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Prime Focus Eclipse Visible Before Sunrise Highlights of the April Sky. - - - 4thth - - - Full Moon (8:05 am EDT) - Partial stages of lunar Prime Focus eclipse visible before sunrise. A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society - - - 8thth - - - November 2013 DAWN: Saturn is about 3º April 2015 from the Waning Gibbous Moon. -- - - 10thth → 12thth - - - ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents PM: Venus is about 3º from the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. General Meeting: Friday, April 10 @ 7:00 pm - - - 11thth - - - Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 10 for Details Last Quarter Moon 11:44 pm EDT Observing Session: Saturday, April 11 @ 8:00 pm - - - 18thth - - - New Moon Venus & Jupiter - Kalamazoo Nature Center 2:57 pm EDT thth Astronomy Day: Saturday, April 25 @ 11:00 am - - - 19 - - - DUSK: Mercury and dim Day & Evening Activities - See Page 4 for Details Mars are visible near a thin crescent Moon shortly after sunset; binoculars Introduction to Amateur Astronomy Series Continues recommended. Portage District Library - See Page 6 for Dates, Times & Topics - - - 20thth - - - DUSK: Look for a light sliver of crescent Moon in the west, where it pins the corner of a quadrilateral InsideInside thethe Newsletter.Newsletter. .. .. formed with Venus, Aldebaran, and the March Meeting Minutes......................... p. 2 Pleiades. Board Meeting Minutes......................... p. 3 - - - 22nd - - - PM: Lyrid meteor shower Astronomy Day 2015............................ p. 4 peaks; best from 11pm through dawn. Observations............................................p. 5 - - - 25thth - - - Intro. to Amateur Astronomy............. p. 6 First Quarter Moon 7:55 am EDT NASA Space Place.................................. p. 6 - - - 27thth - - - Membership of the KAS........................ p. 7 PM: A Waxing Gibbous Moon is about 5º from April Night Sky........................................ p. 8 Regulus in Leo. KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 9 - - - 30thth - - - DUSK: Mercury low in General Meeting Preview......................p. 10 WNW. Look for it about 2º to lower left of Pleiades. www.kasonline.org March Meeting Minutes The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society estimate of the mass and density of Pluto and Charon. It was was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, easier getting more time on Hubble to search for more March 6, 2015 at 7:10 pm. Approximately 54 members and moons. Kerberos was discovered in 2011, while Styx was guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & spotted in 2012. New Horizons discovering even more Science Center (KAMSC). moons later this year is not out of the question. The Pluto System was likely created during a large impact early in the Our special guest speaker was Dr. Marc Buie, a staff scientist solar system’s history. This is very similar to how the Earth- at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado and Moon system formed. co-investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Dr. Buie was “first bitten by the Pluto bug” as a graduate student The Hubble Space Telescope’s best image of Pluto is just a in the early 1980’s and since that time he has published over collection of light and dark pixels. Some regions of Pluto are 85 scientific papers and journal articles on Pluto. The title of very dark with just a few percent of reflectivity. These his presentation, which he gave from his home in Boulder regions may be covered with organic-rich “gunk.” The via Skype, was New Horizons: On the Threshold of the Pluto brighter regions of Pluto’s surface appear to be covered with System. nitrogen frost with methane and carbon monoxide. The surface temperature ranges from 38 Kelvin (-391º F) in the Dr. Buie began his presentation by reminding us where Pluto lighter regions to 55 Kelvin (-361º F) in the darker areas. is located in the solar system. Pluto can be found beyond Neptune’s orbit (most of the time, anyway) in a region now Pluto’s atmosphere was discovered by stellar occultations known as the Kuiper Belt, which extends from about 30 - 55 from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory in 1985. Dr. Buie Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun. Although, as Dr. explained that stars would suddenly vanish if Pluto had no Buie mentioned, astronomers didn’t even know the Kuiper atmosphere. Instead, stars gradually faded away. The surface Belt existed when he began studying Pluto. Pluto is the pressure is only 20 millionths of Earth’s and is composed of brightest, and probably largest member of the Kuiper Belt or mostly nitrogen with some methane and carbon monoxide. the “third zone” of the solar system. There is a current tug- Many scientists were concerned that Pluto’s atmosphere of-war between Eris, discovered in 2005, and Pluto over who would freeze to the surface as its orbit carried it away from is larger. This will be resolved when New Horizons the Sun. However, that hasn’t happened so New Horizons investigates Pluto up-close this July. will have the opportunity to investigate Pluto’s atmosphere. It seems Pluto’s atmosphere is supported by evaporation of Pluto currently has five known moons. The largest, Charon, surface frost. Evaporative cooling occurs on the sunlit side, was discovered in 1978. Many astronomers thought it was a and warms the dark side. This makes the frost temperature waste of the Hubble Space Telescope’s precious observing the same everywhere. time to search for more. However, a team of astronomers, which included Dr. Buie, discovered Nix and Hydra in 2005. Dr. Buie then spent some time discussing Charon. Pluto and These little moons allowed for a much more accurate Charon actually orbit a common center of mass that is outside of Pluto, so this meets Dr. Buie’s criteria that the two are actually part of a double planetary system. Charon’s surface is of rather uniform brightness, compared to Pluto’s variety of light and dark features. Charon’s surface is mostly dirty water ice, with a little bit of ammonia possibly mixed in. Charon may actually be similar to Saturn’s moon Dione. Dr. Buie also mentioned that we’ve already seen a place very similar to Pluto. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, is similar to Pluto in many ways. Triton also has lots of nitrogen on the surface, but less visible methane than Pluto. Triton also contains frozen carbon dioxide, which Pluto lacks. Dr. Buie said Triton is very boring compared to Pluto when comparing ground based studies. This makes the mission to Pluto all the more intriguing. Dr. Marc Buie gave the April meeting presentation from Pluto mission prehistory was the next topic. The first NASA his home in Boulder, Colorado via Skype. studies of a mission to Pluto were in the late 1980’s. Discovery of the Kuiper Belt in 1992 added impetus. There Prime Focus Page 2 April 2015 were many false starts, which include the Pluto Fast Flyby and Pluto Kuiper Express that was canceled for budgetary reasons in 2000. The New Horizons mission was proposed by a team led by principal investigator Alan Stern, also from BOARD the Southwest Research Institute. Dr. Buie then quickly went Meeting Minutes through many slides that helped emphasize how difficult it is Meeting Minutes to put a planetary mission together. Dr. Buie shared many other slides that showed the The monthly meeting of the KAS Board was held on March instrumentation on the New Horizons spacecraft. Those 8, 2015 at Sunnyside Church. The meeting was called to readers interested in learning more are encouraged to visit order by President Richard Bell at 5:20 pm. Members the New Horizons payload web page. Other images of the present were Scott Macfarlane, Jack Price, Don Stilwell, construction, testing, and launch of the spacecraft were Roger Williams, and Rich Mather (via Skype). shown. Dr. Buie then shared many images of New Horizons’ flyby of Jupiter in February, 2007. Many of these images, Rich presented the Treasurer’s Report, which had been and more, can also be found on the New Horizons website. previously submitted by e-mail. In discussion, Richard observed that there was no listing of a category for the Much of the remainder of the talk covered the timeline of $3,000 robotic telescope maintenance fund agreed upon at observations to occur during the flyby this July. By early the February board meeting. Rich said that this amount June, New Horizons’ images will exceed those from Hubble. would be set aside promptly. Richard summarized March/ The search for new moons will begin in early May and April events, beginning with his Introduction to Amateur conclude in late June. It’s possible, but very unlikely, Astronomy lecture series on five alternate Saturdays at 2 pm, evasive maneuvers will be needed! On July 11th, New starting March 21st. The Messier Marathon is scheduled for Horizons will be able to take images of Pluto’s surface at a 7pm on the same day at Richland Township Park. The resolution of 40 kilometers. Pluto will fill the field-of-view general meeting on April 10th features Dr. Shannon Schmoll of New Horizons’ LORRI camera on July 14th, the date of from Abrams Planetarium. Finally, public observing closest approach. Shortly after this the spacecraft will have sessions are set for April 11th & 25th at 8pm. to take mosaics to see the entire surface. The best global images take place 40 minutes prior to closest approach. At In the follow-up category, Richard reported no more activity closest approach, features 100 meters across will be resolved. on the Robotic Telescope Project this month. Ordering of After Pluto, New Horizons will get the best images of the hardware will be scheduled to insure delivery in Charon and Nix. December, when a trip west for installation is planned. Don reported on further information gathering for a trip to Yerkes After the Pluto flyby, New Horizons will visit one other Observatory, with a date suggested for Saturday, June 20th, object in the Kuiper Belt.
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