A DISTANCE ESTIMATE to the CYGNUS LOOP BASED on the DISTANCES to TWO STARS LOCATED WITHIN the REMNANT Robert A
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BRAS Newsletter August 2013
www.brastro.org August 2013 Next meeting Aug 12th 7:00PM at the HRPO Dark Site Observing Dates: Primary on Aug. 3rd, Secondary on Aug. 10th Photo credit: Saturn taken on 20” OGS + Orion Starshoot - Ben Toman 1 What's in this issue: PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE....................................................................................................................3 NOTES FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT ............................................................................................4 MESSAGE FROM THE HRPO …....................................................................................................5 MONTHLY OBSERVING NOTES ....................................................................................................6 OUTREACH CHAIRPERSON’S NOTES .........................................................................................13 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION .......................................................................................................14 2 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Hi Everyone, I hope you’ve been having a great Summer so far and had luck beating the heat as much as possible. The weather sure hasn’t been cooperative for observing, though! First I have a pretty cool announcement. Thanks to the efforts of club member Walt Cooney, there are 5 newly named asteroids in the sky. (53256) Sinitiere - Named for former BRAS Treasurer Bob Sinitiere (74439) Brenden - Named for founding member Craig Brenden (85878) Guzik - Named for LSU professor T. Greg Guzik (101722) Pursell - Named for founding member Wally Pursell -
Discovery of a Pulsar Wind Nebula Candidate in the Cygnus Loop
Discovery of a Pulsar Wind Nebula Candidate in the Cygnus Loop 2 3 S Satoru Katsuda" Hiroshi Tsunemi , Koji Mori , Hiroyuki Uchida" Robert Petre , Shin'ya 1 Yamada , and Thru Tamagawa' ABSTRACT We report on a discovery of a diffuse nebula containing a pointlike source in the southern blowout region of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, based on Suzaku and XMM-Newton observations. The X-ray spectra from the nebula and the pointlike source are well represented by an absorbed power-law model with photon indices of 2.2±0.1 and 1.6±0.2, respectively. The photon indices as well as the flux ratio of F nebula/ F po;.,li" ~ 4 lead us to propose that the system is a pulsar wind nebula, although pulsations have not yet been detected. If we attribute its origin to the Cygnus Loop supernova, then the 0.5- 8 keY luminosity of the nebula is computed to be 2.1xlo"' (d/MOpc)2ergss-" where d is the distance to the Loop. This implies a spin-down loss-energy E ~ 2.6 X 1035 (d/MOpc)2ergss-'. The location of the neutron star candidate, ~2° away from the geometric center of the Loop, implies a high transverse velocity of ~ 1850(8/2D ) (d/540pc) (t/lOkyr)- ' kms-" assuming the currently accepted age of the Cygnus Loop. Subject headings: ISM: individual objects (Cygnus Loop) - ISM: supernova remnants - pulsars: general - stars: neutron - stars: winds, outflows - X-rays: ISM 'RlKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Sailama 351-0198 2Department of EaTth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Thyonaka, Osaka, 60-0043, Japan SDepartment of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Klbana-dai Nishi, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan ' Department of PhysiCS, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwake-clto, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, J apan 'NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt MD 20771 - 2 - 1. -
XMM-Newton Observation of the Northeastern Limb of the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant
XMM-Newton Observation of the Northeastern Limb of the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant Norbert Nemes Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan 04 February 2005 Osaka University Abstract We have observed the northeastern limb of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant with the XMM-Newton observatory, as part of a 7-pointing campaign to map the remnant across its diameter. We performed medium sensitivity spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy on the data in the 0.3-3.0 keV energy range, and for the first time we have detected C emission lines in our spectra. The background subtracted spectra were fitted with a single temperature absorbed non-equilibrium (VNEI) model. We created color maps and plotted the radial variation of the different parameters. We found that the heavy element abundances were depleted, but increase toward the edge of the remnant, exhibiting a jump structure near the northeastern edge of the field of view. The depletion suggests that the plasma in this region represents the shock heated ISM rather than the ejecta, while the radial increase of the elemental abundances seems to support the cavity explosion origin. The temperature decreases in the radial direction from 0:3keV to about 0:2keV , however, this ∼ ∼ decrease is not monotonic. There is a low temperature region in the part of the field of view closest to the center of the remnant, which is characterized by low abundances and high NH values. Another low temperature region characterized by low NH values but where the heavy element abundances suddenly jump to high values was found at the northeastern edge of the field of view. -
Pos(MULTIF15)020 Al
Suzaku Highlights of Supernova Remnants PoS(MULTIF15)020 Satoru Katsuda∗† Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210, Japan E-mail: [email protected] Hiroshi Tsunemi Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan E-mail: [email protected] Suzaku was the Japanese 5th X-ray astronomy satellite operated from 2005 July 10 to 2015 Au- gust 26. Its key features are high-sensitivity wide-band X-ray spectroscopy available with both the X-ray imaging CCD cameras and the non-imaging collimated hard X-ray detector. A number of interesting scientific discoveries have been achieved in various fields. Among them, I will focus on results on supernova remnants. The topics in this paper include (1) revealing distributions of supernova ejecta, (2) establishing over-ionized plasmas by discoveries of radiative-recombination continua, (3) constraining progenitors of Type Ia SNRs from Mn/Cr and Ni/Fe line ratios, and (4) searching for X-ray counterparts from unidentified HESS sources. These results are of high sci- entific importance in physics of supernova explosions, non-equilibrium plasmas, and cosmic-ray acceleration. XI Multifrequency Behaviour of High Energy Cosmic Sources Workshop, 25-30 May 2015 Palermo, Italy ∗Speaker. †A footnote may follow. © c CopyrightCopyright owned owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. http://pos.sissa.it/ Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). -
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. -
Hubble Revisits the Veil Nebula 2 April 2021
Image: Hubble revisits the Veil Nebula 2 April 2021 this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula's delicate tracery of ionized gas—creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty. The Veil Nebula is also featured in Hubble's Caldwell Catalog, a collection of astronomical objects that have been imaged by Hubble and are visible to amateur astronomers in the night sky. Provided by NASA Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Levay This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope revisits the Veil Nebula, which was featured in a previous Hubble image release. In this image, new processing techniques have been applied, bringing out fine details of the nebula's delicate threads and filaments of ionized gas. To create this colorful image, observations were taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument using five different filters. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionized oxygen (seen here in blues), ionized hydrogen, and ionized nitrogen (seen here in reds). The Veil Nebula lies around 2,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan), making it a relatively close neighbor in astronomical terms. Only a small portion of the nebula was captured in this image. The Veil Nebula is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant formed roughly 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. That star—which was 20 times the mass of the Sun—lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. -
Monthly Observer's Challenge
MONTHLY OBSERVER'S CHALLENGE Compiled by: Roger Ivester, North Carolina & Sue French, New York September 2020 Report #140 The Veil Nebula in Cygnus Sharing Observations and Bringing Amateur Astronomers Together Introduction The purpose of the Observer's Challenge is to encourage the pursuit of visual observing. It's open to everyone who's interested, and if you're able to contribute notes, and/or drawings, we’ll be happy to include them in our monthly summary. Visual astronomy depends on what's seen through the eyepiece. Not only does it satisfy an innate curiosity, but it allows the visual observer to discover the beauty and the wonderment of the night sky. Before photography, all observations depended on what astronomers saw in the eyepiece, and how they recorded their observations. This was done through notes and drawings, and that's the tradition we're stressing in the Observer's Challenge. And for folks with an interest in astrophotography, your digital images and notes are just as welcome. The hope is that you'll read through these reports and become inspired to take more time at the eyepiece, study each object, and look for those subtle details that you might never have noticed before. This month's target The Veil Nebula has long been modeled as the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred within an interstellar cavity created by the progenitor star. However, a recent study by Fesen, Weil, and Cisneros (2018MNRAS.481.1786F ) using multi-wavelength emission maps indicates that the large-scale structure of the Veil Nebula is due to interaction of the remnant with local interstellar clouds. -
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). -
Yankee Digital Dandy
EQUIPMENT REVIEW Yankee Robotics’ new CCD camera combines maximum sensitivity, low noise, and a great price. /// BY BOB FERA Yankee digital dandy The field of advanced charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging is dominated by high-quality instruments from a few well-known manufacturers, such as Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG), Finger Lakes Instrumentation (FLI), and Starlight Express. Recently, a new player entered the sures 18mm by 27mm, a game with a unique approach to CCD- USB-2.0 interface, and a camera design. That company, Yankee lifetime warranty. Robotics of San Diego, has introduced its Unlike some systems, Trifid-2 line of cameras and is aiming the Trifid-2 does not come directly at the big boys. with either a filter wheel I tested Yankee’s top-of-the-line model, or an onboard guiding which features Kodak’s KAF-6303E CCD chip. Using the camera detector, to see if it measures up to the thus requires purchasing competition. It does. and integrating a third- The first thing prospective customers party filter wheel from a will notice about the Trifid-2 is the price, company such as FLI or Optec, which, at $6,895 (with the Class 2 imaging Inc. Also, you’ll need an off-axis chip), is thousands of dollars less than com- guider or a guide scope with a dedicated petitors’ cameras equipped with the same autoguider, such as SBIG’s ST-4, ST-V, or THE TRIFID-2 CCD camera houses a 6- 6-megapixel KAF-6303E detector. What ST-402ME. But, even after adding in these megapixel Kodak KAF-6303E CCD chip. -
List of Bright Nebulae Primary I.D. Alternate I.D. Nickname
List of Bright Nebulae Alternate Primary I.D. Nickname I.D. NGC 281 IC 1590 Pac Man Neb LBN 619 Sh 2-183 IC 59, IC 63 Sh2-285 Gamma Cas Nebula Sh 2-185 NGC 896 LBN 645 IC 1795, IC 1805 Melotte 15 Heart Nebula IC 848 Soul Nebula/Baby Nebula vdB14 BD+59 660 NGC 1333 Embryo Neb vdB15 BD+58 607 GK-N1901 MCG+7-8-22 Nova Persei 1901 DG 19 IC 348 LBN 758 vdB 20 Electra Neb. vdB21 BD+23 516 Maia Nebula vdB22 BD+23 522 Merope Neb. vdB23 BD+23 541 Alcyone Neb. IC 353 NGC 1499 California Nebula NGC 1491 Fossil Footprint Neb IC 360 LBN 786 NGC 1554-55 Hind’s Nebula -Struve’s Lost Nebula LBN 896 Sh 2-210 NGC 1579 Northern Trifid Nebula NGC 1624 G156.2+05.7 G160.9+02.6 IC 2118 Witch Head Nebula LBN 991 LBN 945 IC 405 Caldwell 31 Flaming Star Nebula NGC 1931 LBN 1001 NGC 1952 M 1 Crab Nebula Sh 2-264 Lambda Orionis N NGC 1973, 1975, Running Man Nebula 1977 NGC 1976, 1982 M 42, M 43 Orion Nebula NGC 1990 Epsilon Orionis Neb NGC 1999 Rubber Stamp Neb NGC 2070 Caldwell 103 Tarantula Nebula Sh2-240 Simeis 147 IC 425 IC 434 Horsehead Nebula (surrounds dark nebula) Sh 2-218 LBN 962 NGC 2023-24 Flame Nebula LBN 1010 NGC 2068, 2071 M 78 SH 2 276 Barnard’s Loop NGC 2149 NGC 2174 Monkey Head Nebula IC 2162 Ced 72 IC 443 LBN 844 Jellyfish Nebula Sh2-249 IC 2169 Ced 78 NGC Caldwell 49 Rosette Nebula 2237,38,39,2246 LBN 943 Sh 2-280 SNR205.6- G205.5+00.5 Monoceros Nebula 00.1 NGC 2261 Caldwell 46 Hubble’s Var. -
2007 the Meaning of Life
The Meaning Of Life This observing list tells a story of birth, life and death within the Universe. Each entry has the essential facts about the object in tabular form and then a paragraph or two explaining why the object is important astrophysi- cally and where is sits on the timeline of the Universe . To get the most out of the list, be sure to read the textual descriptions and physical characteristics as you observe each object. In order to get your “Meaning of Life” observing pin, observe 20 of the 24 objects during the 2007 Eldorado Star Party. The objects are not necessarily listed in the best observing order but a summary sheet at the end lists them in order of setting time. Turn your completed sheet into Bill Tschumy sometime during the event to claim your pin. If you miss me at ESP you can also mail the completed list to the address given at the end of the list. ****Birth ****************************************************************************** NGC 6618 , M 17, Cr 377, Swan Nebula Constellation Type RA Dec Magnitude Apparent Size Observed Sgr DN, OC 18h 20.8m -16º 11! 7.5 11!x11! Age Distance Gal Lon Gal Lat Luminosity Actual Size 1 Myr 6,800 ly 15.1º -0.8º 3,757 Suns 22x22 ly The Swan Nebula houses one of the youngest open clusters known in the Galaxy. At the tender age of 1 million years, the cluster is still embedded in the irregularly shaped nebulosity from which it arose. Although the cluster appears to have around 35 stars, most are not true cluster members. -
Cygnus a Monthly Sky Guide for the Beginning to Intermediate Amateur Astronomer Tom Trusock 10-Aug-2005
Small Wonders: Cygnus A monthly sky guide for the beginning to intermediate amateur astronomer Tom Trusock 10-Aug-2005 Figure 1: Widefield Map 2/16 Small Wonders: Cygnus Target List Object Type Size Mag RA Dec α (alpha) Cygni (Deneb) Star 1.3 20h 41m 38.7s 45 17' 59" β (beta) Cygni (Albireo) Star 3 19h 30m 57.9s 27 58' 18" NGC 7000 Bright Nebula 120.0'x100.0' 4 20h 59m 03.2s 44 32' 16" IC 5070 Bright Nebula 60.0'x50.0' 8 20h 51m 01.1s 44 12' 13" NGC 6960 Supernova Remnant 70.0'x6.0' 7 20h 45m 57.0s 30 44' 12" NGC 6979 Bright Nebula 7.0'x3.0' 20h 51m 14.9s 32 10' 14" NGC 6992 Bright Nebula 60.0'x8.0' 7 20h 56m 39.0s 31 44' 16" M 29 Open Cluster 10.0' 6.6 20h 24m 11.6s 38 30' 58" M 39 Open Cluster 31.0' 4.6 21h 32m 10.4s 48 26' 40" NGC 6826 Planetary Nebula 36" 8.8 19h 44m 58.8s 50 32' 21" NGC 7026 Planetary Nebula 45" 10.9 21h 06m 31.4s 47 52' 28" NGC 6888 Bright Nebula 18.0'x13.0' 10 20h 12m 20.0s 38 22' 18" NGC 6946 Galaxy 11.5'x9.8' 9 20h 35m 01.0s 60 10' 19" Challenge Objects Object Type Size Mag RA Dec PK 64+ 5.1 Planetary Nebula 5" 9.6 19h 35m 02.3s 30 31' 45" Sh2-112 9.0'x7.0' Cygnus ygnus is a spectacular summer constellation.