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February 2014 the Newsletter of the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society

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February 2014 the Newsletter of the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society February TheECLIPSE 2014 The Newsletter of the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society From the President Next Membership Meeting: February 19, 2014, 7:30 pm Cumberland Valley Professionals vs. amateurs… the distinctions have Girl Scout Council Building blurred over the years in different ways. There was 4522 Granny White Pike a time when mere money could get you the gear to have a professional observatory. Many large Program Topic: telescopes were built with private funds by Joshua Emery - interested individuals… think of William Hershel and the “Don Quixote” object (details on page 5) Percival Lowell. Then amateurs were pushed aside by large scale photography and the truly large telescopes that needed institutions to care for and run them… like the Mt. Wilson and Mt. Palomar observatories. Expensive ccd cameras, exotic cooling, the computing power needed even after In this Issue: glass plates were replaced put meaningful observations out of reach of amateurs. Then with President’s Message 1 the advent of the personal computer and digital Observing Highlights 2 cameras, the playing field was leveled by computers that anyone could own, low noise digital Happy Birthday, cameras and powerful software. Bernard Ferdinand Lyot by Robin Byrne 3Today, you can take the hobby or second life in astronomy as far as you wish, in partnership with Board Meeting Minutes January 8, 2014 6professionals. On any given clear night, enthusiasts around the world are recording not just pretty Membership Meeting Minutes pictures, but data. Our sheer numbers allow us to January 15, 2013 9look at things in depth and at a frequency not possible if we depended just on the large research Membership Information 10 telescopes. Amateurs first noticed small lunar meteorite impacts, recorded bruises from impacts on Jupiter, discovered comets, recorded fireballs – what a wonderful lot of science was done with Russian dash cams last year! And quite a number of us are kicking ourselves for not noticing what we had caught in images earlier in January… a new supernova in the often-imaged galaxy M82! At least Continued on page 5 2 The ECLIPSE - February 2014 Observing Highlights February and March Officers Planets Globular Clusters Venus M79 Theo Wellington Mars President Jupiter Nebulae [email protected] Saturn M76 (Little Dumbell), Pluto NGC1499 (California), Joe Boyd M1, M42 (Orion), M43, M78, Vice-President Open Clusters NGC2392 (Eskimo) [email protected] NGC457 (ET), M103, Bud Hamblen NGC654, NGC663, Galaxies Secretary NGC884/869 M31 (Andromeda), M32, [email protected] (Double Cluster), M110, M33 (Triangulum), M34, M45 (Pleiades), M74, M77, M81, M82 Bob Norling M36, M37, M38, M35, M41, Treasurer M50, M47, M46, M93, M48, Multiple Star Systems [email protected] M44 (Beehive), M67, Eta Cassiopeiae, NGC2264 (Christmas Tree) Gamma Arietis, (no one) Gamma Andromedae, Ex-officio Variable Stars Beta Orionis (Rigel), Beta Persei (Algol), Alpha Geminorum (Castor) Directors at Large Omicron Ceti (Mira), R Leporis (Hind's Crimson Star) Steve Cobb [email protected] Bill Griswold Upcoming Star Parties [email protected] Sat 2/8 Shelby Bottoms Jeffrey Horne 7:00-9:00 Nature Center [email protected] Sat 3/8 Melissa Lanz Long Hunter State Park [email protected] 7:30-9:30 Sat 3/22 Kris McCall Edwin Warner Park [email protected] 7:30-9:30 Poppy Simmons Private star party at SPOT [email protected] Sat 3/29 observatory for Messier Marathon Drew Gilmore Newsletter Editor [email protected] NM F Q FM L Q Mar 1 Feb 6 Feb 14 Feb 22 Mar 30 Mar 8 Mar 16 Mar 23 The ECLIPSE - February 2014 3 Happy Birthday Bernard Ferdinand Lyot by Robin Byrne This month we celebrate the life of a measure the amount of polarization of man whose name should be synonymous the light being reflected off of their with the Sun. Bernard Ferdinand Lyot surfaces. He then used this information was born in Paris, France on February 27 to determine the characteristics of their 1897 to Alice and Constant Lyot, a surface composition. Lyot conducted his surgeon. He attended college at l’Ecole observations at the Pic du Midi Superieure d’Electricite in Paris to study Observatory in the French Pyrenees engineering. While there, his interest in Mountains. Looking at the light from our astronomy began. In 1914, he purchased Moon, Lyot found that the soil is similar his first telescope, with a 4 inch to volcanic dust. When studying Mars, aperture, and soon upgraded to a 6-inch he saw evidence for sand storms. Lyot scope. He even constructed his own also claimed to observe signs of water on dome and set it up near Tours. Venus - one of his few incorrect discoveries. Lyot graduated from college in 1918 and got his first job at l’Ecole Polytechnique It was his observations of Mercury, as a demonstrator in the physics however, that led Lyot to the area for department. Here, he had the which he is best remembered. Because opportunity to work with such men as Mercury is always so close to the Sun, Alfred Perot and Charles Fabry. At the the glare makes it very difficult to same time, Lyot was taking classes in observe. That led Lyot to think about chemistry, physics and engineering at the Sun and ways to block out its light. the University of Paris. One of the features of the Sun that was always difficult to observe was the Meanwhile, Lyot took on a second job as corona, since it was only visible briefly the Assistant Astronomer at the Meudon during a total solar eclipse. Because Observatory, which became part of the even a small amount of dust or slight Paris Observatory in 1926. Lyot left his optical imperfection would scatter the position at l’Ecole Polytechnique when light from the Sun’s disk, even when he was given a full time position as Joint trying to block the Sun, the corona Astronomer of the Observatory in 1929. would not be bright enough to see in all of the Sun’s glare. In 1930, Lyot ground It was at Meudon that Lyot began to find three lenses, 8 cm in diameter and 2 his calling. With the encouragement of meters in focal length each, to as close the observatory’s director, Henri to perfection as was possible at the Deslandres, Lyot began to put to good time. The combination of the lenses and use his skills in optics and invention. His diaphragms, plus the crystal clear first task involved wanted to better observing conditions at Pic du Midi, study the surfaces of planets. To do allowed Lyot, on July 12 1931, to be the this, he invented a polariscope to first person to observe and photograph Continued on next page 4 The ECLIPSE - February 2014 Bernard Ferdinand Lyot, continued the corona of the Sun without the aid of while traveling back to Paris, he suffered an eclipse. a massive heart attack. Bernard Lyot died April 2, 1952 near Cairo, Egypt. Lyot continued to study the Sun and develop more equipment to gather even Bernard Lyot continues to be more information. He built polarizing remembered in a variety of ways. There filters that let through light with a are craters named Lyot on both the Moon bandwidth of only 1 Angstrom. This and Mars, plus an asteroid named 2452 allowed him to identify spectral lines in Lyot. More appropriately, the Bernard the corona, some of which had never Lyot Telescope is a 2 meter Cassegrain been observed before. He also noticed that has been housed at Pic du Midi since that the lines were quite wide, which 1980. In 2007, an echelle indicates that the corona is incredibly spectropolarimeter was added, which hot - much hotter than expected. These allows for the study of the magnetic filters are now known as Lyot Filters. fields of stars. Lyot’s device for observing the corona by Starting back up in March, Bays Mountain eliminating the glare from the will once again host SunWatches every photosphere, which eventually became clear Saturday and Sunday. Although the known as the coronagraph, went through park does not have a coronagraph yet repeated modifications and (ahem ... hint, hint), what we can improvements throughout the 1930’s. observe and share with the public about He was able to observe that the corona the Sun has been aided by the work of rotates with the rest of the Sun, and this month’s honoree: Bernard Lyot. even made a motion picture of the corona and prominences, which he References: showed to the International Astronomical Union. Bernard Lyot - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Lyot Lyot’s work with the Sun won him many The Bruce Medalists: Bernard Lyot honors, including election to the French www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/ Academy of Sciences in 1939, and, in the Lyot/ same year, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. Lyot was also LCAS - Bernard Lyot by Jay Bitterman named the Chief Astronomer at the www.lcas-astronomy.org/articles/display.php? filename=bernard_lyot& category=biographies Meudon Observatory in 1943. In 1947, he received the Bruce Medal, and in Bernard Lyot 1951, the Henry Draper Medal from the www.astro.umontreal.ca/~paulchar/grps/ National Academy of Sciences. histoire/newsite/bio/lyot_e.html On February 25, 1952, Lyot was observing a total solar eclipse near The Lyot Project Khartoum, Sudan. A few days later, lyot.org/background/coronagraphy.html The ECLIPSE - February 2014 5 From the President, continued from page 1 two BSAS members had images before it was officially “discovered” by an astronomy class in England. Amateur observations will help to define the light curve of this nearby Type 1a supernova.
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