Sep/Oct 2020
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Star Gazer News Astronomy News for Bluewater Stargazers Vol 14 No.5 Sep/Oct 2020 Sep/Oct 2020 SGN Contents p 1: From the Editor: Reflecting on the ES Fox Obs p 2: Tribute to Ross Burkinshaw p 3: Hubble Snaps Closeups of NEOWISE Nucleus p 4: Mars Opposition Viewing in October Should Be Good! p 5: Observing Surface Features on Mars -hints p 6: Using Coloured Filters for Planet Viewing p 7: Mysterious Martian Cloud is Back A space suit would be the ultimate Covid-19 protective gear, but p 8-9: Quetican Field of View: Perseid Meteor Report the cartoon alludes to just one of the problems astronauts have p 10: Betelgeuse Dimming -explained? when living inside a personal spaceship for any length of time. No way to blow your nose, scratch an itch or even wipe a tear. Chris p 11: Solar Cycle 25 has Started Hadfield has a video about that in a TED talk from 2014: https:// p 12: Constellations: Pegasus and Andromeda www.ted.com/talks/ p 13: Indigenous Constellation: Pegasus the (Flying) Moose chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space p 14: Sky Sights Listing for September and October Everyone should see this for a bit of inspiration. p 15: More Sky Sights From the Editor p 16: Miscellaneous Page and Classifieds Reflecting on the ES Fox Observatory Periodically I am reminded of what an incredible facility The ES Fox Observatory is shown below in an aerial BAS has at its disposal in the ES Fox Observatory. What drone shot courtesy of Frank Williams taken in the other amateur astronomy club has access to an 864 sq.ft summer of 2017. The roof is starting to roll back and roll-off roof observatory at a Deep Sky Preserve (the the Webster telescope has been “deployed” to its pad Bluewater Outdoor Ed Centre) where a 28-inch Dobsonian for a night of observing. telescope is available? All this is the result of countless hours of hard work by BCAS and BAS members who took on the job of bringing astronomy to our members and to the general public. The list of names of those who made this possible is long, so it will not be repeated here except for one, -Ross Burkinshaw - who sadly passed away in July. See page 2 for more about Ross. S G N BAS News Sep/Oct 2020 pg 2 Disclaimer: SGN reports on the activities of the Bluewater BAS Executive 2020-2021 Astronomical Society (formerly Bruce County Astronomical President (interim): vacant Society) but any opinions presented herein are not necessarily V-President (interim): vacant endorsed by BAS. For up-to-date details relating to BAS Secretary: Lorraine Rodgers [email protected] Treasurer: Cheryl Dawson [email protected] events see the BAS website at www.bluewaterastronomy.com. Member-at-Large: Zoë Kessler [email protected] SGN is produced and edited by John Hlynialuk and I am solely Membership: Marian Ratcliffe [email protected] responsible for its content. I maintain a web presence at www.johns- Public Outreach: John Hlynialuk [email protected] astronomy.com. Your original articles, images, opinions, comments, observing Past Pres: John Hlynialuk [email protected] reports, etc., are welcome at SGN. I reserve the right to edit for brevity or clarity. Errors or omissions are entirely mine. I will not publish your emails or other materials without your specific permission. No part of this publication shall be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the editor’s consent. However, the Sky Events and Constellation pages are free to copy for non-commercial use. Feel free to forward this issue in its entirety to friends. You are welcome to email comments and/or submissions to [email protected] BURKINSHAW, Ross Ross Burkinshaw Passes Passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his family on One of the lifetime members of BAS passed away July 25, Saturday July 25, 2020 at the age of 76. Loving husband to 2020. Ross Burkinshaw joined the group when we were Angelia Burkinshaw (nee Braham). Proud father to Peter BCAS and served actively in several roles in the (Catherine Cormier), David (Kelly), and Michael (Rachel). Sadly missed by his grandchildren, Rebecca, Daniel, Chloe, Ross, organization. His contribution to the development of the Fox Hannah, Grace, and Morgan. Survived by his sister Diane and Observatory was key and his expertise showed through her children Gina & Jason, when decisions had to be made. He played an important and by his brother Frank role in the design and completion of the Fox Observatory and (Carol), and their children championed the successful partnership with BEF and BOEC Derek & Kelly. A Memorial that we enjoy presently. Service to Celebrate the Life of Ross Burkinshaw will be held at the Knox Presbyterian Church, Burgoyne. If desired, Memorial Donations may be made to Grand River Hospital Foundation, Cancer Center, multiple myeloma, or to the Knox Presbyterian Church, Burgoyne. Ross also played an active role in refurbishing the U of G Vernonscope we received in the fall of 2005. The scope needed a lot of attention and while the mirror was away being re-coated, most of the other jobs like getting the drives operational and scope mounted on a portable pier, were carried out by Ross and John Gillespie seen in image at left. The scope was used on a portable pier (image below Sep 2009) before it was mounted at the Fox Observatory in the summer of 2011. (Image lower left). Ross was a club supporter and good friend who will be greatly missed. Our condolences go out to Angelia and family. S G N Two Jets From NEOWISE Nucleus Sep/Oct 2020 pg 3 ! Hubble Snaps Close-Up of Comet NEOWISE HST Press release 21 August 2020 Image Right: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the closest images yet of the sky’s latest visitor to make the headlines, comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, after it passed by the Sun. The new images of the comet were taken on 8 August and feature the visitor’s coma, the fine shell that surrounds its nucleus, and its dusty output. Comet NEOWISE is the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere since 1997’s Hale- Bopp comet. It’s estimated to be travelling at over 60 kilometres per second. The comet’s closest approach to the Sun was on 3 July and it’s now heading back to the outer reaches of the Solar System, not to pass through our neighbourhood again for another 7000 years. Hubble’s observation of NEOWISE is the first time a comet of this comet are currently delving further into the data to see what brightness has been photographed at such high resolution they’re able to find. after its pass by the Sun. Earlier attempts to photograph other bright comets (such as comet ATLAS) proved unsuccessful as Hubble has captured other well-known comet visitors they disintegrated in the searing heat. throughout the past year. This includes snapping images of the breakup of comet ATLAS in April 2020 and impressive Comets often break apart due to thermal and gravitational images of the interstellar comet 2I BORISOV in October 2019 stresses at such close encounters, but Hubble's view and December 2019. suggests that NEOWISE's solid nucleus stayed intact. This Image credit: NASA, ESA, Q. Zhang (California Institute of heart of the comet is too small to be seen directly by Hubble. Technology), A. Pagan (STScI) The ball of ice may be no more than 4.8 kilometres across. But the Hubble image does captures a portion of the vast cloud of gas and dust enveloping the nucleus, which measures about 18 000 kilometres across in this image. Hubble's observation also resolves a pair of jets from the nucleus shooting out in opposite directions. They emerge from the comet's core as cones of dust and gas, and then are curved into broader fan-like structures by the rotation of the nucleus. Jets are the result of ice sublimating beneath the surface with the resulting dust/gas being squeezed out at high velocity. The Hubble photos may also help reveal the colour of the comet’s dust and how that colour changes as the comet moves away from the Sun. This, in turn, may explain how solar heat affects the contents and structure of that dust and the comet’s coma. The ultimate goal here would be to determine the original properties of the dust. Researchers who used Hubble to observe the S G N Mars at Opposition -a Good Year! Sep/Oct 2020 pg 4 Mars at Opposition should be NICE! This year’s Mars opposition is one of the best ones for some time. The standard of comparison is the Aug 28, 2003 opposition when records for closeness were broken. Back then the planet was -2.88 in magnitude and 25 arc- seconds across. This October 13, we will see Mars reach -2.62 magnitude and 22 arc-seconds diameter which at first sight seems less good. However, the main difference will be in how high Mars is above the murky air near the southern horizon at that time. We expect Mars to reach an unprecedented 50.8° elevation above the southern horizon compared to 29.5° in 2003. This will make all the world of difference in the world in discerning surface features on the planet. Fig.1 Fig.2 Shown in the images here are views of Fig.3 Mars from Starry Night at various dates. Fig 1: Aug 2019 This shows Mars at the smallest size from Earth during its 2-year orbit when it was on the opposite side of the Sun: 3.5” across, magnitude 1.8 Fig 2: July 13, 2020 Three months from this year’s opposition Mars is large enough to pick out features although it is in a gibbous phase: 13” across, magnitude -0.7 Fig 3: Oct 13, 2020 At opposition the full disk of Mars is illuminated and it is huge! 22” across, magnitude -2.62 (Relative scale is approximate only.