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Filter Performance Comparisons for Some Common Nebulae
Filter Performance Comparisons For Some Common Nebulae By Dave Knisely Light Pollution and various “nebula” filters have been around since the late 1970’s, and amateurs have been using them ever since to bring out detail (and even some objects) which were difficult to impossible to see before in modest apertures. When I started using them in the early 1980’s, specific information about which filter might work on a given object (or even whether certain filters were useful at all) was often hard to come by. Even those accounts that were available often had incomplete or inaccurate information. Getting some observational experience with the Lumicon line of filters helped, but there were still some unanswered questions. I wondered how the various filters would rank on- average against each other for a large number of objects, and whether there was a “best overall” filter. In particular, I also wondered if the much-maligned H-Beta filter was useful on more objects than the two or three targets most often mentioned in publications. In the summer of 1999, I decided to begin some more comprehensive observations to try and answer these questions and determine how to best use these filters overall. I formulated a basic survey covering a moderate number of emission and planetary nebulae to obtain some statistics on filter performance to try to address the following questions: 1. How do the various filter types compare as to what (on average) they show on a given nebula? 2. Is there one overall “best” nebula filter which will work on the largest number of objects? 3. -
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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. -
Volume 76 Nos 3 & in This Issue
Volume 76 Nos 3 & 4 April 2017 In this issue: News notes, New Director at SAAO, Pro -Am Interaction with NASA Juno mission, Six hours with our Home Star, Colloquia a nd Seminars EDITORIAL Mr Case Rijsdijk (Editor, MNASSA ) BOARD Mr Auke Slotegraaf (Editor, Sky Guide Africa South ) Mr Christian Hettlage (Webmaster) Mr James Smith (Web Manager) Prof M.W. Feast (Member, University of Cape Town) Prof B. Warner (Member, University of Cape Town) MNASSA Mr Case Rijsdijk (Editor, MNASSA ) PRODUCTION Dr Ian Glass (Assistant Editor) Vacant (Book Review Editor) Willie Koorts (Consultant) EDITORIAL MNASSA, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa ADDRESSES Email: [email protected] Web Manager: [email protected] MNASSA Download Page: www.mnassa.org.za SUBSCRIPTIONS MNASSA is available for free download on the Internet ADVERTISING Advertisements may be placed in MNASSA at the following rates per insertion: full page R400, half page R200, quarter page R100. Small advertisements R2 per word. Enquiries should be sent to the editor at [email protected] CONTRIBUTIONS MNASSA mainly serves the Southern African astronomical community. Articles may be submitted by members of this community or by those with strong connections. Else they should deal with matters of direct interest to the community . MNASSA is published on the last day of every second month and articles are due one month before the publication date. RECOGNITION Articles from MNASSA appear in the NASA/ADS data system. Cover: Image of Jupiter taken by Clyde Foster on 2 February 2017. See article on page 68. mnassa Vol 76 Nos 3 & 4 April 2017 Editorial Rec ently I have received many submissions, for which I am really grateful, but they come in a variety of formats and styles. -
Sunday October 19, 2014
Sunday October 19, 2014 Decided to use the Little Thompson Observatory’s telescopes tonight. I couldn’t connect to the 24”. Had connection failure issues. So I used the 18” f/14.2 and the 6” f/6 telescopes tonight. The 40mm eyepiece in 18” is 162x. The 22mm eyepiece in 6” is 41.5x. 7:00 PM. 68 degrees. Sky is clear. Wind is calm. Getting dark. Seeing and transparency Good. NGC 6929 7:27 PM 162x – Under a dim field star is this lopsided, faint, tiny oval glow. Glow goes to 2 o’clock from this star a tiny bit. Glow uniformly lit. NGC 6852 7:32 PM 162x – A brighter white star with very faint circular halo glow around it. With O3 see the halo a bit better and brighter. Star still prominent. NGC 6843 7:35 PM 162x – 7 very dim stars form this asterism in a small, rough circular pattern. NGC 6858 7:37 PM 162x – An asterism of 9 very dim stars in a diamond shape. NGC 6773 7:39 PM 162x – 5 stars form a box of 3 magnitudes with brightest still dim. PK 38-25.1 7:45 PM 162x – A stellar PN. A brighter white star. With O3, see a tiny bit of halo around it. It is small and hard to see. Looks like an out of focus star. Pal 11 7:49 PM 162x – With AV and waiting, see 3-4 very faint stars once in a while. In between a nice asterism pattern where picture shows it should be and where these 3-4 stars pop in. -
The Saga of M81: Global View of a Massive Stellar Halo in Formation
Draft version October 27, 2020 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX63 The Saga of M81: Global View of a Massive Stellar Halo in Formation Adam Smercina ,1, 2 Eric F. Bell ,1 Paul A. Price,3 Colin T. Slater ,2 Richard D'Souza,1, 4 Jeremy Bailin ,5 Roelof S. de Jong ,6 In Sung Jang ,6 Antonela Monachesi ,7, 8 and David Nidever 9, 10 1Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA 2Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195-1580, USA 3Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 4Vatican Observatory, Specola Vaticana, V-00120, Vatican City State 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Box 870324, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0324, USA 6Leibniz-Institut f¨urAstrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany 7Instituto de Investigaci´onMultidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnolog´ıa,Universidad de La Serena, Ra´ulBitr´an1305, La Serena, Chile 8Departamento de F´ısica y Astronom´ıa,Universidad de La Serena, Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 N, La Serena, Chile 9Department of Physics, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173840, Bozeman, MT 59717-3840 10National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 (Received 31 October, 2019; Revised 31 August, 2020; Accepted 23 October, 2020) Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal ABSTRACT Recent work has shown that Milky Way-mass galaxies display an incredible range of stellar halo properties, yet the origin of this diversity is unclear. The nearby galaxy M81 | currently interacting with M82 and NGC 3077 | sheds unique light on this problem. -
The State of Anthro–Earth
The Rosette Gazette Volume 22,, IssueIssue 7 Newsletter of the Rose City Astronomers July, 2010 RCA JULY 19 GENERAL MEETING The State Of Anthro–Earth THE STATE OF ANTHRO-EARTH: A Visitor From Far, Far Away Reviews the Status of Our Planet In This Issue: A Talk (in Earth-English) By Richard Brenne 1….General Meeting Enrico Fermi famously wondered why we hadn't heard from any other planetary 2….Club Officers civilizations, and Richard Brenne, who we'd always suspected was probably from another planet, thinks he might know the answer. Carl Sagan thought it was likely …...Magazines because those on other planets blew themselves up with nuclear weapons, but Richard …...RCA Library thinks its more likely that burning fossil fuels changed the climates and collapsed the 3….Local Happenings civilizations of those we might otherwise have heard from. Only someone from another planet could discuss this most serious topic with Richard's trademark humor 4…. Telescope (in a previous life he was an award-winning screenwriter - on which planet we're not Transformation sure) and bemused detachment. 5….Special Interest Groups Richard Brenne teaches a NASA-sponsored Global Climate Change class, serves on 6….Star Party Scene the American Meteorological Society's Committee to Communicate Climate Change, has written and produced documentaries about climate change since 1992, and has 7.…Observers Corner produced and moderated 50 hours of panel discussions about climate change with 18...RCA Board Minutes many of the world's top climate change scientists. Richard writes for the blog "Climate Progress" and his forthcoming book is titled "Anthro-Earth", his new name 20...Calendars for his adopted planet. -
NEUTRAL HYDROGEN CLOUDS in the M81/M82 GROUP KM Chynoweth
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series Astronomy 2008 NEUTRAL HYDROGEN CLOUDS IN THE M81/M82 GROUP KM Chynoweth GI Langston Min Yun University of Massachusetts - Amherst FJ Lockman KHR Rubin See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/astro_faculty_pubs Part of the Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons Recommended Citation Chynoweth, KM; Langston, GI; Yun, Min; Lockman, FJ; Rubin, KHR; and Scoles, SA, "NEUTRAL HYDROGEN CLOUDS IN THE M81/M82 GROUP" (2008). The Astrophysical Journal. 1129. 10.1088/0004-6256/135/6/1983 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Astronomy at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors KM Chynoweth, GI Langston, Min Yun, FJ Lockman, KHR Rubin, and SA Scoles This article is available at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/astro_faculty_pubs/1129 Neutral Hydrogen Clouds in the M81/M82 Group Katie M. Chynoweth1 Vanderbilt University, Physics and Astronomy Department, 1807 Station B, Nashville, TN 37235 Glen I. Langston National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV 24944 Min S. Yun University of Massachusetts, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002 Felix J. Lockman, K.H.R. Rubin2 and Sarah A. Scoles3 National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV 24944 ABSTRACT We have observed a 3◦ ×3◦ area centered on the M81/M82 group of galaxies using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in a search for analogs to the High Velocity Clouds (HVCs) of neutral hydrogen found around our galaxy. -
Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University
INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, VILNIUS UNIVERSITY Justas Zdanaviˇcius INTERSTELLAR EXTINCTION IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CAMELOPARDALIS DARK CLOUDS Doctoral dissertation Physical sciences, physics (02 P), astronomy, space research, cosmic chemistry (P 520) Vilnius, 2006 Disertacija rengta 1995 - 2005 metais Vilniaus universiteto Teorin˙es fizikos ir astronomijos institute Disertacija ginama eksternu Mokslinis konsultantas prof.habil.dr. V. Straiˇzys (Vilniaus universiteto Teorin˙es fizikos ir astronomijos institutas, fiziniai mokslai, fizika – 02 P) VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETO TEORINES˙ FIZIKOS IR ASTRONOMIJOS INSTITUTAS Justas Zdanaviˇcius TARPZVAIGˇ ZDINˇ EEKSTINKCIJA˙ ZIRAFOSˇ TAMSIU¸JU¸ DEBESU¸KRYPTIMI Daktaro disertacija Fiziniai mokslai, fizika (02 P), astronomija, erdv˙es tyrimai, kosmin˙e chemija (P 520) Vilnius, 2006 CONTENTS PUBLICATIONONTHESUBJECTOFTHEDISSERTATION .....................5 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................6 2. REVIEWOFTHELITERATURE ................................................8 2.1. InvestigationsoftheinterstellarextinctioninCamelopardalis ..................8 2.2. Distinctiveobjectsinthearea ................................................10 2.3. Extinctionlawintheinvestigatedarea .......................................11 2.4. Galacticmodelsandluminosityfunctions .....................................11 2.5. SpiralstructureoftheGalaxyintheinvestigateddirection ...................12 3. METHODS ......................................................................14 -
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). -
List of Easy Double Stars for Winter and Spring = Easy = Not Too Difficult = Difficult but Possible
List of Easy Double Stars for Winter and Spring = easy = not too difficult = difficult but possible 1. Sigma Cassiopeiae (STF 3049). 23 hr 59.0 min +55 deg 45 min This system is tight but very beautiful. Use a high magnification (150x or more). Primary: 5.2, yellow or white Seconary: 7.2 (3.0″), blue 2. Eta Cassiopeiae (Achird, STF 60). 00 hr 49.1 min +57 deg 49 min This is a multiple system with many stars, but I will restrict myself to the brightest one here. Primary: 3.5, yellow. Secondary: 7.4 (13.2″), purple or brown 3. 65 Piscium (STF 61). 00 hr 49.9 min +27 deg 43 min Primary: 6.3, yellow Secondary: 6.3 (4.1″), yellow 4. Psi-1 Piscium (STF 88). 01 hr 05.7 min +21 deg 28 min This double forms a T-shaped asterism with Psi-2, Psi-3 and Chi Piscium. Psi-1 is the uppermost of the four. Primary: 5.3, yellow or white Secondary: 5.5 (29.7), yellow or white 5. Zeta Piscium (STF 100). 01 hr 13.7 min +07 deg 35 min Primary: 5.2, white or yellow Secondary: 6.3, white or lilac (or blue) 6. Gamma Arietis (Mesarthim, STF 180). 01 hr 53.5 min +19 deg 18 min “The Ram’s Eyes” Primary: 4.5, white Secondary: 4.6 (7.5″), white 7. Lambda Arietis (H 5 12). 01 hr 57.9 min +23 deg 36 min Primary: 4.8, white or yellow Secondary: 6.7 (37.1″), silver-white or blue 8. -
STERNBILD GIRAFFE (Camelopardalis – Cam)
STERNBILD GIRAFFE (Camelopardalis – Cam) Die GIRAFFE ist ein Sternbild des nördlichen Himmels. Sie kulminiert im Dezember gegen 24h. Es ist ein unauffälliges Sternbild und besteht aus visuell lichtschwachen Sternen, beinhaltet aber interessante Mehrfachsterne und Deep Sky- Objekte. Für ungeübte Beobachter ein Tip: fast alle Sterne, die zwischen dem POLARSTERN und CAPELLA aufzuspüren sind, gehören zur Giraffe. Im Februar und März 2016 zeigt sich der Komet C/2013 US10 CATALINA in diesem Sternbild. Die Giraffe befindet sich innerhalb der Koordinaten RE 14h 26’ bis 03h 15’ und DE +52° bis +86°; Die Nachbarsternbilder sind im Norden KEPHEUS, im Westen KASSIOPEIA, im Süden PERSEUS, FUHRMANN und LUCHS sowie im Osten der GROßE BÄR, DRACHE und KLEINE BÄR Die Giraffe ist nördlich von 37° geogr. Breite zirkumpolar und südl. von –4° nicht mehr vollständig sichtbar. Die Objekte: 1. die Markierungssterne 2. Doppel- und Mehrfachsterne 3. die Veränderlichen 4. der Offene Sternhaufen NGC 1502 5. die Galaxien NGC2403 und IC 342 1. die Markierungssterne Die Sterne im Giraffen gehören wahrlich nicht zu den sichtbar Hellsten, wenn man bedenkt, dass der Stern BETA mit 4 Magnituden an der Spitze steht. Es sind jedoch mitunter wahre Leuchtkraftriesen dabei, die wegen der immensen Distanz nicht heller erscheinen. Das Gerüst des Giraffen wird von den Sternen 7 Cam – Beta – Alpha – Gamma – CS und CE markiert. Gamma (γ) Camelopardalis, RE 03h 50' 21“ / DE +71° 20' mv= 4,59mag; Spektrum= A2IVn; Distanz= 335LJ; LS= 128fach; Mv= -1,0Mag; MS= 3,7fach; RS= 5,5fach; OT= 9250K; EB= 0,042“/Jhr.; RG= -1,0km/s; Doppelstern; mv Komponente B= 12,4mag; Distanz A-B= 56,2“; PW= 240° (1909) Gamma markiert das Hinterteil der Giraffe; Alpha (α) Camelopardalis, 9 Cam; RE 04h 54' 03“ /DE +66°20' mv= 4,26mag; Spektrum= 09,5Ia, Distanz ca.