Flaming Star the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) in the Constellation Auriga Is a Surprisingly Colorful and Dramatic Emission/Reflection Nebula
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WESTCHESTER AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS January 2016 Image Copyright: Mauri Rosenthal Flaming Star The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) in the constellation Auriga is a surprisingly colorful and dramatic emission/reflection nebula. In This Issue . The most prominent star in the image is the variable blue dwarf AE pg. 2 Events For January Aurigae, burning with sufficient intensity to knock electrons off pg. 3 Almanac the hydrogen molecules found in a cloud 5 light years across, pg. 4 Vivian Towers which in turn emit red light. The bluish gray area is not from ion- pg. 5 The Radio Sky ized Oxygen (as found in the Veil Nebula); rather it is mostly a pg. 11 Kepler cloud of carbon dust, which reflects the blue light from the nearby pg. 12 President’s Report star. The result is an emission/reflection nebula 1500 light years distant and accessible from the suburbs with a small telescope. Mauri Rosenthal imaged this from his backyard in Scarsdale with a guided Questar 3.5” telescope over two nights in November using CLS (broadband) and H-alpha (narrowband) filters. Total exposure time was 9.5 hours. SERVING THE ASTRONOMY COMMUNITY SINCE 1986 1 WESTCHESTER AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS January 2016 WAA January Lecture Club Dates 2016 “Light Pollution” Friday January 8th, 7:30pm 2016 Lecture Dates Leinhard Lecture Hall, January 8 June 3 February 5 Sept. 16 Pace University, Pleasantville, NY March 4 October 7 Charles Fulco will speak on light pollution, the Inter- April 1 November 4 national Dark-Sky Association and preserving our May 6 December 2 night sky. Mr. Fulco is a science consultant and cur- riculum writer with BOCES and the former Planetari- um Director at Port Chester Middle School, Port 2016 Star Party Dates Chester, New York. He is the IDA Local Area Direc- Date Event Date Event tor for Westchester County. An avid amateur astron- 03-05 Star Party 07-30 Star Party omer, Mr. Fulco fosters dark-sky education, and par- 03-12 Make-up date 08-06 Make-up date ticipates in many astronomy events through NASA's 04-02 Star Party 08-27 Star Party Solar System Ambassador program. He enjoys astro- 04-09 Make-up date 09-03 Make-up date nomical and terrestrial photography, promoting envi- 04-30 Star Party 09-24 Star Party ronmental activities, and chasing eclipses. He is cur- 05-07 Make-up date 10-01 Make-up date rently involved with the national educational and pub- 05-28 Star Party 10-22 Star Party lic outreach for the 2017 total solar eclipse. Free and 06-04 Make-up date 10-29 Make-up date open to the public. Directions and Map. 06-25 Star Party 11-19 Star Party 07-02 Make-up date 11-26 Make-up date Upcoming Lectures Pace University, Pleasantville, NY Other Important Dates in 2016 th Our speaker for February 5 will be Brother Novak. Northeast Astronomy Forum, Saturday, April 9th and He will be speaking on Current and Future Observa- Sunday April 10th, Rockland Community College, tions of Mars Using Ground Based Telescopes and Suffern, NY Space Probes. Transit of Mercury May 9th Starway to Heaven Club picnic: Saturday, June 18th (Trailside Museum, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, 1:30-5 pm) Cross River, NY There will be no Starway to Heaven observing dates Check your emails for outreach events and other spe- for January or February. The next scheduled monthly cial activities. observing session is March 5, 2016. New Members. WAA Apparel Frank Clemens - Larchmont Charlie Gibson will be bringing WAA apparel for sale to WAA meetings. Items include: Renewing Members. Hat ($15) Mayan Moudgill - Chappaqua Polos ($15) George Gerbacia - Yonkers Tee shirts ($12) Kevin Doherty - White Plains Daniel R. Poccia - Cortlandt Manor Larry and Elyse Faltz - Larchmont The Dugan Family - Sleepy Hollow Anthony Sarro - Scarsdale Call: 1-877-456-5778 (toll free) for announce- ments, weather cancellations, or questions. Also, don’t forget to visit the WAA website. SERVING THE ASTRONOMY COMMUNITY SINCE 1986 2 WESTCHESTER AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS January 2016 Almanac For January 2016 by Bob Kelly Jan 2 Jan 9 Jan 16 Jan 23 Among the wonderful holiday ‘leftovers’ are a fuzzy ea, reappearing on the bright limb of the Moon about comet, brilliant planetary encounters, another occulta- 10:42pm. The event is visible in most of the United tion, some meteors…… States and Canada. Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10), which just about eve- If you like to be up and out after midnight, on the 4th ryone has shortened to ‘Catalina’, arcs past Arcturus the Quadrantid meteors may put on a good show. on the 1st on its way into the circumpolar sky, fading This meteor shower doesn’t last long – peaking for all the way. I guess if it were brighter, they’d call it only a few hours. At peak hours, it often averages ‘Cat’, but it has two tails on long-exposure photos, over a meteor a minute. We hope they show up then! one gas tail pointing outward from the Sun and a dust Standard models have the Quandrantids peaking about tail trailing the comet’s head. 3am, but Sky and Telescope reports an alternative model predicting the main strand of this stream of This month’s finest naked-eye sight will be Venus cosmic debris to peak during our daytime. The Moon welcoming Saturn to the morning sky, especially on will rise about 2am, but it’s only a crescent, so keep it the 9th when they pass less than a degree apart. The out of sight and you’ll be fine if the sky is clear. contrast between flashy Venus and exquisitely sub- lime Saturn will be impressive in a telescope, appear- Mercury tries to give us a bright planet in the evening ing about the same size. Once again, Saturn won’t sky, hanging low in the west-southwest through the offer a ring to Venus and they will go their separate 9th. For the last ten days of the month, Mercury joins ways. Saturn is up in the morning sky to stay. Mars the planet party in the morning sky, but it’s better seen is already there, rising after midnight, pretty dim for a from the southern hemisphere. In a telescope, Mercu- nearby planet at magnitude +0.8 and one-third the ry appears slightly larger than Mars, much smaller width of Venus or Saturn. than Venus and Saturn, but is the closest planet to Earth from now until Mars takes the crown in late Venus noticeably sinks toward the southeast horizon, February. Most years, Mercury is generally the clos- rising before twilight begins, but still blazing at mag- est planet to Earth, but not this year. This year, Mars nitude minus 4.0 and looks like a gibbous moon in a makes a long, slow pass by Earth, tens of millions of telescope, best viewed when the sky brightens. Latest miles away in its outer orbit. If you can spot Mercury dawn occurs on the 8th with sunrise approaching 7am low in the morning sky, check out the other four by the end of the month. brightest planets, and you’ll have seen the unusual Jupiter is highest during the post-midnight hours, five-planet line-up! They span most of the dawn sky, within ten percent of its largest size for the year. So closest together on the 25th. it’s well worth any viewing you can manage. In between Mercury’s evening and morning appari- The Moon sails high in the evening sky during mid- tions, it makes the scene in the SOHO LASCO C3 month, as the terminator sweeps across the face of the telescope. Moon during the waxing phases. It’s great for view- Orion, and the many sights of the winter sky sur- ing, although alt-azimuth scopes might have awkward rounding it, is highest in the sky between 9 and 10pm viewing when looking near zenith. in January. Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus the Bull, is oc- Earth is a tiny bit closer to the Sun at this time of year, culted by the Moon Tuesday evening the 19th. The closest on the 2nd. The International Space Station Moon is mostly full at that point, so Aldebaran will be soars overhead in the pre-sunrise sky through the 24th. a surprise to people glancing at the Moon that night with binoculars or a telescope. The reddish spark dis- appearing on the darker limb of the Moon will be a striking contrast to the nearby blazing bright portion of the sunlit lunar landscape. This is one of a series of occultations of Aldebaran this year, and one of the few at night, so it’s worth a look if skies are mostly clear. Disppearance will be about 9:32EST in our ar- SERVING THE ASTRONOMY COMMUNITY SINCE 1986 3 WESTCHESTER AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS January 2016 Vivian Towers 1933-2015 Throughout the years Vivian and I have discovered was sealed and the last stamp affixed, Vivian would that the Westchester Amateur Astronomers is a very bring out coffee, tea and home-baked cookies to send special organization. It is not just a group of individu- the crew homeward-bound, refreshed. als who share a common interest, but truly an extend- ed family who are there for each other when the need arises. Therefore it was no surprise to me that the first person to show up at the funeral home to pay respects to Vivian was a WAA member. Club members sent flowers, and more importantly, were there to support us at the funeral home, the church service and at the graveside.