2020 Flyin' High Over X
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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. -
Ghost Hunt Challenge 2020
Virtual Ghost Hunt Challenge 10/21 /2020 (Sorry we can meet in person this year or give out awards but try doing this challenge on your own.) Participant’s Name _________________________ Categories for the competition: Manual Telescope Electronically Aided Telescope Binocular Astrophotography (best photo) (if you expect to compete in more than one category please fill-out a sheet for each) ** There are four objects on this list that may be beyond the reach of beginning astronomers or basic telescopes. Therefore, we have marked these objects with an * and provided alternate replacements for you just below the designated entry. We will use the primary objects to break a tie if that’s needed. Page 1 TAS Ghost Hunt Challenge - Page 2 Time # Designation Type Con. RA Dec. Mag. Size Common Name Observed Facing West – 7:30 8:30 p.m. 1 M17 EN Sgr 18h21’ -16˚11’ 6.0 40’x30’ Omega Nebula 2 M16 EN Ser 18h19’ -13˚47 6.0 17’ by 14’ Ghost Puppet Nebula 3 M10 GC Oph 16h58’ -04˚08’ 6.6 20’ 4 M12 GC Oph 16h48’ -01˚59’ 6.7 16’ 5 M51 Gal CVn 13h30’ 47h05’’ 8.0 13.8’x11.8’ Whirlpool Facing West - 8:30 – 9:00 p.m. 6 M101 GAL UMa 14h03’ 54˚15’ 7.9 24x22.9’ 7 NGC 6572 PN Oph 18h12’ 06˚51’ 7.3 16”x13” Emerald Eye 8 NGC 6426 GC Oph 17h46’ 03˚10’ 11.0 4.2’ 9 NGC 6633 OC Oph 18h28’ 06˚31’ 4.6 20’ Tweedledum 10 IC 4756 OC Ser 18h40’ 05˚28” 4.6 39’ Tweedledee 11 M26 OC Sct 18h46’ -09˚22’ 8.0 7.0’ 12 NGC 6712 GC Sct 18h54’ -08˚41’ 8.1 9.8’ 13 M13 GC Her 16h42’ 36˚25’ 5.8 20’ Great Hercules Cluster 14 NGC 6709 OC Aql 18h52’ 10˚21’ 6.7 14’ Flying Unicorn 15 M71 GC Sge 19h55’ 18˚50’ 8.2 7’ 16 M27 PN Vul 20h00’ 22˚43’ 7.3 8’x6’ Dumbbell Nebula 17 M56 GC Lyr 19h17’ 30˚13 8.3 9’ 18 M57 PN Lyr 18h54’ 33˚03’ 8.8 1.4’x1.1’ Ring Nebula 19 M92 GC Her 17h18’ 43˚07’ 6.44 14’ 20 M72 GC Aqr 20h54’ -12˚32’ 9.2 6’ Facing West - 9 – 10 p.m. -
Observatories
NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORIES NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORIES FY 1997 PROVISIONAL PROGRAM PLAN September 19,1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 1 II. THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: MILESTONES PAST AND FUTURE 3 IE. NIGHTTIME PROGRAM 6 A. Major Projects 6 1. SOAR ".""".6 2. WIYN 8 B. Joint Nighttime Instrumentation Program 9 1. Overview 9 2. Description of Individual Major Projects 10 3. Detectors 13 4. NOAO Explorations of Technology (NExT) Program 14 C. USGP 15 1. Overview 15 2. US Gemini Instrument Program 16 D. Telescope Operations and User Support 17 1. Changes in User Services 17 2. Telescope Upgrades 18 a. CTIO 18 b. KPNO 21 3. Instrumentation Improvements 24 a. CTIO 24 b. KPNO 26 4. Smaller Telescopes 29 IV. NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY 29 A. Major Projects 29 1. Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) 30 2. RISE/PSPT Program 33 3. SOLIS 34 4. Study of CLEAR 35 B. Instrumentation 36 1. General 36 2. Sacramento Peak 36 3. NSO/KittPeak 38 a. Infrared Program 38 b. Telescope Improvement 40 C. Telescope Operations and User Support 41 1. Sacramento Peak 41 2. NSO/KittPeak 42 V. THE SCIENTIFIC STAFF 42 VI. EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH 45 A. Educational Program 45 1. Direct Classroom Involvement 46 2. Development of Instructional Materials 46 3. WWW Distribution of Science Resources 47 4. Outreach Advisory Board 47 5. Undergraduate Education 47 6. Graduate Education 47 7. Educational Partnership Programs 47 B. Public Information 48 1. Press Releases and Other Interactions With the Media 48 2. Images 48 3 Visitor Center 48 C. -
Visual Observing and Star Hopping
•What to observe. •Methods used to locate objects. •Using a planisphere. •Angular distance. •Using binoculars. •Using a telescope and a telrad. •Star hopping with a finderscope. •Useful resources – star charts. •So>ware that simulates the night-sky. What to Observe The Moon. Diameter about 3474 kms, distance about 384,000 kms. Comets, asteriods and planets. Example: Jupiter, diameter 140,000 kms, 780 million kms (about 43 light minutes or 0.00008 light years) from the Sun. Jupiter image at right by Chris Turton. Stars, variable stars and binary stars. Example: the Sun, diameter about 1.4 million kms, distance 150 million kms. You need solar filters or a specialised solar scope to observe the Sun. Example: the binary star alpha Centauri AB, 4.3 light years away. Open clusters. Example: Jewel Box (NGC 4755), size about 19 light years, distance 6400 light years. Contains around 100 stars. Jewel Box image at right by Rodney Moulder. Globular clusters. Example: M22 (NGC 6656), diameter 97 light years, distance 10,400 light years. Contains approximately 500,000 stars. M22 image at right by Claudio Sllo. Nebulae (clouds of dust and gas). Example: Tarantula Nebula ( NGC 2070) in the LMC, dimensions about 1800 by 1200 light years, distance 160,000 light years. Largest known star-forming region. Tarantula image at le> by Rob Keskull. Galaxies. Example: the barred spiral galaxy M83 (NGC 5236), diameter about 100,000 light years, distance 17 million light years. Contains over 35 billion stars. M83 image at right by Gerry Aarts. Methods Used to Locate Objects The method you use to locate astronomical objects will depend on the type of equipment you are using … GoTo with motorised mount. -
Für Astronomie Nr
für Astronomie Nr. 28 Zeitschrift der Vereinigung der Sternfreunde e.V. / VdS DAS WELTALL Orionnebel DU LEBST DARIN – ENTDECKE ES! Computerastronomie Internationales Jahr der Astronomie INTERNATIONALES ISSN 1615 - 0880 www.vds-astro.de I/ 2009 ASTRONOMIEJAHR [email protected] • www.astro-shop.com Tel.: 040/5114348 • Fax: 040/5114594 Eiffestr. 426 • 20537 Hamburg Astroart 4.0 The Night Sky Observer´s Guide Photoshop Astronomy Die aktuellste Version Dieses hilfreiche Werk Der Autor arbeitet seit fast 10 Jahren mit Photo- des bekannten Bildbe- dient der erfolg- shop, um seine Astrofotos zu bearbeiten. Die arbeitungspro- reichen Vorbereitung dabei gemachten Erfahrungen hat er in diesem grammes gibt es jetzt einer abwechslungs- speziell auf die Bedürfnisse des Amateurastro- mit interessanten reichen Deep-Sky- nomen zugeschnitte- neuen Funktionen. Nacht. Sortiert nach nen Buch gesammelt. Moderne Dateifor- Sternbildern des Die behandelten The- men sind unter ande- mate wie DSLR-RAW Sommer- und Win- rem: die technische werden unterstützt, terhimmels nden Ausstattung, Farbma- Bilder können sich detaillierte NEU nagement, Histo- durch automa- Beschreibungen Südhimmel gramme, Maskie- 3. Band tische Sternfelderken- zu hunderten rungstechniken, nung direkt überlagert werden, was die Bild- Galaxien, Nebeln, Oenen Stern- und Addition mehrerer feldrotation vernachlässigbar macht. Auch die Kugelhaufen. Der Teleskopanblick jedes Bilder, Korrektur von Bearbeitung von Farbbildern wurde erweitert. Objekts ist beschrieben und mit einem Hin- Vignettierungen, Besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf der Erken- weis bezüglich der verwendeten Optik verse- Farbhalos, Deformationen oder nung und Behandlung von Pixelfehlern der hen. 2 Bände mit insgesamt 446 Fotos, 827 überbelichteten Sternen, LRGB und vieles Aufnahme-Chips. Zeichnungen, 143 Tabellen und 431 Sternkar- mehr. Auf der beigefügten DVD benden sich 90 alle im Buch besprochenen und verwendeten Update ten. -
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). -
Astronomy 2008 Index
Astronomy Magazine Article Title Index 10 rising stars of astronomy, 8:60–8:63 1.5 million galaxies revealed, 3:41–3:43 185 million years before the dinosaurs’ demise, did an asteroid nearly end life on Earth?, 4:34–4:39 A Aligned aurorae, 8:27 All about the Veil Nebula, 6:56–6:61 Amateur astronomy’s greatest generation, 8:68–8:71 Amateurs see fireballs from U.S. satellite kill, 7:24 Another Earth, 6:13 Another super-Earth discovered, 9:21 Antares gang, The, 7:18 Antimatter traced, 5:23 Are big-planet systems uncommon?, 10:23 Are super-sized Earths the new frontier?, 11:26–11:31 Are these space rocks from Mercury?, 11:32–11:37 Are we done yet?, 4:14 Are we looking for life in the right places?, 7:28–7:33 Ask the aliens, 3:12 Asteroid sleuths find the dino killer, 1:20 Astro-humiliation, 10:14 Astroimaging over ancient Greece, 12:64–12:69 Astronaut rescue rocket revs up, 11:22 Astronomers spy a giant particle accelerator in the sky, 5:21 Astronomers unearth a star’s death secrets, 10:18 Astronomers witness alien star flip-out, 6:27 Astronomy magazine’s first 35 years, 8:supplement Astronomy’s guide to Go-to telescopes, 10:supplement Auroral storm trigger confirmed, 11:18 B Backstage at Astronomy, 8:76–8:82 Basking in the Sun, 5:16 Biggest planet’s 5 deepest mysteries, The, 1:38–1:43 Binary pulsar test affirms relativity, 10:21 Binocular Telescope snaps first image, 6:21 Black hole sets a record, 2:20 Black holes wind up galaxy arms, 9:19 Brightest starburst galaxy discovered, 12:23 C Calling all space probes, 10:64–10:65 Calling on Cassiopeia, 11:76 Canada to launch new asteroid hunter, 11:19 Canada’s handy robot, 1:24 Cannibal next door, The, 3:38 Capture images of our local star, 4:66–4:67 Cassini confirms Titan lakes, 12:27 Cassini scopes Saturn’s two-toned moon, 1:25 Cassini “tastes” Enceladus’ plumes, 7:26 Cepheus’ fall delights, 10:85 Choose the dome that’s right for you, 5:70–5:71 Clearing the air about seeing vs. -
September 2020 BRAS Newsletter
A Neowise Comet 2020, photo by Ralf Rohner of Skypointer Photography Monthly Meeting September 14th at 7:00 PM, via Jitsi (Monthly meetings are on 2nd Mondays at Highland Road Park Observatory, temporarily during quarantine at meet.jit.si/BRASMeets). GUEST SPEAKER: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Director, Robert Champion What's In This Issue? President’s Message Secretary's Summary Business Meeting Minutes Outreach Report Asteroid and Comet News Light Pollution Committee Report Globe at Night Member’s Corner –My Quest For A Dark Place, by Chris Carlton Astro-Photos by BRAS Members Messages from the HRPO REMOTE DISCUSSION Solar Viewing Plus Night Mercurian Elongation Spooky Sensation Great Martian Opposition Observing Notes: Aquila – The Eagle Like this newsletter? See PAST ISSUES online back to 2009 Visit us on Facebook – Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Newsletter, Night Visions Page 2 of 27 September 2020 President’s Message Welcome to September. You may have noticed that this newsletter is showing up a little bit later than usual, and it’s for good reason: release of the newsletter will now happen after the monthly business meeting so that we can have a chance to keep everybody up to date on the latest information. Sometimes, this will mean the newsletter shows up a couple of days late. But, the upshot is that you’ll now be able to see what we discussed at the recent business meeting and have time to digest it before our general meeting in case you want to give some feedback. Now that we’re on the new format, business meetings (and the oft neglected Light Pollution Committee Meeting), are going to start being open to all members of the club again by simply joining up in the respective chat rooms the Wednesday before the first Monday of the month—which I encourage people to do, especially if you have some ideas you want to see the club put into action. -
1989Apj. . .339. .904C the Astrophysical Journal, 339:904^918,1989 April 15 © 1989. the American Astronomical Society. All Righ
.904C The Astrophysical Journal, 339:904^918,1989 April 15 © 1989. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. .339. 1989ApJ. AN ANALYSIS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF GLOBULAR CLUSTERS WITH POSTCOLLAPSE CORES IN THE GALAXY David F. Chernoff1 Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University AND S. Djorgovski2 California Institute of Technology Received 1988 May 6 ¡accepted 1988 September 20 ABSTRACT We present a new compilation of structural parameters for Galactic globular clusters, based on the data from the complete survey published by Djorgovski, King, and collaborators in 1984, 1986, and 1987 and the e find that the s aboutIhZTth' the ?Galactic| t center than di t nbutionthe distribution of the post^ore-collapsed of the King model (PCC) (KM) clustersclusters. is Withinmuch morethe KM concentrated family a similar trend exists: centrally condensed KM clusters are found, on average, at smaller galactocentric radii To deal with the problem of Galactic obscuration, we used a distance-independent analysis, similar to one devel- oped and published by Frenk and White in 1982. We analyzed the shapes of the KM and PCC cluster systems; they are each consistent with a symmetrical distribution of the clusters about the Galactic center At hxed distance from the center, the clusters at smaller heights above the plane (and thus the less inclined orbits) are marginally more concentrated. The data indicate that the more concentrated KM clusters tend to have C eS ther hand the cc clusters KMK M clusters.H nTr^Th The pPCCiï clusters^ ° show, signs’. ofP tidal distortions are lessm theirluminous envelopes: than thetheir highest major concentrationaxes tend to point toward the Galactic center; the KM clusters show no such effect. -
A New Radio Spectral Line Survey of Planetary Nebulae: Exploring Radiatively Driven Heating and Chemistry of Molecular Gas
Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 12-18-2017 A New Radio Spectral Line Survey of Planetary Nebulae: Exploring Radiatively Driven Heating and Chemistry of Molecular Gas Jesse Bublitz [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Bublitz, Jesse, "A New Radio Spectral Line Survey of Planetary Nebulae: Exploring Radiatively Driven Heating and Chemistry of Molecular Gas" (2017). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A New Radio Spectral Line Survey of Planetary Nebulae: Exploring Radiatively Driven Heating and Chemistry of Molecular Gas Jesse Bublitz AThesisSubmittedinPartialFulfillmentofthe Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in in Astrophysical Sciences & Technology School of Physics and Astronomy College of Science Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY December 18, 2017 Abstract Planetary nebulae contain shells of cold gas and dust whose heating and chemistry is likely driven by UV and X-ray emission from their central stars and from wind-collision-generated shocks. We present the results of a survey of molecular line emissions in the 88 - 235 GHz range from nine nearby (<1.5 kpc) planetary nebulae using the 30 m telescope at the Insti- tut de Radioastronomie Millim´etrique. Rotational transitions of nine molecules, including the well-studied CO isotopologues and chemically important trace species, were observed and the results compared with and augmented by previous studies of molecular gas in PNe. -
Proto-Planetary Nebula Observing Guide
Proto-Planetary Nebula Observing Guide www.reinervogel.net RA Dec CRL 618 Westbrook Nebula 04h 42m 53.6s +36° 06' 53" PK 166-6 1 HD 44179 Red Rectangle 06h 19m 58.2s -10° 38' 14" V777 Mon OH 231.8+4.2 Rotten Egg N. 07h 42m 16.8s -14° 42' 52" Calabash N. IRAS 09371+1212 Frosty Leo 09h 39m 53.6s +11° 58' 54" CW Leonis Peanut Nebula 09h 47m 57.4s +13° 16' 44" Carbon Star with dust shell M 2-9 Butterfly Nebula 17h 05m 38.1s -10° 08' 33" PK 10+18 2 IRAS 17150-3224 Cotton Candy Nebula 17h 18m 20.0s -32° 27' 20" Hen 3-1475 Garden-sprinkler Nebula 17h 45m 14. 2s -17° 56' 47" IRAS 17423-1755 IRAS 17441-2411 Silkworm Nebula 17h 47m 13.5s -24° 12' 51" IRAS 18059-3211 Gomez' Hamburger 18h 09m 13.3s -32° 10' 48" MWC 922 Red Square Nebula 18h 21m 15s -13° 01' 27" IRAS 19024+0044 19h 05m 02.1s +00° 48' 50.9" M 1-92 Footprint Nebula 19h 36m 18.9s +29° 32' 50" Minkowski's Footprint IRAS 20068+4051 20h 08m 38.5s +41° 00' 37" CRL 2688 Egg Nebula 21h 02m 18.8s +36° 41' 38" PK 80-6 1 IRAS 22036+5306 22h 05m 30.3s +53° 21' 32.8" IRAS 23166+1655 23h 19m 12.6s +17° 11' 33.1" Southern Objects ESO 172-7 Boomerang Nebula 12h 44m 45.4s -54° 31' 11" Centaurus bipolar nebula PN G340.3-03.2 Water Lily Nebula 17h 03m 10.1s -47° 00' 27" PK 340-03 1 IRAS 17163-3907 Fried Egg Nebula 17h 19m 49.3s -39° 10' 37.9" Finder charts measure 20° (with 5° circle) and 5° (with 1° circle) and were made with Cartes du Ciel by Patrick Chevalley (http://www.ap-i.net/skychart) Images are DSS Images (blue plates, POSS II or SERCJ) and measure 30’ by 30’ (http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi- bin/dss_plate_finder) and STScI Images (Hubble Space Telescope) Downloaded from www.reinervogel.net version 12/2012 DSS images copyright notice: The Digitized Sky Survey was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S.