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December 2018 the Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club

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December 2018 the Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club December 2018 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 December is here. It is hard to believe that this is the last month December’s constellation winner is Sagitta. This month's of 2018. It seems like yesterday you voted for me as your new constellation is a new one for me. Jason was telling me about it. chairman. We have had a good six months. The annual picnic, My interest was peaked so I had to research this new StarFest and StarWatch events all have been wonderful. The constellation for myself. Of course, you know it is not a new weather has been much better for us, then it was in the spring constellation at all. It was first catalogued in the 2nd century by session, so we have seen a lot more of the public and that is a the greek astronomer Ptolemy. good thing. There are 3 different myths associated with this very small November’s program showcased our own Jason Dorfman as the constellation. The story is told that this is the arrow that was speaker. Jason always does a wonderful job when he shares his used by Heracles to kill the eagle Zeus sent to gnaw at knowledge, this time was no exception. Jason used the Prometheus’ liver. Prometheus was a sculptor that moulded men planetarium to explain how coordinates are used to help and women out of clay in the likeness of Gods and gave them catalogue stars. During his presentation, he set in motion the fire that he had stolen from the Gods. Zeus decided that he had advancement of the night sky while the grids were up showing to be punished for this act and chained him to Mt. Caucasus how the stars changed position during the night. It was very where the eagle Aquila would perpetually gnaw his liver, however interesting to see how all the tools work together. The really his liver grows back every night. unusual thing for me personally was how the early astronomers Here is where Heracles comes into the picture. Heracles, on one were able to map the stars, and come up with this mapping of his journeys, came across Prometheus and killed the eagle system that still works to this day. After the presentation Jason with the arrow freeing him. took questions from the members. I want to thank Jason again for his wonderful presentation. Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 3 Sagitta the Arrow. Image from Stellarium, annotations by Adam Thanz 4 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 In another myth, Sagitta is identified as the arrow Apollo used to Astronomical Unit - noun, abv: AU; A unit of length, equal to the kill the Cyclopes because they made the thunderbolts of Zeus mean difference of the Earth from the Sun: approximately 93 that killed Apollo’s son, Asclepius the famous healer, who is million miles (150 million km). It is used when referring to the represented in the constellation Ophiuchus. distance to objects within the Solar System. Example of correct use of this term would be: The estimated distance to the planet The last myth I found has Sagitta associated with the arrow of Jupiter would be between 4.2 to 6.2 AU (astronomical units) Eros which made Zeus fall in love with Ganymede. This story tells depending on Jupiter's location in the Solar System. that Aquila guards the arrow in the night sky. Blueshift - noun; 1) a shift in the lines of an objects’ spectrum The Greeks knew this constellation as Oistos, it was the Romans toward the blue end. Blueshift indicates that an object is moving that changed the name to Sagitta as we call it today. toward the observer. The larger the blueshift, the faster the object All three of these myths refer to this constellation as an arrow. is moving. 2) the displacement of the spectrum to shorter Many stories told in different cultures sometimes refer to different wavelengths in the light coming from a distant celestial object characters or items however this one seems to hold the same moving toward the observer. item in all of the myths. Continue to research and see if you can I wanted to remind everyone about the December meeting. Our find other myths around other cultures and maybe on one of your speaker for that meeting will be our own Greg Love. Greg will star gazing sessions you will add this to your observing program. doing a presentation on binoculars in astronomy. Greg has invited I encourage you to read Jason's article as he talks about the you to bring your close-focus binoculars to the meeting as we will astronomical details of this constellation as we know it today. be in the Planetarium again and we will be able to use them to find objects on the dome. This would be a great meeting to invite I will be sharing each month a couple of astronomy terms for us your friends because he will also talk about how to pick a pair to to help build our vocabulary. The goal is to show the definition of start observing for those of you that are just starting out. Just as a the word or words as it is used in astronomy and in the culture reminder, the meeting will be on December 7, 2018 at 7 pm. I should there be a difference. This will also help when you are hope to see everyone at the meeting. explaining our hobby to people who are not familiar with our field of interest. This month I will start with the words "Astronomical Lastly, I wanted to share some upcoming events for the club. The Unit" and "blueshift." club dinner is coming up in January 2019. I will have all the details 5 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 at the next meeting. I will also be asking you for a rough count for those of you that think you will be interested in being part of the Messier Marathon that is set for March of 2019. This is only a rough count to see if enough members are interested in this “Club Members Only” event. Until next time… Clear Skies. References: Users.skynet.be.com www.oxfordreference.com http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-glossary.html#B 6 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 Chapter 2 BMAC Notes More on this image. See FN4 More on BMAC News this image. See FN3 BoBfest 2019 Make plans for the Regional Gathering of Amateur Astronomers 2019, aka BoBfest on February 2, 2019! That’s right, BoBfest 2019 will be on Groundhog Day. See you all at the Catawba Science Center in Hickory, NC! Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 8 Jason Dorfman using the planetarium instrument to illustrate celestial motions! Image from Robin Byrne. 9 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2018 Chapter 3 Celestial Happenings Jason Dorfman More on this image. See FN5 Jason Dorfman More on Celestial Happenings this image. See FN3 It's hard to believe that it's already the end of the year. The Sun locating it. Through a scope you'll see a 9" diameter disk looking is setting early and the colder temperatures are already 86% illuminated. Its appearance will not change much over the beginning to set in. This is great for astronomy enthusiasts - month. Mars will dim by about a half magnitude as its diameter longer nights and clearer skies create the perfect conditions for decreases slightly to about 7.5". observing the night sky. Mars will make a conjunction with the ice giant Neptune this Planets month. Though much larger than Mars, Neptune's great distance As the twilight glow of the setting Sun begins to fade, look low in from the Sun makes it unobservable without a telescope or the southwest for the beautiful ringed world, Saturn. On the 1st, binoculars. On the 1st, look about 3.6° to the ENE of Mars to find 45 minutes after sunset, it will be about 10° above the horizon. At this icy, blue world shining at magnitude +7.9. You won't see any magnitude +0.5, you'll be able to easily find it. However, due to features with Neptune as it's disk spans just 2.3". Both planets its proximity to the horizon, observations of Saturn will not be are moving eastward against the background stars but Mars is spectacular. As the month continues, Saturn will appear lower moving much more swiftly, lessening the gap between the two and lower each night at the same time, disappearing into the by 0.6° everyday. On the 6th, Neptune will be just 23' to the ENE bright light of the setting Sun by mid-month. of Mars. The true conjunction occurs at 9:08 a.m. on the 7th when Mars will be just 2.2' north of Neptune. Of course, at that Mars, on the other hand, is still positioned for some good hour both will be well below the horizon for our location (and the observations against the background stars of Aquarius. Look Sun will be up)! By the time the Sun goes down, Mars will have due south an hour after sunset and about 45° up from the moved to 16' to the NE of Neptune. horizon to find the "Red Planet" at the start of the month.
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