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alactic Observer John J. McCarthy Observatory G Volume 12, No. 5 Mat 2019 GalacticGalactic MerMergggererers --s DancingDancing withwith thethe STSTARSARS or Deadly Dos-I-Dos? See inside: page 20 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org JJMO May 2019 • 1 The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observvvererer New Milford High School Editorial Committee 388 Danbury Road Managing Editor New Milford, CT 06776 Bill Cloutier Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117 Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595 Production & Design www.mccarthyobservatory.org Allan Ostergren Website Development JJMO Staff Marc Polansky It is through their ef forts that the McCarthy Observatory has established itself as a significant educational and Technical Support recreational resource within the western Connecticut Bob Lambert community. Dr. Parker Moreland Steve Barone Peter Gagne Marc Polansky Colin Campbell Louise Gagnon Joe Privitera Dennis Cartolano John Gebauer Danielle Ragonnet Route Mike Chiarella Elaine Green Monty Robson Jeff Chodak Jim Johnstone Don Ross Bill Cloutier Carly KleinStern Gene Schilling Doug Delisle Bob Lambert Katie Shusdock Cecilia Detrich Roger Moore Jim Wood Dirk Feather Parker Moreland, PhD Paul Woodell Randy Fender Allan Ostergren Amy Ziffer In This Issue "OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT" ................................... 4 RED SPOT TRANSITS ...................................................... 16 MOUNT MARILYN ........................................................... 4 SUNRISE AND SUNSET ...................................................... 16 BLACK HOLE REVEALED ................................................. 5 MAY NIGHTS ................................................................ 16 CLOSE CALL ................................................................. 7 ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ......................... 17 MARTIAN SOLAR TRANSIT ............................................... 7 COMMONLY USED TERMS ............................................... 19 NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU … ...................................... 8 REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ............................................ 19 RING WORLDS ............................................................... 8 LAGRANGE POINTS ........................................................ 19 A SNAPSHOT OF A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE .......................... 8 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES .......... 20 A MARTIAN WHIRLYBIRD ................................................ 9 SOLAR ACTIVITY ........................................................... 20 A VALIANT ATTEMPT COMES UP SHORT ........................... 9 NASA'S GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESOURCE ............... 20 APOLLO 10................................................................... 10 IMAGE CREDITS ............................................................ 20 THE EINSTEIN SOLAR ECLIPSE ........................................ 10 FRONT PAGE IMAGE ...................................................... 20 JOHN J. MCCARTHY OBSERVATORY HISTORY .................... 11 CONTACT INFORMATION ................................................. 21 PHILATELY .................................................................... 12 PUBLIC ASTRONOMY ...................................................... 12 SPACE SHUTTLE HISTORY ............................................... 13 MAY SHOWERS ............................................................. 13 FORGOTTEN NAMES FOR AN ANCIENT WORLD ................... 13 MAY HISTORY ............................................................... 14 JUPITER ....................................................................... 15 JOVIAN MOON TRANSITS ................................................ 16 May Astronomy Calendar and Space Exploration Almanac STS-125, Final Hubble Serving Mission, May 2009 Photo: Bill Cloutier "Out the Window Fecunditatis, the Sea of Tranquil- flying the Lunar Module to within on Your Left" ity and Sea of Fertility , respec- 9 miles (14 km) of the lunar sur - It's been more than 46 years tively) was noteworthy only for a face. Along the way the Apollo 10 since we left the last footprint on small crater (Theta Secchi) located crew identified dozens of informal the dusty lunar surface. As a na- on its flank. Jim Lovell, the Com- landmarks that could be used by tion founded on exploration and mand Module Pilot on the crew of Armstrong and Aldrin as the conquest of new frontiers, Apollo 8, was one of the first waypoints to check their progress today's leadership has been indif- people to circumnavigate the against the nominal descent ferent, commitments short-lived Moon. He named that ancient rock timeline. The names appear on the and funding fleeting. But, what if outcrop "Mount Marilyn" as a trib- charts used by the astronauts, in the average citizen had the means ute to his wife. After 49 years, the technical reports, and in transcripts to visit our only natural satellite; informal name was of ficially of communications between the what would they see out the win- adopted by the International Astro- astronauts and the ground. dow of their spacecraft as they en- nomical Union in August 2017. The 4,593 foot (1,400 m) high Apollo 10 was a dress rehearsal Mt. Marilyn was likely created for Apollo 11, with astronauts Tho- over 4 billion years ago in the af- mas Stafford and Eugene Cernan termath of the impacts that Mare Fecunditatis Mount Marilyn Mare Tranquillitatis Maskelyne Boot Hill Duke Island Sidewinder Rille Diamondback Rille Torricelli NASA Photo: Apollo 10 Command Module as seen from the Lunar Mod- ule with Mt. Marilyn visible in the background. Moltke tered orbit around the Moon? This Tranquility Base column may provide some thoughts U.S. 1 to ponder when planning your visit (if only in your imagination). Prior to 1968, a triangular - Sabine shaped outcrop of rock located be- tween two dark patches of lava Image: Bill Cloutier (Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare 4 • May 2019 JJMO http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org formed the nearby basins. The crew of Apollo 10 passed over the Credits: Event Horizon Telescope triangular outcrop before heading collaboration et al. down "U.S. 1" on their first orbit of the Moon, as they replicated the approach that Apollo 11 would take to Tranquility Base. Black Hole Revealed The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a collaboration and coor- dination of eight radio telescopes located around the world (operat- ing as one planet-size telescope). Data collected from observations The image, three years in the making, was released on April 10th and of the black hole at the center of shows the shadow of the black hole at the center of M87, illuminated by the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), were superheated, luminous plasma swirling around its event horizon. combined to produce the first im- age of the shadow of a black hole image (1.3 millimeters). At this Galaxy (1,000 times less massive cast against the hot disk of material wavelength, the very edge of than the galactic black hole in M87). encircling its event horizon (the the event horizon is illuminated M87’s black hole now has a distance from the center of the without obscuring the black hole. formal name, although unofficial. black hole from which light cannot The brighter part of the ring is Prior to making the image escape due to its intense gravity).The relativistic light moving towards public, the EHT team asked Larry M87 galaxy resides in the Virgo us. The light in the dimmer Kimura, a Hawaiian language galaxy cluster, approximately 55 segment is receding. professor at the University of million light years from Earth. Its Several of NASA’s telescopes Hawaii at Hilo, to suggest a name galactic black hole is estimated at 6.5 monitored M87 during EHT’ s for the surreal object. Kimura, billion solar masses (6.5 billion times observing campaign, including drawing from a eighteenth more massive than our Sun). the Chandra X-ray Observatory, century Hawaiian chant, created The telescopes that participated Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope the name “Pôwehi,” meaning in the project were the Atacama Array (NuSTAR), Neil Gehrels “embellished dark source of Large Millimeter/submillimeter Swift Observatory space tele- unending creation” – a more Array (ALMA) and Atacama scope and the Fermi Gamma-ray appropriate name for a galactic Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) Space Telescope. Had EHT de- powerhouse than M87*. telescopes (Atacama Desert, Chile), tected unusual activity or some- the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope thing unexpected, the data from Close Call and the Submillimeter Array the telescopes monitoring the dif- On May 6, 1969, a little over (Maunakea, Hawaii), the IRAM ferent wavelengths would have two months before NeilArmstrong 30-meter telescope (Pico Veleta, been invaluable to identifying the was scheduled to take the Spain), the Large Millimeter source of any anomaly. commander’s left seat in the Telescope Alfonso Serrano (Volcán The results of EHT (including Apollo 11 capsule for its epic Sierra Negra, Mexico), the Submil- the shape of the shadow) are voyage, he was flying the Lunar limeter Telescope (Mt. Graham, consistent with the predictions of Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) Arizona), and the South Pole Einstein’s theory of general in a lunar landing simulation. The Telescope. The data was processed relativity and expectations for the ungainly contraption was built by super-computers hosted by the shadow of a spinning Kerr black around a turbofan engine upon Max Planck Institute for Radio hole. Future observations by EHT which the astronaut sat. Engine Astronomy and the MIT Haystack