Explore the Universe Observing Program
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Puzzle of the Strange Galaxy Made of 99.9% Dark Matter Is Solved 13 October 2020
The puzzle of the strange galaxy made of 99.9% dark matter is solved 13 October 2020 The galaxy Dragonfly 44 was discovered in a deep survey of the Coma cluster, a cluster with several thousand galaxies. From the start, the galaxy was considered remarkable by the researchers because the quantity of dark matter they inferred was almost as much as that in the Milky Way, the equivalent of a billion solar masses. However, instead of containing around a hundred thousand million stars, as has the Milky Way, DF44 has only a hundred million stars, a thousand times Image and amplification (in color) of the ultra-diffuse fewer. This means that the amount of dark matter galaxy Dragonfly 44 taken with the Hubble space was ten thousand times greater than that of its telescope. Credit: Teymoor Saifollahi and NASA/HST. stars. If this had been true, it would have been a unique object, with almost 100 times as much dark matter as that expected from the number of its stars. At present, the formation of galaxies is difficult to understand without the presence of a ubiquitous, Nevertheless, by an exhaustive analysis of the but mysterious component, termed dark matter. system of globular cluster around Dragonfly 44, the Astronomers have measure how much dark matter researchers have detected that the total number of there is around galaxies, and have found that it globular clusters is only 20, and that the total varies between 10 and 300 times the quantity of quantity of dark matter is around 300 times that of visible matter. -
A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters for the Ultra
San Jose State University From the SelectedWorks of Aaron J. Romanowsky 2016 A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters for the Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44 Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University Roberto Abraham, University of Toronto Jean P. Brodie, University of California Observatories Charlie Conroy, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Shany Danieli, Yale University, et al. Available at: https://works.bepress.com/aaron_romanowsky/117/ The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 828:L6 (6pp), 2016 September 1 doi:10.3847/2041-8205/828/1/L6 © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. A HIGH STELLAR VELOCITY DISPERSION AND ∼100 GLOBULAR CLUSTERS FOR THE ULTRA-DIFFUSE GALAXY DRAGONFLY 44 Pieter van Dokkum1, Roberto Abraham2, Jean Brodie3, Charlie Conroy4, Shany Danieli1, Allison Merritt1, Lamiya Mowla1, Aaron Romanowsky3,5, and Jielai Zhang2 1 Astronomy Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA 2 Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada 3 University of California Observatories, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA 4 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, USA 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, San José State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA Received 2016 June 20; revised 2016 July 14; accepted 2016 July 15; published 2016 August 25 ABSTRACT Recently a population of large, very low surface brightness, spheroidal galaxies was identified in the Coma cluster. The apparent survival of these ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a rich cluster suggests that they have very high masses. Here, we present the stellar kinematics of Dragonfly44, one of the largest Coma UDGs, using a 33.5 hr fi +8 -1 integration with DEIMOS on the Keck II telescope. -
The Denver Observer December 2017
The Denver DECEMBER 2017 OBSERVER Messier 76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula, one of the deep-sky objects featured in this month’s “Skies.” Image © Joe Gafford. DECEMBER SKIES by Zachary Singer The Solar System of view in your ’scope will include the Moon’s Sky Calendar 3 Full Moon December will be a decent month for eastern section and the star, with plenty of 10 Last-Quarter Moon planetary events; though some planets are room. 17 New Moon slipping from view, others will take their I recommend you observe early—it 26 First-Quarter Moon place. We also have an occultation of Alde- should be a beautiful view, with the star a baran; as seen from Denver, the Moon will bright spark near the Moon’s edge, and over pass in front of the star at approximately the following minutes (they’ll go fast, just like In the Observer 4:06 PM, on the 30th. At that point, with the recent solar eclipse did), you can see the Moon move in its orbit around us, using the sunset still more than half an hour away, the President’s Message . .2 star won’t be visible to the naked eye, but it star for a benchmark. (Before 4:00 PM, look Society Directory. 2 should be in a telescope if you know where for Aldebaran outside the square, but along to look: Imagine a square drawn just large the diagonal from the Moon’s center to that Schedule of Events . 2 enough to touch the edges of the Moon, and lower-left edge.) About Denver Astronomical Society . -
Explore the Universe Observing Certificate Second Edition
RASC Observing Committee Explore the Universe Observing Certificate Second Edition Explore the Universe Observing Certificate Welcome to the Explore the Universe Observing Certificate Program. This program is designed to provide the observer with a well-rounded introduction to the night sky visible from North America. Using this observing program is an excellent way to gain knowledge and experience in astronomy. Experienced observers find that a planned observing session results in a more satisfying and interesting experience. This program will help introduce you to amateur astronomy and prepare you for other more challenging certificate programs such as the Messier and Finest NGC. The program covers the full range of astronomical objects. Here is a summary: Observing Objective Requirement Available Constellations and Bright Stars 12 24 The Moon 16 32 Solar System 5 10 Deep Sky Objects 12 24 Double Stars 10 20 Total 55 110 In each category a choice of objects is provided so that you can begin the certificate at any time of the year. In order to receive your certificate you need to observe a total of 55 of the 110 objects available. Here is a summary of some of the abbreviations used in this program Instrument V – Visual (unaided eye) B – Binocular T – Telescope V/B - Visual/Binocular B/T - Binocular/Telescope Season Season when the object can be best seen in the evening sky between dusk. and midnight. Objects may also be seen in other seasons. Description Brief description of the target object, its common name and other details. Cons Constellation where object can be found (if applicable) BOG Ref Refers to corresponding references in the RASC’s The Beginner’s Observing Guide highlighting this object. -
Winter Constellations
Winter Constellations *Orion *Canis Major *Monoceros *Canis Minor *Gemini *Auriga *Taurus *Eradinus *Lepus *Monoceros *Cancer *Lynx *Ursa Major *Ursa Minor *Draco *Camelopardalis *Cassiopeia *Cepheus *Andromeda *Perseus *Lacerta *Pegasus *Triangulum *Aries *Pisces *Cetus *Leo (rising) *Hydra (rising) *Canes Venatici (rising) Orion--Myth: Orion, the great hunter. In one myth, Orion boasted he would kill all the wild animals on the earth. But, the earth goddess Gaia, who was the protector of all animals, produced a gigantic scorpion, whose body was so heavily encased that Orion was unable to pierce through the armour, and was himself stung to death. His companion Artemis was greatly saddened and arranged for Orion to be immortalised among the stars. Scorpius, the scorpion, was placed on the opposite side of the sky so that Orion would never be hurt by it again. To this day, Orion is never seen in the sky at the same time as Scorpius. DSO’s ● ***M42 “Orion Nebula” (Neb) with Trapezium A stellar nursery where new stars are being born, perhaps a thousand stars. These are immense clouds of interstellar gas and dust collapse inward to form stars, mainly of ionized hydrogen which gives off the red glow so dominant, and also ionized greenish oxygen gas. The youngest stars may be less than 300,000 years old, even as young as 10,000 years old (compared to the Sun, 4.6 billion years old). 1300 ly. 1 ● *M43--(Neb) “De Marin’s Nebula” The star-forming “comma-shaped” region connected to the Orion Nebula. ● *M78--(Neb) Hard to see. A star-forming region connected to the Orion Nebula. -
Binocular Universe: You're My Hero! December 2010
Binocular Universe: You're My Hero! December 2010 Phil Harrington on't you just love a happy ending? I know I do. Picture this. Princess Andromeda, a helpless damsel in distress, chained to a rock as a ferocious D sea monster loomed nearby. Just when all appeared lost, our hero -- Perseus! -- plunges out of the sky, kills the monster, and sweeps up our maiden in his arms. Together, they fly off into the sunset on his winged horse to live happily ever after. Such is the stuff of myths and legends. That story, the legend of Perseus and Andromeda, was recounted in last month's column when we visited some binocular targets within the constellation Cassiopeia. In mythology, Queen Cassiopeia was Andromeda's mother, and the cause for her peril in the first place. Left: Autumn star map from Star Watch by Phil Harrington Above: Finder chart for this month's Binocular Universe. Chart adapted from Touring the Universe through Binoculars Atlas (TUBA), www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm This month, we return to the scene of the rescue, to our hero, Perseus. He stands in our sky to the east of Cassiopeia and Andromeda, should the Queen's bragging get her daughter into hot water again. The constellation's brightest star, Mirfak (Alpha [α] Persei), lies about two-thirds of the way along a line that stretches from Pegasus to the bright star Capella in Auriga. Shining at magnitude +1.8, Mirfak is classified as a class F5 white supergiant. It radiates some 5,000 times the energy of our Sun and has a diameter 62 times larger. -
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. -
Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory a Autumn Observing Notes
Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory A Autumn Observing Notes Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory PUBLIC OBSERVING – Autumn Tour of the Sky with the Naked Eye CASSIOPEIA Look for the ‘W’ 4 shape 3 Polaris URSA MINOR Notice how the constellations swing around Polaris during the night Pherkad Kochab Is Kochab orange compared 2 to Polaris? Pointers Is Dubhe Dubhe yellowish compared to Merak? 1 Merak THE PLOUGH Figure 1: Sketch of the northern sky in autumn. © Rob Peeling, CaDAS, 2007 version 1.2 Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory PUBLIC OBSERVING – Autumn North 1. On leaving the planetarium, turn around and look northwards over the roof of the building. Close to the horizon is a group of stars like the outline of a saucepan with the handle stretching to your left. This is the Plough (also called the Big Dipper) and is part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The two right-hand stars are called the Pointers. Can you tell that the higher of the two, Dubhe is slightly yellowish compared to the lower, Merak? Check with binoculars. Not all stars are white. The colour shows that Dubhe is cooler than Merak in the same way that red-hot is cooler than white- hot. 2. Use the Pointers to guide you upwards to the next bright star. This is Polaris, the Pole (or North) Star. Note that it is not the brightest star in the sky, a common misconception. Below and to the left are two prominent but fainter stars. These are Kochab and Pherkad, the Guardians of the Pole. Look carefully and you will notice that Kochab is slightly orange when compared to Polaris. -
FIXED STARS a SOLAR WRITER REPORT for Churchill Winston WRITTEN by DIANA K ROSENBERG Page 2
FIXED STARS A SOLAR WRITER REPORT for Churchill Winston WRITTEN BY DIANA K ROSENBERG Page 2 Prepared by Cafe Astrology cafeastrology.com Page 23 Churchill Winston Natal Chart Nov 30 1874 1:30 am GMT +0:00 Blenhein Castle 51°N48' 001°W22' 29°‚ 53' Tropical ƒ Placidus 02' 23° „ Ý 06° 46' Á ¿ 21° 15° Ý 06' „ 25' 23° 13' Œ À ¶29° Œ 28° … „ Ü É Ü 06° 36' 26' 25° 43' Œ 51'Ü áá Œ 29° ’ 29° “ àà … ‘ à ‹ – 55' á á 55' á †32' 16° 34' ¼ † 23° 51'Œ 23° ½ † 06' 25° “ ’ † Ê ’ ‹ 43' 35' 35' 06° ‡ Š 17° 43' Œ 09° º ˆ 01' 01' 07° ˆ ‰ ¾ 23° 22° 08° 02' ‡ ¸ Š 46' » Ï 06° 29°ˆ 53' ‰ Page 234 Astrological Summary Chart Point Positions: Churchill Winston Planet Sign Position House Comment The Moon Leo 29°Le36' 11th The Sun Sagittarius 7°Sg43' 3rd Mercury Scorpio 17°Sc35' 2nd Venus Sagittarius 22°Sg01' 3rd Mars Libra 16°Li32' 1st Jupiter Libra 23°Li34' 1st Saturn Aquarius 9°Aq35' 5th Uranus Leo 15°Le13' 11th Neptune Aries 28°Ar26' 8th Pluto Taurus 21°Ta25' 8th The North Node Aries 25°Ar51' 8th The South Node Libra 25°Li51' 2nd The Ascendant Virgo 29°Vi55' 1st The Midheaven Gemini 29°Ge53' 10th The Part of Fortune Capricorn 8°Cp01' 4th Chart Point Aspects Planet Aspect Planet Orb App/Sep The Moon Semisquare Mars 1°56' Applying The Moon Trine Neptune 1°10' Separating The Moon Trine The North Node 3°45' Separating The Moon Sextile The Midheaven 0°17' Applying The Sun Semisquare Jupiter 0°50' Applying The Sun Sextile Saturn 1°52' Applying The Sun Trine Uranus 7°30' Applying Mercury Square Uranus 2°21' Separating Mercury Opposition Pluto 3°49' Applying Venus Sextile -
Keck Spectra of Brown Dwarf Candidates and a Precise
TABLE 1 Summary of Optical Imaging for Alpha Persei Telescope Area Covered Limiting Magnitude (sq.degrees) (R/I) CWRU Schmidt 3.2 21.5/20.5 MHO 1.2m 1.1 22.0/20.7 KPNO 0.9m 0.5 21.5/20.5 KPNO 4.0m 1.3 22.4/21.0 KPNO 4.0m a (2.5) ≈ 24/≈ 23 aBouvier et al. (1999) TABLE 2 Photometry of Alpha Persei Stars Star α(J2000) δ(J2000) Ic R − Ic K Ic − K AP300 3 17 27.6 49 36 53.0 17.85 2.18 14.62 3.23 AP301 3 18 09.2 49 25 19.0 17.75 2.22 14.14 3.61 AP302 3 19 08.4 48 43 48.5 17.63 2.08 ······ AP303 3 19 10.9 48 42 20.0 16.98 1.88 ······ AP304 3 19 13.2 48 31 55.0 18.83 2.40 ······ AP305 3 19 21.7 49 23 32.0 18.48 2.34 ······ AP306 3 19 41.8 50 30 42.0 18.40 2.34 14.9 3.5 AP307 3 20 20.9 48 01 05.0 17.08 2.01 ······ AP308 3 20 59.7 48 18 37.0 16.71 1.89 ······ AP309 3 22 40.6 48 00 36.0 16.57 1.88 ······ AP275 a 3 23 03.3 48 53 07.0 17.25 2.20 ······ AP310 3 23 04.7 48 16 13.0 17.80 2.33 14.55 3.25 AP311 3 23 08.4 48 04 52.5 17.70 2.12 14.30 3.40 AP312 3 23 14.8 48 11 56.0 18.60 2.41 15.21 3.39 AP313 3 24 08.1 48 48 30.0 17.55 2.13 ······ AP314 3 25 19.6 49 17 58.0 18.20 2.26 15.15 3.05 AP315 3 26 34.5 49 07 46.0 18.20 2.34 14.80 3.40 arXiv:astro-ph/9909207v2 15 Sep 1999 AP316 3 27 01.3 49 14 40.0 17.75 2.18 14.48 3.27 AP317 3 28 06.0 48 45 13.5 17.85 2.29 15.0 2.85 AP318 3 30 42.5 48 21 27.0 17.45 2.16 14.10 3.35 AP319 3 31 03.2 49 02 58.0 16.89 1.95 ······ AP320 3 31 25.3 49 02 52.0 16.79 1.90 ······ AP321 3 32 18.7 49 32 18.0 17.75 2.20 ······ AP322 3 33 08.3 49 37 56.5 17.60 2.14 14.57 3.03 AP323 3 33 20.7 48 45 51.0 17.50 2.13 14.33 3.17 AP324 3 33 48.2 48 52 30.5 18.10 2.36 14.68 3.42 AP325 3 35 47.2 49 17 43.0 17.65 2.30 14.14 3.51 AP326 3 38 55.2 48 57 31.0 18.70 2.40 15.09 3.61 aAP275 is from Prosser (1994). -
16Th HEAD Meeting Session Table of Contents
16th HEAD Meeting Sun Valley, Idaho – August, 2017 Meeting Abstracts Session Table of Contents 99 – Public Talk - Revealing the Hidden, High Energy Sun, 204 – Mid-Career Prize Talk - X-ray Winds from Black Rachel Osten Holes, Jon Miller 100 – Solar/Stellar Compact I 205 – ISM & Galaxies 101 – AGN in Dwarf Galaxies 206 – First Results from NICER: X-ray Astrophysics from 102 – High-Energy and Multiwavelength Polarimetry: the International Space Station Current Status and New Frontiers 300 – Black Holes Across the Mass Spectrum 103 – Missions & Instruments Poster Session 301 – The Future of Spectral-Timing of Compact Objects 104 – First Results from NICER: X-ray Astrophysics from 302 – Synergies with the Millihertz Gravitational Wave the International Space Station Poster Session Universe 105 – Galaxy Clusters and Cosmology Poster Session 303 – Dissertation Prize Talk - Stellar Death by Black 106 – AGN Poster Session Hole: How Tidal Disruption Events Unveil the High 107 – ISM & Galaxies Poster Session Energy Universe, Eric Coughlin 108 – Stellar Compact Poster Session 304 – Missions & Instruments 109 – Black Holes, Neutron Stars and ULX Sources Poster 305 – SNR/GRB/Gravitational Waves Session 306 – Cosmic Ray Feedback: From Supernova Remnants 110 – Supernovae and Particle Acceleration Poster Session to Galaxy Clusters 111 – Electromagnetic & Gravitational Transients Poster 307 – Diagnosing Astrophysics of Collisional Plasmas - A Session Joint HEAD/LAD Session 112 – Physics of Hot Plasmas Poster Session 400 – Solar/Stellar Compact II 113 -
Astronomy with Small Telescopes
Astronomy With Small Telescopes Bohdan Paczy´nski Princeton University Observatory, Princeton, NJ 08544 [email protected] ABSTRACT The All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) is monitoring all sky to about 14 mag with a cadence of about 1 day; it has discovered about 105 variable stars, most of them new. The instrument used for the survey had aperture of 7 cm. A search for planetary transits has lead to the discovery of about a dozen confirmed planets, so called ’hot Jupiters’, providing the information of planetary masses and radii. Most discoveries were done with telescopes with aperture of 10 cm. We propose a search for optical transients covering all sky with a cadence of 10 - 30 minutes and the limit of 12 - 14 mag, with an instant verification of all candidate events. The search will be made with a large number of 10 cm instruments, and the verification will be done with 30 cm instruments. We also propose a system to be located at the L1 point of the Earth - Sun system to detect ’killer asteroids’. With a limiting magnitude of about 18 mag it could detect 10 m boulders several hours prior to their impact, provide warning against Tunguska-like events, as well as to provide news about spectacular but harmless more modest impacts. Subject headings: techniques: photometric — surveys — celestial mechanics — mete- oroids — stars: variable — gamma rays: bursts arXiv:astro-ph/0609161v3 7 Nov 2006 1. Introduction The goal of this paper is to point out that there are many tasks for which small and even very small telescopes are not only useful, but even indispensable.