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Home , Active asteroid, Comet dust, Great comet, Oort cloud

The Astronews www.hawastsoc.org July 2021

A word from your editor by Inside this issue: Sapavith ‘Ort’ Vanapruks

HAS have decided to cancel public HAS Club Information 2 events for the time being for both public star party at Dillingham and in town star parties President’s Message 2 at Kahala and Geiger, as well as the monthly club meeting. These cancellations will con- tinue while we are still in tier level. As we Observer’s Notebook 3 are now in modified tier 4 on Oahu, we will only have the club member only star party. We will be limiting the club party to the key Meeting Minutes 4 master and 29 extra members. Please check your email and website for an update. Event Calendar 5 I have been trying to capture ISS transit in front of the / for many years. I used ISS Transit Finder website (https:// NASA’s Notes 7 transit-finder.com/) to help me find the trans- it near me. Those many times I tried, I failed due to many reasons. Some of the reasons Meteor Log 8 are bad weather, incorrect camera setting, and unstable mount. Treasurer’s Report 9

Upcoming Events:

• The next Board meeting is Sun., July 4th 3:30 PM. (Zoom Meeting)

• The next meeting is on Tue., July 6th at the Bishop Museum at 7:30 PM. —Zoom Meeting

• Bishop Museum’s planetarium shows are every 1st Saturday of the month at 8:00 PM (Online) www.bishopmuseum.org/calendar The latest opportunity was this past Tues- day morning, 6/29/2021, at 1:27 AM. Three weeks ago, the website showed that the cen- (Continued on page 6) Hawaiian Astronomical Society P.O. Box 17671 President ’s Message July 2021 Honolulu, Hawaii 96817 Many of you (we’re a fairly old bunch) re- President Chris Peterson member Hale Bopp, the “” of 956-3131 1997. It came to us from the , a vast [email protected] storehouse of objects that were thrown out there through gravitational interactions with the giant Vice President early in our ’s history. Because orbiting objects move slowest at their Polly Miao most distant from the body they orbit (in this [email protected] case, the Sun), the Oort Cloud objects spend most of their time far from the inner solar sys- Secretary tem. Hale Bopp was about 60 kilometers in Andy Stroble diameter (~37 miles), and it came closer to the [email protected] Sun than ’s distance (although moving almost perpendicular to the plane of the eclip- tic). Treasurer Now we have another Oort Cloud visitor ap- Peter Besenbruch proaching. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein [email protected] (C/2014 UN271) is 20 AU away and won’t reach perihelion for about 9½ years, but it’s Board Members-at-Large already . And it’s 160 kilometers j Marufa Bhuiyan (100 miles) in diameter! It will only approach [email protected] the Sun to approximately ’s distance, so who knows how it will behave, but it is the biggest Oort Cloud denizen we have been able Astronews Editor to observe well. With so much lead time, I Sapavith ‘ORT’ Vanapruks [email protected] think it is very likely that spacecraft will be sent to observe it. In the meantime, a fun exercise is to spot HAS Webmasters in the daytime. If you know exactly Peter Besenbruch where to look, you can see it in broad daylight. [email protected] You can use a neighbor’s roof or any fixed marker, just pick a place you can return to every evening with a good view to the west and some- School Star Party Coordinators thing distinctive below Venus. Look for it ear- Mark Watanabe lier and higher each night, and before too long [email protected] you’ll see it with the Sun still up! Please also look at and vote on the bylaws on Charles Rykken the HAS web page (http:// [email protected] www.hawastsoc.org/). Click on the “show more” link at the end of the A Short “Who We The Astronews is the monthly news- Are” section and look for the bylaws link. Club letter of the Hawaiian Astronomical Soci- members can send their vote on whether or not ety. Some of the contents may be copy- to adopt these changes to Peter Besenbruch righted. We request that authors and artists ([email protected]) until the end of July. be given credit for their work. Contribu- Last month I mischaracterized the lunar tions are welcome. Send them to the Edi- eclipse conditions. Because the Sun was pass- tor via e-mail. The deadline is the 15th of ing nearly overhead, the Full Moon was nearly each month. We are not responsible for at its southernmost point at zenith. My apology unsolicited artwork. for that error.

Page 2 The Astronews Observer’s Notebook—July 2021 by Ort

Planets Close to the Moon Other Events of Interest Times are Hawaii Standard Time Times are Hawaii Standard Time Jul 4, 8h, 1.94° NNW of Moon; 59° Jul 3, 17h, Venus at northernmost latitude from from the Sun in the morning sky; magni- the plane, 3.4° tudes 5.8 and -8.6 Jul 9, 22h, Moon 6.7° S of Castor; 5° and 10° Jul 7, 18h, 3.7° S of Moon; 21° from from the Sun in the evening sky the Sun in the morn- ing sky; magnitudes Jul 10, 3h, Moon 3.2° S of Pollux; 7° and 8° 0.1 and -5.9 from the Sun in the evening sky Jul 12, 2h, Venus 3.1° SSW of Moon; 28° and Jul 12, 2h, Moon, Venus, and within circle 29° from the Sun in the evening sky; of diameter 3.63°; about 29° from the Sun magnitudes -3.9 and -6.6 in the evening sky Jul 12, 3h, Mars 3.6° SSW of Moon; 29° from Jul 12, 23h, Moon 4.6° NNE of Regulus; 39° the Sun in the evening sky; magnitudes from the Sun in the evening sky 1.8 and -6.7 Jul 17, 0h, Moon 5.7° NNE of Spica; 90° and Jul 24, 9h, Saturn 3.7° NNW of Moon; 171° 89° from the Sun in the evening sky and 170° from the Sun in the midnight Jul 21, 0h, Moon at perigee; distance 57.15 Earth sky; magnitudes 0.3 and -12.5 -radii Jul 25, 19h, 3.9° NNW of Moon; 153° Jul 29, 22h, Southern Delta Aquarid meteors; and 152° from the Sun in the morning ZHR 25; peak 2 days before Last Quarter sky; magnitudes -2.8 and -12.0 Jul 29, 22h, Alpha Capricornid meteors; ZHR 5; Jul 27, 12h, 3.8° NNW of Moon; peak 2 days before Last Quarter 132° from the Sun in the morning sky; magnitudes 7.8 and -11.4 Planets in July

Mercury Venus Mars

Morning rising one hour before sunrise at the start of Evening planet poorly posi- Evening planet poorly July. Lost by the end of the tioned. Half a degree from placed. Venus nearby on 13 month. Mars on 13 July. July. Thin waxing lunar crescent near on 11 and 12 July.

Jupiter Saturn Uranus

Rises five hours before sunrise Well positioned morning Morning planet slowly on 1 July. The bright waning planet approaching opposi- crawling out of the Sun’s gibbous Moon is nearby on 26 tion. Rings brighten at the glare. Not especially well- July. end of July due to the Seel- placed during July. iger effect.

1— Neptune () () Morning planet seen in the morning sky, rises at under dark sky conditions in Sagittarius, is at opposition 3.36am on the 1st and at 2.25 at the end of July, alt- on the night of 17/18 July am on the 31st when it will hough unable to reach when it will be almost 5 transit at 7.39 am It moves peak altitude. billion km from the Earth. from Aries to Taurus on July 6.

Page 3 Meeting Minutes H.A.S. Secretary June 1st, 2021 7:30 PM (Zoom Meeting) Andy Stroble

Meeting called to order at 7:34 pm by President Chris Peterson with 15 participants.

Minutes from the May meeting were approved without changes, motion by Chris, seconded by Ort.

Dillingham Airfield businesses have reportedly been granted six-month extensions, so perhaps we will be alright in the short-term.

COVID-19: We may be moving to Tier 4, but for the June 5th star party we are still limited to ten participants, with usual pandemic precautions.

New people: Fred and Carla Dauer are returning members. Pat Munoz, Elena Dobrica, and Jan and Jim were attending for the first time.

Several members shared photos of the recent lunar eclipse, including some amazing cell- phone astrophotography, and an fantastic composition of the entire eclipse by Ort Vanapruks. Ort treated us to an exposition of the tools and method he used at the end of the meeting. Tom showed comparisons of the eclipse and a more total one previous. Dee shared an por- trayal of the thousands of human-made satellites orbiting the Earth.

Changes to the by-laws have been in the works for a year. The Board would like to have a vote on the changes during the July meeting. A copy of the revised by-laws will be posted on the HAS website. Votes will be via email.

Ort shared a presentation he will be giving to the Girl Scouts on “How to use a Star Map.”

Star parties: All present were reminded of the procedure for the club star parties at Dil- lingham, maximum of ten people. All must be club members, no guests. All must have their own equipment, no view sharing. Members interested in attending need to email Peter Besenbruch to reserve a slot.

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00pm. There were approximately 22 attendees.

Faithfully submitted, James Andy Stroble, Secretary.

Earth's atmospheric glow and star trails

The beauty of our home planet is shown in this long exposure photograph. Taken from the International as it orbited 267 miles above the Indian Ocean, it reveals Earth's atmospheric glow and star trails.

Image Credit: NASA

Page 4 The Astronews Hawaiian Astronomical Society

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Club Party-Dillingham July 3 —7:00 PM (limit 25 people) Club Party Dillingham July 10 —7:00 PM (limit 25 people) Public Party Geiger/Kahala July 17 — CANCELLED

Upcoming School Star Parties

Page 5 (Continued from page 1) Word form your editor ter line of the transit would be around Geiger Park. I thought that I do not have to drive to attempt to capture ISS Transit. Then two weeks ago, the location shifted east to Aiea. Well, not too far. However, last week, ISS position shifted again. This time it shifted far west. The center line now ran from Waialua to Makaha. I checked again on Monday, 6/28/2021, the location was the same. So that night, I drove to Waialua (I believed that it is darker than Makaha). I ar- rived just half a mile from Waialua High School at 12:50 AM. I took me 35 minutes to align my telescope and camera. I started my video recording at 1:26:45 AM and ended at 1:28:15 AM. Total video time is 1 minute and 30 seconds. Next day, I viewed the video and see a dot going in front of the moon at 1:27:46 AM. I used “Free Video to JPG Converter” to extract all frames from the video. I found 24 frames with ISS Transit. To my disappointment, I could not see the shape of ISS. My camera video 30 fps is too slow. I guess I will have to try a different method next time.

Ort’s image of ISS Moon Transit

Space Station Transits the Sun

This composite image made from seven frames shows the Interna- tional Space Station, with a crew of seven onboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Page 6 NASA's Night Sky Notes Observe the and Great Rift

By David Prosper

Summer skies bring glorious views of our own Milky Way galaxy to observers blessed with dark skies. For many city dwellers, their first sight of the Milky Way comes during trips to rural areas - so if you are traveling away from city lights, do yourself a favor and look up! To observe the Milky Way, you need clear, dark skies, and enough time to adapt your eyes to the dark. Photos of the Milky Way are breathtaking, but they usually show far more detail and color than the human eye can see – that’s the beauty and quietly deceptive of long exposure photography. For Northern Hemisphere observers, the most prominent portion of the Milky Way rises in the southeast as marked by the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius. Take note that, even in dark skies, the Milky Way isn’t easily visible until it rises a bit above the horizon and the thick, turbulent air which obscures the view. The Milky Way is huge, but is also rather faint, and our eyes need time to truly adjust to the dark and see it in any detail. Try not to check your phone while you wait, as its light will reset your night vision. It’s best to attempt to view the Milky Way when the Moon is at a new or crescent phase; you don’t want the Moon’s brilliant light washing out any potential views, especially since a full Moon is up all night. Keeping your eyes dark adapted is especially important if you want to not only see the haze of the Milky Way, but also the dark lane cutting into that haze, stretching from the Summer Triangle to Sagittarius. This dark detail is known as the Great Rift, and is seen more readily in very dark skies, especially dark, dry skies found in high desert regions. What exactly is the Great Rift? You are looking at massive clouds of galactic lying between Earth and the interior of the Milky Way. Other “dark nebulae” of cosmic clouds pepper the Milky Way, including the famed Coalsack, found in the Southern Hemisphere constellation of Crux. Many cultures celebrate these dark clouds in their traditional stories along with the constellations and Milky Way. Where exactly is our solar system within the Milky Way? Is there a way to get a sense of scale? The “Our Place in Our Galaxy” activity can help you do just that, with only birdseed, a coin, and your imagination: bit.ly/galaxyplace. You can also discover the amazing science NASA is doing to understand our galaxy – and our place in it - at .gov.

(Continued on page 10)

Page 7 Meteor Log—July 2021 by Tom Giguere

The month of July features three meteor showers; two of the showers are weak and the third shower, the Southern δ-Aquariids have a reasonable rate. Piscis Austrinids (183 PAU) - Very little information has been collected on the PAU over the years, so the details on the shower are not well-confirmed, mainly because of the large amount of northern hemisphere summer data, and the almost complete lack of south- ern hemisphere winter results, on the shower. Observations are needed to improve the sta- tistics. Southern δ-Aquariids (005 SDA) - Data collected by experienced observers under exceptional conditions in 2008 and 2011 show that the maximum ZHR of the southern δ- Aquariids is around 25 for about two days (λ = 125◦ − 127◦ ). The ZHR exceeds 20 be- tween λ = 124◦ and 129◦ . During the maximum there are numerous bright SDA meteors visible, causing r ≈ 2.5 around the maximum and r ≈ 3.1 away from the peak period. The “r” term represents the population index, a term computed from each shower's meteor mag- (Continued on page 11)

Finder chart for July’s three meteor showers. Credit: International Meteor Organiza- tion. Phases of the Moon (courtesy timeanddate.com )

First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter New Moon

July 17 July 23 July 1/31 July 09

Shower Activity Maximum Radiant V∞ r ZHR Date λ⊙ α δ km/s Piscis Austri- Jul 15- Jul 125° 341° -30° 35 3.2 5 nids (183 PAU) Aug 10 29 South. Jul 12– Jul δ-Aquariids 127° 340° -16° 41 2.5 25 Aug 23 30 (005 SDA) -Capricornids Jul 03– Jul α 127° 307° -10° 23 2.5 5 (001 CAP) Aug 15 30 Three showers, plenty of observing options this month! For more info contact: Tom Giguere, 808-782- 1408, [email protected]; Mike Morrow, PO Box 6692, Ocean View, HI 96737.

Page 8 The Astronews Treasurer’s Report by Peter Besenbruch

Cash Flow - 5/10/2021 to 6/9/2021

Beginning Balance $3,907.22

Money into selected accounts comes from

Bank Charge $34.00 Donation $19.00 Membership - Electronic $120.00 Membership – Family $6.00 Membership - Paper $52.00 Subscription - $34.00 Total Money In $265.00 Money out of selected accounts goes to Subscription - Astronomy $34.00

Total Money Out $34.00

Difference $231.00

Ending Balance $4,138.22

Here are the financial up through June 9.

The bank charge challenged last month has been reimbursed. Thanks to all the new members, renewals, and donations. I updated our numbers with this year with the Astronomical League, and membership is up a bit compared to a year ago.

On the monthly star parties at Dillingham: I am pleased to report that the airport authorities say we can have up to 30 people at a time at the members only star parties. Therefore I will no longer maintain sign-up lists. Again the star parties are for members only who have their own equipment and observing plans. You cannot go there expecting to pass your time looking through other people’s scopes.

There are two reasons for this: People are often busy and not expecting to share. Also, the eye is a possible vector for virus transmission. If you and the person sharing have been vaccinated, the risk goes way down, however, so it is up to you to regulate how much eyepiece sharing you do. Just remember, eyepiece sharing is a risk and it is OK to say no.

Page 9 (Continued from page 7) NASA’s Night Sky Notes

The Great Rift is shown in more detail in this photo of a portion of the Milky Way along with the bright stars of the Summer Triangle. You can see why it is also called the “Dark Rift.” Credit: NASA / A.Fujii

If the Milky Way was shrunk down to the size of North America, our entire Solar System would be about the size of a quarter. At that scale, the North Star, Polaris - which is about 433 light years distant from us - would be 11 miles away! Find more ways to visualize these immense sizes with the Our Place in Our Galaxy activity: bit.ly/ galaxyplace

Page 10 The Astronews (Continued from page 8) Meteor Log nitude distribution. r = 2.0—2.5 is brighter than average, while r above 3.0 is fainter than average. In the past there were observed outbursts: Australian observers reported a ZHR of 40 during the night of 1977 July 28/29; again a ZHR of 40 was observed for 1.5 hours on 2003 July 28/29 from Crete (the ZHR before and after the outburst was around 20). Unfortunately, the 2003 observation was not confirmed by other observers active in the period. The exten- sive 2011 data set showed no ZHR enhancement at the same solar longitude as in 2003. The activity level and variations of this shower need to be monitored. The last quarter Moon on July 30 is not optimal for visual work, but the considerable activity may compensate for moonlight-affected sessions. Hawaii is well placed to observe this shower. α-Capricornids (001 CAP) - The CAP and SDA radiants were both detected visually in all years. Although the radiant of the CAP partly overlaps that of the large ANT region, the low CAP meteor velocity should allow visual observers to distinguish between the two sources. Frequently, bright and at times fireball-class shower meteors are seen. Minor rate enhancements have been reported at a few occasions in the past. The highest observed ZHR of ≈ 10 dates back to 1995. Recent results suggest the maximum may continue into July 31.

Jun 30, 2021 is International !

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. The current known asteroid count is more than one million! This image is an artist's illustration of our solar system's .

Image Credit: NASA/McREL

Page 11 The Astronews

Image Credit: Stratodynamics, Inc./UAVOS Stratodynamics, Credit: Image Mexico New overis seen fromStratodynamics glider stratospheric HiDRON The Turbulence Studies Research New

Honolulu, HI 96817 P.O.Box 17671 H.A.S.