconds, Mag. -1.3. 29 Mars at opposition at 20h UT. Mag. -1.3. Visible all night. 30 Full Moon at 6:18 UT. 31 Moon will be at perigee (closest to Earth) at 9h UT (356,593 km; 33.5').

Image of the Milky Way stretching from Mt. Lassen, CA, USA to Mt. Shasta, CA, USA NASA/APOD Photo SNAKE Facts about Mars RIVER SKIES 1. Mars has the biggest mountain in the . Olympus Mons is 15.5 miles high and 372 miles across and is actually a dormant volcano. 2. Mars is named after the Roman god of war because its red color reminded early observers of blood. 3. Compared to the other planets in the solar system, Mars is quite small. 4. Mars has some of the wildest weather in the solar system. It has tremendous wind storms, dust storms and small torna- does (dust devils). 5. There has been a search for life on mars, and also a search for water. After years of studying every crack on the ’s Snake River Skies is the Newsletter of the surface for evidence of water, scientists have finally found it. Magic Valley Astronomical Society and is pub- The Phoenix mission found that there are huge deposits of ice lished once a month for both members and underneath the planet’s surface. non-members and is available via the club 6. The people who studied Mars most closely were the ancient website: Mayans. The Mayans were the first to figure out Mars’ orbit. In http://www.mvastro.org/members/index.php the Dresden Codex, they created a Mars calendar that is ac- and following the link for newsletters. curate to the day.

Snake River Skies is copyrighted, except where noted and credit is via permission of the respective author. Images used are normally public domain unless otherwise noted and credit for use is given.

Snake River Skies © 2010 by the Magic Valley Image of Mars in 2001 as seen from the Astronomical Society. Hubble Space Telescope Credit: NASA

Window Opens into Moon's Past Volcanism

ScienceDaily (Jan. 1, 2010) — Lava conclude that the skylight most likely Japan; Tsuneo Matsunaga: Center for Global tubes, underground cave-like chan- formed when part of the lava tube roof Environmental Research, NIES, Tsukuba, Japan; Shunsuke Nakanotani: Mitsubishi nels through which lava once collapsed. The authors believe that Space Software Co., Ltd., Tsukuba, Japan; flowed, are commonly found on the discovery could have implications and Carle M. Pieters: Department of Geologi- Earth. Scientists have debated for studies of lunar volcanism. cal Sciences, Brown University, Providence, whether these tubes could form on Rhode Island, USA. the Moon as well, but no studies In addition, because lava tubes are have yet conclusively identified fea- sheltered from the harsh environment tures that indicate the presence of on the Moon's surface, such tubes lunar lava tubes. could one day be useful for lunar bases. Surface of the Moon Kaguya/JAX photo. Using images from the SELENE (also known as Kaguya) spacecraft's The research is published in Geo- high-resolution cameras, Haruyama physical Research Letters. et al. have identified a vertical hole that they believe is a skylight in an Authors include Junichi Haruyama, Tomokatsu intact lava tube. The hole is located Morota, Yasuhiro Yokota, and Makiko Ohtake: in the Marius Hills region, a volcanic ISAS, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan; Kazuyuki area on the Moon's nearside. Hioki and Seiichi Hara: NTT DATA CCS Corpo- ration, Tokyo, Japan; Motomaro Shirao: Tokyo, Japan; Harald Hiesinger and Carolyn H. van The authors find that the nearly cir- der Bogert: Institut für Planetologie, West- cular hole is about 65 meters (213 fälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Ger- many; Hideaki Miyamoto: University Museum, feet) in diameter and about 80-88 m University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Akira Iwa- (262-289 ft) deep. They consider saki: Research Center for Advanced Science possible formation mechanisms and and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo,