Prime Focus P S Last Quarter a Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

Highlights of the November Sky. . .

------1st ------Dawn: Spica 4º rightright ofof Mercury next 4 mornings. Prime Focus P s Last Quarter A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

------3rd ------AM: Regulus near Moon. November 2007 ------4th ------AM: Saturn above Moon.

------5th ------ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents Dawn: Venus left of Moon.

------6th ------General Meeting: Friday, November 2 @ 7:00 pm AM: Beta (β)) Virginis ¼¼º right of Venus. Kalamazoo Math & Science Center - See Page 12 for Details

------7thth ------Field Trip: Saturday, November 10 @ 6:30 am Dawn: Spica lower left, Mercury far lower left of Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum - See Page 4 for Details Moon.

thth Board Meeting: Sunday, November 11 @ 5:00 pm ------8 ------Dawn: Mercury at great- Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome est elongation; visible low inin east.east. Astrophoto Workshop: Saturday, November 17 @ 6:00 pm

th ------9th ------Kalamazoo Nature Center - See Page 11 for Details New Moon

------12th ------Dusk: Jupiter upper right of Moon. InsideInside thethe Newsletter.Newsletter. .. .. ------17thth ------First Quarter Moon October Meeting Minutes...... p. 2 Board Meeting Minutes...... p. 3 ------18thth ------AM: Leonid meteor Nigg Notes...... p. 3 shower (10/hour). Observations...... p. 4 ------23rd ------PM: Pleiades lower left of Field Trip to Alder Planetarium...... p. 4 Moon. 2007 Black Forest Star Party...... p. 5

------24thth ------NASA Space Place...... p. 8 Full Moon “Dorian Gray” Galaxy...... p. 9 ------26thth ------November Night Sky...... p. 10 PM: Mars near Moon. KAS Officers & Announcements...... p. 11 ------28thth ------AM: Spica 5º lowerlower rightright General Meeting Preview...... p. 12 of Venus next 4 mornings. www.kasonline.org October Meeting Minutes

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society shot with his Olympus E-300 Digital SLR camera. He began was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, with an image of an Iridium Flare and then showed several October 5, 2007 at 7:14 pm. Approximately 30 members and images from the Northern Lights display on December 14, guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics 2006. He concluded with some shots of Orion the Hunter. & Science Center (KAMSC). Everyone agreed it was a shame he didn’t enter any images in the astrophotography contest. Maybe next year, eh Dan? Long standing KAS tradition says that the October meeting shall be forever known as “Astrophotography Night” featuring Last up was Richard Bell, who showed images taken within the Thirteenth Annual Astrophotography Contest. After given the past year with his Canon 300D DSLR camera and ToU- instructions, everyone proceeded to the Commons Area to cam web cam. First up were images of the solar system. vote for their favorite photographs in the five main categories These include Comet SWAN, last December’s Triple Con- as well as Best First-Time Entry and Best of Show. junction, Northern Lights (taken the same night as Dan’s), and the Moon. He then showed some wide-field images of the This year’s contest featured only four entries, which was at Milky Way and concluded with deep sky images shot with his least better than last year’s two. Most categories, with the equipment and the 12” SCT in Owl Observatory. As usual, exception of Solar System and CCD, had a single competitor. Richard encouraged everyone to check out all his images on Once the ballots were handed in everyone enjoyed the tradi- his personal web site, Stargazer Online. tional October snack of donuts and apple cider courtesy of Jean DeMott. Richard then jumped into his president’s report. He ended by giving Don Stilwell his Lunar Club certificate from the Astro- After voting and snack time was over everyone returned to nomical League. Congratulations! Don then discussed his their seats for the slide show part of the tradition. Bill Nigg trip to the Black Forest Star Party (see page 5) and Bill Nigg began by showing some slides on a traditional projector. His talked about his weekend at the Great Lakes Star Gaze. Under first slides were of sunsets, which is perhaps the most basic astronomical news, Jack Price mentioned the recent success of (and common) form of astrophotography. A nice image of a the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. It was placed into Lunar solar halo was then shown. Bill then went a tad off topic and orbit on October 4th (50th anniversary of the start of the Space showed slides of past KAS members and the equipment they Age). Jack Roach discussed the installation of dark-sky constructed, plus some shots from Bill’s eclipse chasing ad- friendly lighting along Columbia Street in Battle Creek. Bill ventures. Bill finished up by showing slides of a Lunar Nigg encouraged everyone to check out Comet LONEOS, Eclipse, Solar Eclipse, the Coat Hanger asterism, and Comet which is predicted to brighten to magnitude 4 toward the end Hale-Bopp. of October. Tim Kurtz showed off his new Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece, which sports a 100º apparent field-of-view. Dan Morgan was up next and showed many fine images he Mark Miller announced the 2007 Astrophotography Contest winners:

Best First-Time Entry: Tim Kurtz Waxing Gibbous Moon - March 26, 2007

Best Artistic Photo: Richard Bell Dusk at the IDSSP - September 15, 2007

Best Solar System Photo: Richard Bell Total Lunar Eclipse - August 28, 2007

Best Wide-Field Photo: Richard Bell Cygnus Star Cloud - September 13, 2007

Best Deep Sky Photo: Richard Bell North American Nebula - September 14, 2007

Best CCD Image: Jim Kurtz Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - September 1, 2007 This image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) was captured by Jim Kurtz with a SBIG ST-2000XCM Color CCD camera and Tele Vue Overall Winner of 13th Annual Astrophotography Contest: 85 refractor on a Celestron Advanced Series CG-5 equatorial Richard Bell - North American Nebula mount. At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it’s the near spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Andromeda’s satellite galaxy, M32, is visible left of center. The meeting concluded at 9:31 pm EDT.

Prime Focus Page 2 November 2007 Membership renewal time is also here, and the membership committee will probably need to meet to stuff envelopes for Board Meeting Minutes this year’s drive. Dates were discussed for general meetings in 2008.

Full Moon Theater presentations were discussed, and Rich- The KAS Board met on Sunday, October 14th at Sunnyside ard suggested the recent Seeing in the Dark film by Timothy Church. President Richard Bell brought the meeting to order Ferris or alternatively In the Shadow of the Moon. at 5:30 pm. Present were Board Members Jean DeMott, Dick Gillespie, Rich Mather, Dan Morgan, Jack Price, Dave Woolf, In other business, Dick asked about specifications for the and Roger Williams, along with observer Jackie Gillespie. used shelving units needed for our storage unit, in case he finds something appropriate at a sale. With no further busi- After approval of the agenda, Rich Mather delivered the ness, the meeting was adjourned at 6:41 pm. The next meet- Treasurer’s Report, which showed a current balance of ing was set for Sunday, November 11th, same time and place. $6,246.02. Disbursements in the last month included $505 for Astronomical League dues, $50 honorarium for June speaker Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams Nicolle Zellner, and $20 for an annual nonprofit filing fee. Receipts were from membership dues ($130), planisphere sales ($50), and Owl Observatory Fund donations ($70).

The Land Acquisition Fund currently stood at $605.41, but a donation was delivered by Jean for $2,600 from plant sales, to be matched by Pfizer.

After brief discussion, the Board agreed that Rich should look for a better interest rate via CD for all but $2,000 of current assets. NiggNigg NotesNotes by Regarding coming events, Richard reminded us that the last Bill Nigg public observing session was set for Saturday, October 20th. He was also tentatively planning another Astrophotography Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Observers’ th Workshop for Saturday, November 17 , in the event that the Handbook for 2008 will be available very soon. This 320 th October 19 session was clouded out (see page 11 for more page info/data booklet should be located between your information). The next general meeting on Friday, November telescope and computer for serious observation planning and nd 2 will feature a presentation on Mars by Richard (see page supporting facts. We are only a few degrees away from 12 for details). targeted Canadian sky observers and this booklet has a wealth of refined guidance. This publication is the 100th Details were also discussed for the field trip to Adler Planetar- year and experienced users will prosper again with up-to- th ium on Saturday, November 10 . Jean had found that group date info. At the November 2nd rates for the Michigan City commuter train only applied on KAS meeting, Bill Nigg will weekdays, but the weekend rates were cheaper anyway ($13 be collecting your cash or round trip). The discounted cost for entry to the Adler mu- check (made payable to Bill seum and one show is $16, or $21 for two shows. The pri- Nigg) for a discount quantity mary question was just how Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois purchase. The price is $18.00 th clock times will correspond on November 10 . Details will and Bill will order them on appear in the newsletter (see page 4). November 5th for a December club meeting delivery. In new business, following a motion by Dick and second by Members who have ordered Jean, the Board voted to buy a first aid kit for Owl Observa- them in the past will get a tory. phone call. Let Bill know before November 5th for other Richard announced plans for a work session on the observa- delivery plans. tory on Saturday, October 27th, to clean the place up and re- stain where necessary. Jack also has the materials for some Phone: (269) 665-7545 new electrical wiring. E-mail: bill @ ziptang.com

Richard suggested that we need an improved KAS display to For more info on the RASC Observer’s Handbook, please use with our new display panels. He will work on it during visit: http://www.rasc.ca/handbook/ the winter.

Prime Focus Page 3 November 2007 ObservationsObservations FieldField Trip to... by Richard S. Bell Adler Planetarium

In a letter to the Belgian astronomer François J. C. Terby, the KAS members and invited guests are encouraged to attend a great 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio field trip to Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chi- Schiaparelli wrote that he had begun the exploration of “a cago. Adler Planetarium was the first planetarium built in the New World, this world of Mars . . . which we must conquer Western Hemisphere and the oldest in existence today. Adler little by little. It will be a less difficult and bloody conquest features two planetarium theaters and over 35,000 square feet than the exploits if Cortés and Pizarro.” Schiaparelli was of exhibits. So, mark NOVEMBER 10th on your calendar. certainly correct in that regard. However, the history of ex- Our itinerary will include: ploring Mars hasn’t exactly been an easy journey. Up until the dawn of the Space Age, the Red Planet was very slow to — — — All times are EST — — —

reveal its many secrets. 1. Meet at the Oakland Drive Park-and-Ride for carpooling between 6:30 am - 6:40 am. Starting this month, more and more telescopes will be focused on the Fourth Planet from the Sun. Right now, Mars and the The Park-and-Ride is located near I-94 just off exit 75. Earth are getting closer to one another, and will reach opposi- 2. Depart for Michigan City at 6:40 am. tion on December 24th; although Mars will actually be closest to Earth on December 18th. This apparition of Mars won’t be 3. Arrive at Carroll Avenue Station at 8:00 am. Train tickets quite like the one we enjoyed in 2003. Our half-sized cost $6.50 (i.e. $13 for a two-way trip). You must pay in neighbor will appear 10-arcseconds smaller than it did during cash and only $20 bills or less are accepted. that historic opposition. Still, it’s time start thinking about 4. Train Departs for Roosevelt Road Station (in Chicago) at Mars again. That’s why I’ve decided to give the feature pres- 8:20 am. entation at the general meeting on November 2nd. 5. Train Arrives at Roosevelt Road Station at 9:55 am. We My presentation will focus on the history of observing Mars, will walk approximately two blocks to Adler. as well as the observers themselves. This isn’t a subject I was 6. Adler Planetarium opens at 10:30 am (9:30 am CST). interested in until the Mars opposition of 2003, but I really found my self enthralled with the struggles of previous gen- Group admission (minimum of 15) is $16/adult, $15/ erations of astronomers. This is the first formal talk I’ve senior, and $14/child. This includes a ticket to one plane- given to the KAS since my Transit of Venus presentation in tarium show. The KAS will purchase an additional show May 2004, so I hope you plan to attend. Many of you know ticket for each member in attendance. how much I hate giving talks in front of small crowds, so I’ll 7. Attend planetarium shows and tour exhibits: take it personally if you’re not at KAMSC on November 2nd! The first show begins at 10:00 am CST and continue Also planned for this month is our traditional November field throughout the day. Please visit the Adler web site for trip. This time we’re heading to Adler Planetarium in Chi- show titles and times: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/ Town. I wasn’t able to attend our last field trip to Alder in 8. Lunch is available at Galileo’s Café, located in Adler. November 1999, so I’m really looking forward to this trip. Believe it or not, but I’ve never even been to Adler before. 9. Adler closes at 5:30 pm (4:30 pm CST). This is a great way to spend a Saturday and a terrific way to 10. Dinner [tentatively] at Grace O’Malleys Restaurant & get to know some of your fellow KAS members. To make it Pub at 6:00 pm. even more fun I’ve invited members from the Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon, and Lansing clubs. Details on the trip 11. Walk to Roosevelt Road Station at ~8:30 pm. are to your right, so check it out and drop me a line if you plan to attend. 12. Trains departs from Roosevelt Road Station at 9:00 pm. 13. Arrive at Carroll Avenue Station at 10:40 pm. Our last Astrophotography Workshop was a wash - literally! So, we’ll try again on 14. Arrive in Kalamazoo at ~12:00 am. November 17th. We’ll again focus (yeah, For last minute details please attend the General Meeting on that’s kind of a pun!) on the First Quarter nd Moon, which is very easy yet rewarding to November 2 . If you are unable to attend the meeting but photograph. As stated in the little ad on would like to go on the field trip then please contact Richard page 11, please let me know if you’d like Bell (373-8942). This trip is subject to cancellation if the to attend. Let’s just hope the weather co- weather is really bad (heavy rain, snow storms, etc.). We will operates this time around. notify everyone that has signed up of a cancellation.

Prime Focus Page 4 November 2007 StarStar Trippin’Trippin’ atat thethe BlBlackack ForestForest StarStar PartyParty

by Don Stilwell

After last year’s storm forced all KAS members, including me, to make other plans, I really wanted to go to the Central Penn- sylvania Observers (CPO) sponsored Black Forest Star Party 2007 (www.bfsp.org) at Cherry Springs State Park. This year’s event again featured iffy weather and a solo road trip loomed as other KAS members opted for the Illinois Dark Skies Star Party (see October 2007 issue, page 5).

With a little more than a week before the Friday, September 14th-16th start of the weekend gathering of fellow stargazers, my friend and paddling buddy from 25 years past, Eric Peder- sen of Butler, Pennsylvania, contacted me. From then on my mind was made, I would go on Wednesday to Butler and arrive Thursday at the field of view in Cherry Springs. My side trip to Butler would be about 550 miles (11 plus hours) mostly along I-80. A direct route from Battle Creek, Michigan to BFSP measures just under 500 miles (8-10 hours) along I-80 to SR-66 to US-6 to SR-44 to Cherry Spring State Park. Don “The Hornet” Stilwell and his 12” Dobsonian prepare for a night of observing at BFSP. Earlier I decided to do no cooking while tent camping on the viewing field. To that end, Eric recommended in Harrisville, Thursday, about 4 pm, I turned right onto the site of the BFSP just off I-80: Willie’s Smokehouse for sausages and cheese, 2007. To my surprise 100 or more astronomy buffs were al- Taylor’s Produce for nectarines and apples and Hughes Ice ready present and accounted for with many more right behind Cream for crème sodas. Also the Sheetz station offered a fair me. The BFSP staff registered about 475 participants for gas price there and in the “port” of your choice along US-6. 2007, but with rain forecast for Friday and maybe Saturday, I guess many wanted to get a jump on the clear viewing for Speaking of US-6, you will enjoy 45-55 mph driving among early arrivals. Subsequent talks with my neighbors revealed the villages, wooded hills and dales of the “wilds” of central many were there since Tuesday. Of course most of them were Pennsylvania. In Coudersport, PA, before you turn south on Pennsylvania residents with a few from Ohio and New Jersey. SR-44 for the last 20 something miles to Cherry Springs State They reported the conditions to have been clear and sharp. I Park, you can pick up gas, ice and food items you may need, if can vouch the condition was great from Butler on Wednesday. you arrive there during normal business hours. Quickly I set up camp and ‘scope to be ready for the promise of a great night under a truly dark sky.

For practicality, I set up on the west side of the Galaxy grav- eled pathway near the restroom building, the 24 hour food service and the presentation pavilion.

Most astrophotographers set up far away from SR-44 toward the southwest. Many electric hook ups easily met power needs, but bring extension cords.

Thursday evening after supper I was in my tent planning out the night’s viewing. My objective for this trip was to view the magnitude 10 and 11 galaxies around Ursa Major. These objects are hard to find in Battle Creek even with my 12” Deep Space Hunter Dobsonian. I needed to find these galaxies to reach the 70 mark for the Astronomical League’s Messier Ob- serving Club. While studying my charts, I noticed a distinct Don thanks him long-time friend, Eric Pedersen for the lack of light. I thought, “Up and at ‘em, Stilwell. Dark skies impetus to go, steak and vino. are upon you.”

Prime Focus Page 5 November 2007 found, in stark detail, the Crescent, the Veil and the Pelican Nebula. The vast but usually hard to see North American Nebula had body and substance. Even the M76, the Little Dumbbell, was a thick dash.

In my euphoric fog a little before 10 pm, I realized the “Big Dipper” and its galaxies were settling behind the northern tree line and Ron’s camper. I hurriedly pocketed the nebula filter and got on track. I was worried because I knew how long and hard I had tried to see these objects from the Battle Creek area. I say “see” because I know the ‘scope was pointing at M108, M97, M109, M106, M101 and in Perseus M33, but I could not see them.

I need not have worried. Two, I found clearly in the finder. The Triangulum Galaxy, M33, was as clear in my 8×50 finder as the Andromeda Galaxy is from Battle Creek. By 11:15 pm Whoa! A beautiful example of astrophotography meets I found the last “Big Dipper” galaxy, M106, just before it set- beaucoup disposable income. tled behind the camper. My only problem had been so many stars appeared in the eyepiece it was hard to follow my magni- Out of the tent and into the crisp late summer twilight, I spied tude 7 star chart. Jupiter and a few bright stars like Antares and, already, a faint outline of the “Teapot”, Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila. After, col- Happy at my success, I returned to star trippin’, along with limating my Dob, I tuned up the finder by observing Jupiter. about 200 others, in our totally dark and clear horizon to hori- Neptune and Uranus would shortly be visible for solar system zon celestial sphere. As time past, I picked up a few more on buffs. Mercury, although up, was already below the tree line my Messier list. Around 2 am, I was falling asleep standing in the west. Mars would rise much later. As usual I got wrapped up in that gas giant’s stormy band’s and Galileo’s moons.

About 15 to 20 minutes later I looked up and I could see this was going to be a good night. By 8:30 pm stars were out and the Milky Way was “there”. By 9 pm it was vivid, and I said right out loud, “sweeeet, pure sugar!” The bulge in Sagittarius with its dark center jumped out, being flanked by bright star swathes. These swathes, from south-southwest to northeast, bathed the field in light. I made out the Lagoon Nebula, the M18-17-16 knot of nebulosity, the Sagittarius Star Cloud, and clearly saw the Andromeda Galaxy and the Double Cluster with my naked eye. Binoculars easily displayed, low power but there, nearly all the goodies along the Milky Way. I was in dark sky heaven.

An hour or so passed while I looked at the newly brilliant celestial wonders. First in my ‘scope I found old favorites in seconds: M6, M7, M8, M20, M21, M23, M22, M24, M18, M17, M18, M26, M11, M29, M39… In between wows at my ‘scope, I wowed some at my neighbors’ eyepieces, three Penn- sylvania observers and Ron from Cleveland.

One or two steps from me was a beautiful William Optics Me- grez 90 on a Sphinx Mount, a 10” Lightbridge, a Meade LXD 75 10” Schmidt-Newtonian and Ron’s push-to 12.5” Starsplit- ter. On one of the neighbor ‘scopes, I visually confirmed the football shaped outer edges of the Dumbbell Nebula.

This inspired me to return to my Dob and revisit those nebulae formally seen only with averted vision. I screwed my 2” Meade’s new flagship telescope - the 20” RCX400 on the Orion Ultrablock filter into my adapter. Within minutes I MAX Mount. Yours for only $49,999!

Prime Focus Page 6 November 2007 up. I went to bed singing halleluiah for spending my gas money and driving time. For me, even though the official BFSP opening was still ten hours away, the trip was worth it.

Friday turned cool, cloudy and windy. By early afternoon, obviously rain had been correctly predicted. By late afternoon Ron packed up his Starsplitter and looked worried in front of his camper. Now all 300 plus of us, perched on our hill top observing ground, packed away or battened down our equipment.

Beginning at noon we early birds and new arrivals all picked up our official ID wrist bands and schedules. Although rain was not listed, it was Friday night’s only feature. Fortunately, the wind turned out blustery but not damaging.

Saturday from 11 am to about 6 pm six presenters and many door prize raffles were on the schedule. I placed my one free Is this the field of dreams or the field of telescopes? Trick ticket and three bought tickets on a 13mm Nagler eyepiece. question, it’s both! Looking to the south at BFSP. Though the raffle was a personal bust, quite a few patrons won nice prizes. The presentations proved more of a sure thing. As the public viewers began arriving, the clouds remained. More people arrived and complaints and apologies were heard. Joe Bergeron’s presentation of his cosmic artwork lifted my About 8:30 pm Ron went to bed. Curiously, around 9 pm spirits during the cloudy, but drying, morning. He showed stars began popping out. By 9:30 pm it was crystal clear and gray scale and color examples of artist’s concepts of other the oohs and aahs started. I hollered Ron out of bed and Sat- worlds. His early work used traditional paint media. Now to urday night’s viewing began. work more efficiently, he said, he prefers digital or a hybrid digital/traditional images. I had several more Messier galaxies to see, most notably M74, the Phantom and M77 in Cetus. While waiting for them to After lunch I listened to Chip Harrison, the manager for rise over the eastern tree line, I began to admire the Milky Cherry Springs State Park, describe encouraging progress in Way again. Albireo and “Chappel’s Arch” appeared jewel surrounding communities to adopt shielded lighting ordi- like with fresh clarity. Lyra’s “Double Double” offered four nances as well as generally begin to embrace the “Dark Sky” pinpoints. state park as economically beneficial. One community has approached him to ask what they need to do to become dark Near 11:30 pm when I saw M33 in the finder again, I knew it sky certified. Additionally, continuing site improvements was time to hunt galaxies. Aries pointed to Eta Piscium. In include construction of restroom facilities and light blocking the eastern sky, the Phantom lay just below and to the right of burms placed next to SR-44. Eta Piscium. In about three minutes, I spied that magnitude 10.5. Next, I placed Delta Ceti in the finder and just below it A vendor tent stroll (10% discounts) and a nap got me to 5 pm spied the magnitude 10.5, M77, Cetus A galaxy. In ten min- for Ed Ting’s Keynote Speech. As you would expect, he gave utes, under dark skies, I marked two galaxies off my list. The an entertaining humorous rant on low quality telescope mar- same procedure in Battle Creek could have taken hours. keting claims such as “see to the edge of the universe.” Also in his 35 minute talk he gave this binocular evaluation tip. Next, I star tripped for globulars. Easily I picked them off: Hold the binocular just away from your eyes and continue to M13, M92, M15, M28 and M22. Then I started in Ophiuchus: move it away. If the exit pupil remains circular, the prism M10 was troublesome and M12 impossible. Around midnight construction is OK. If the exit pupil begins to become square it started, by 12:30 am clouds reined again in the skies over shaped, the prism construction is poor. Cherry Springs State Park. Saturday’s viewing was done and the BFSP was over for me. Saturday night offered a free public viewing with many of the assembled astronomers. After the raffle, we hoped after sup- Sunday night held promise, but Sunday morning I packed up per there would be any viewing because clouds were still the and headed home. Weather haunts any site. Especially in the sky’s prominent feature. east, check the weather before traveling. Nevertheless, I can recommend, with a bullet, the dark skies of Cherry Springs While waiting for nightfall, I had a chance to talk to a CPO and the Black Forest Star Party. member who is a fellow transplanted North Carolinian. Sur- prisingly, he told me only about 40 members of the CPO produce this premier annual star party. As we talked at 7 then 8 pm, the clouds remained.

Prime Focus Page 7 November 2007 NASA Space Place The Red (Hot?) Planet by Patrick L. Barry

Don't let Mars's cold, quiet demeanor fool you. For much of If so, could molten lava still occasionally flow on the surface its history, the Red Planet has been a fiery world. of Mars today?

Dozens of volcanoes that dot the planet's surface stand as With the help of some artificial intelligence software, a heat- monuments to the eruptions that once reddened Mars's skies sensing instrument currently orbiting Mars aboard NASA's with plumes of glowing lava. But the planet has settled Mars Odyssey spacecraft could be just the tool for finding down in its old age, and these volcanoes have been dormant active lava flows. for hundreds of millions of years. "Discovering such flows would be a phenomenally exciting Or have they? Some evidence indicates that lava may have scientific finding," says Steve Chien, supervisor of the Artifi- flowed on Mars much more recently. Images of the Martian cial Intelligence Group at JPL. For example, volcanic activ- surface taken by orbiting probes show regions of solidified ity could provide a source of heat, thus making it more likely lava with surprisingly few impact craters, suggesting that the that Martian microbes might be living in the frosty soil. volcanic rock is perhaps only a million years old. The instrument, called THEMIS (for Thermal Emission Im- aging System), can "see" the heat emissions of the Martian surface in high resolution — each pixel in a THEMIS image represents only 100 meters on the ground. But THEMIS produces about five times more data than it can transmit back to Earth.

Scientists usually know ahead of time which THEMIS data they want to keep, but they can't plan ahead for unexpected events like lava flows. So Chien and his colleagues are cus- tomizing artificial intelligence software called ScienceCraft to empower THEMIS to identify important data on its own.

This decision-making ability of the ScienceCraft software was first tested in Earth orbit aboard a satellite called Earth Observing-1 by NASA's New Millennium Program. Earth Observing-1 had already completed its primary mission, and the ScienceCraft experiment was part of the New Millen- nium Program’s Space Technology 6 mission.

On Odyssey, ScienceCraft will look for anomalous hotspots on the cold, night side of Mars and flag that data as important. "Then the satellite can look at it more closely on the next orbit," Chien explains.

Finding lava is considered a long shot, but since THEMIS is on all the time, "it makes sense to look," Chien says. Or better yet, have ScienceCraft look for you — it’s the intelligent thing to do.

To learn more about the Autonomous ScienceCraft software and see an animation of how it works, visit:

Just as changing cloud patterns on Earth were identified http://ase.jpl.nasa.gov using Earth Observing-1’s Advanced Land Imager along with ScienceCraft software, the THEMIS instrument with This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ScienceCraft on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft can avoid California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the transmitting useless images. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Prime Focus Page 8 November 2007 HubbleHubble FindsFinds “Dorian“Dorian Gray”Gray” GalaxyGalaxy

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found a galaxy that is Aloisi and her team discerned the new distance by observing the equivalent of the painting of Dorian Gray, a portrait in an flashing stellar mile-markers within I Zwicky 18. These mas- Oscar Wilde novel that appears mysteriously to age. sive stars, called Cepheid variable stars, pulse in a regular rhythm. The timing of their pulsations is directly related to Like the fictional painting, the galaxy I Zwicky 18 appears to their brightness. By comparing the stars' actual brightness look older the more astronomers study it. What astronomers with their observed brightness, astronomers can precisely once thought was a toddler galaxy by galactic standards may measure their distance. The team determined the observed now be considered an adult. brightness of three Cepheids and compared it with the actual brightness predicted by theoretical models. These models The galaxy's youthful appearance was identified some 40 were calculated specifically for I Zwicky 18's deficiency in years ago through observations at the Palomar Observatory. heavy elements, indicating the galaxy's stars formed before Those studies showed that the galaxy erupted with star forma- these elements were abundant in the universe. This analysis tion billions of years after its galactic neighbors. Galaxies allowed the astronomers to determine the galaxy's distance. resembling I Zwicky 18's youthful appearance are typically The Cepheid distance also was validated through another dis- found only in the early universe. Astronomers were thrilled tance indicator, specifically the observed brightness of the that a newly forming galaxy like I Zwicky 18 could be studied brightest red stars older than 1 billion years. nearby to learn about galactic evolution, which is normally only observable at great distances. Cepheid variable stars have been studied for decades and have been instrumental in the determination of the scale of our uni- New Hubble data have quashed that possibility. The tele- verse. This is the first time, however, that variable stars with scope found faint, older stars contained within the galaxy, so few heavy elements were found. This may provide unique suggesting its star formation started at least 1 billion years ago new insights into the properties of variable stars, which is now and possibly as much as 10 billion years ago. The galaxy, a topic of ongoing study. therefore, may have formed at the same time as most other galaxies. Aloisi and her team published their results in the October 1st issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "Although the galaxy is not as youthful as was once believed, it is certainly developmentally challenged and unique in the nearby universe," said astronomer Alessandra Aloisi from the Space Telescope Science Institute and the European Space Agency in Baltimore, Maryland, who led the new study.

Spectroscopic observations with ground-based telescopes have shown that I Zwicky 18 is almost exclusively composed of hydrogen and helium, the main ingredients created in the Big Bang. Heavier elements are forged within the cores of stars and blasted into space when the stars die. The galaxy's primordial makeup suggests that its rate of star formation has been much lower than that of other galaxies of similar age. The galaxy has been studied with most of NASA's telescopes, including the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). However, it remains a mystery why I Zwicky 18 formed so few stars in the past, and why it is forming so many new stars right now.

The Hubble data also suggest that I Zwicky 18 is 59 million light-years from Earth, almost 10 million light-years more distant than previously believed. While this is still in our own backyard, as measured by extragalactic standards, the galaxy's larger-than-expected distance may explain why astronomers have had difficulty detecting older, fainter stars within the galaxy until now. In fact, the faint, old stars in I Zwicky 18 are almost at the limit of Hubble's resolution and sensitivity.

Prime Focus Page 9 November 2007 NovemberNovember NightNight Sky...... Sky......

This star map is property of the This map represents the sky at the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. NORTH following local standard times: However you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, Early Oct. 11 pm so long as it is for non-profit Late Oct. 10 pm educational purposes and full Early Nov. 8 pm credit is given to the KAS. Late Nov. 7 pm

www.kasonline.org EAST WEST

SOUTH

ercury springs into view at The Moon and Regulus have a very stunning scene with brilliant Venus on dawn during the first couple of close encounter before dawn on November 5th. weeks in November. The tiny November 3rd. The Moon actually world will be easiest to spot during four occults Regulus from the southern U.S. The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks mornings starting November 1st. Locate during the early morning hours of the bright star Spica and gaze 4º to the The Moon will then pay a quick visit to November 18th. Moonset is at 12:18 am left about an hour before sunrise. Saturn on November 4th and then form a EST. Expect 10 meteors/hour. KAS OFFICERS November 2007 Page 11 PRESIDENT Richard S. Bell 373-8942 [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Jack Price 343-3193 Opening nominations for 2008 [email protected] KAS Officers and At-Large Board Members will take place at the TREASURER Rich Mather November General Meeting. If 629-5312 you are interested in running for [email protected] a position then please contact

SECRETARY/ALCOR Bob Havira (344-7707). Ask not Roger Williams what the KAS can do for you, but 375-4867 what you can do for the KAS! [email protected]

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE Jean DeMott 381-1406 [email protected]

Dick Gillespie 966-9653 Sky Legends of the Three Fires [email protected] Saturday 11:00 am, Sunday 1:30 pm

Dan Morgan ASI: Baseline 964-3156 Wednesday 3:00 pm, Saturday 2:00 pm [email protected] Blown Away: the Wild Side of Weather Dave Woolf Saturday & Sunday 3:00 pm 762-8268 [email protected] Planetarium admission is $3.00 per person. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is located at 230 North Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo. For more information please call (269) 373-7990 or visit us on the web at www.kalamazoomuseum.org

Have you ever wanted to learn how to take photographs of our nearest celestial neighbor? Now is your chance! We’ll do some photography of the First Quarter Moon with the 12” LX200 in Owl Observatory. Feel free to bring your own telephoto lenses and/or telescopes as well. PRE-REGISTRATION is required, so please contact Richard Bell by Nov. 16th. General Meeting Preview AA NewNew World,World, ThisThis WorldWorld ofof MarsMars presented by Richard Bell

o other planet has fired the imagination like Mars. For most of human history, the Red Planet has been nothing more than a tantalizing point of light on the starry back drop. Every culture, from Australia’s Aborigines to the ancient Greeks, has tried to explain the origin and nature of this fiery enigma. Mars became a world to explore with the invention of the telescope. Some of history's greatest astronomers have gazed across the interplanetary void and became mesmerized by what they saw. Join us as KAS President Richard Bell explores the early days of Martian discovery. We’ll also discuss the upcoming opposition of Mars and explain how you can rediscover the Red Planet for yourself.

— Friday, November 2 @ 7:00 pm —

Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Elevator Access Available

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC STAMP 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008