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. )

What to look for: Martian features to look for at opposition include: Polar caps: During this opposition the south polar region of Mars is tilted our way and it is southern hemisphere summer. The S. pole cap will be small and the N. polar cap is tilted away from us so there may not be much to see there. However, the north cap sometimes has hazy regions surrounding it that are called a “polar hood”. Try a #80 pale blue filter.

Dark surface markings: Diagram right illustrates some of the dark and light features to look for. The most prominent dark features are Syrtis Major and Terra Meridiani (labelled). Hellas is one the larger light features to observe and so is Solis Lacus (not on this image of Mars). Often referred to as the “Eye of Mars,” it is a dark circular feature surrounded by light terrain looking much like a pupil. See pg 6 for hints on filters to use to view Mars and other planets. S G N Observing the Surface of Mars Sep/Oct 2020 pg 5

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Oct 22 Oct 29 Nov 6 Nov 15 Oct 13 Oct 17 Arrow indicates region of Mars facing Earth on those dates Martian Surface Map The surface map above is from the Center for Planetary Another way to take all the guesswork out is to use the Science [http://planetary-science.org/mars-research/mars- Interactive Sky&Telescope Mars Profiler tool at https:// cartography/] and shows higher resolution features than can skyandtelescope.org/observing/interactive-sky-watching- be seen with the telescope. Note also that only about half of tools/mars-which-side-is-visible/# the surface can be seen at any one time. But since the rotation rate of Mars is 24.6 hours, theoretically the entire It allows you to enter the current time and Profiler displays planet’s surface could be seen in a single Earth day if the face of Mars that is pointed earthwards. It is very intuitive daylight did not interfere. and will even invert the view as a refractor or reflector would. I do not believe it is available as a stand-alone app, and The extra 40 minutes of rotation of Mars per night causes requires logging into the S&T site, but none I have found are Mars to slowly rotate if we view at the same time each night. as useful for observing Martian surface features. In a bit more than a month, the entire surface of Mars will parade under our view. The dates along the bottom of the map above give those views for about 1 am. The face will be slightly rotated if you view earlier, say 11 pm.

Probably the easiest way to visualize Martian features without need for a computer or even a paper map is a Mars Globe. S&T sells two m o d e l s , a 1 5 - c m diameter globe (image below) for $25US and a 30 cm globe for $100US. If you do any viewing from the Fox Observatory this October, you may notice the larger one on top of the display case. S G N Coloured Filters for Planet Viewing Sep/Oct 2020 pg 6

Planetary Viewing with Filters

I admit I have not really done a lot of planet viewing with filters. And, whenever I did try them, I did not really test them out as thoroughly as I should have. But this time around we all have a chance to do that with Jupiter and Mars at least. If you have access to a set of coloured filters for your eyepieces, do give it a shot and let me know how you make out.

The listing below is from High Point Scientific and gives the details of what you might expect with the various colour filters available.

Image right illustrates the colour of each filter mentioned below.

#8: Light Yellow - 83% Transmission. Great for bringing red filter. Equally useful in observing Jupiter and Mars for out details in the red and orange regions of Jupiter's belt this reason. A #38A filter can bring out details of storms and improves the contrast on the surface of Mars and the on the surface. Moon. For telescopes of larger apertures (10" and more), a Light Yellow filter can bring out better detail on Uranus #47: Violet - 3% Transmission. A very dark filter which and Neptune, otherwise this is a good filter choice for fully blocks red, yellow and green portions of the visual most telescopes. spectrum. A great choice for isolating the polar ice caps on Mars and for bringing out subtle details in Venus's #11: Yellow-Green - 40% Transmission. Great for upper atmosphere. For use on telescopes with apertures observing Saturn and bringing out details in the Cassini of 10” or more. division. #11 filters provide better contrast for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Best with 6” telescopes or larger. #56: Light Green - 53% Transmission. A great all around filter, will bring out yellow coloured dust storms on #12: Yellow - 74% Transmission. Boosts contrast for Mars, enhance details of the ice caps, increase contrast Saturn and Jupiter by contrasting with blue coloured on red/blue areas of Jupiter and will increase detail of the areas and highlighting red and orange areas. The #12 Moon. Best with apertures of 6” or more. Yellow filter enhances contrast of the blue-green features of Mars and can help increase contrast when observing #58: Green - 24% Transmission. Bring out details in the the Moon. A good filter choice for telescopes with an lighter coloured areas of Jupiter. A green filter will block aperture of 3” or more. blue and red wavelengths. Works to offer strong contrast in the polar ice caps of Mars and allow easier visual #21: Orange - 46% Transmission. Limits transmission of observation of weather on Venus. For telescopes with blue-green portions of the spectrum. This filter can clarify apertures of 8 inches or more. delineations between blue-green and red-orange areas of Mars and is a good choice for Jupiter as well to bring out #80A: Blue - 29% Transmission. Another all around more detail in belt and polar areas. Best with apertures great filter choice for both planets and the Moon. Will of 6” or more. bring out amazing detail in cloud belts for both Jupiter. Offers extreme contrast for Jupiter's Red Spot and the #23A: Light Red - 25% Transmission. Very similar to a lunar surface. For telescopes with apertures of 6” or #21 orange filter for telescopes larger than 8 inches. more. Users will notice a slight increase in contrast and better definition between blue-green and red-orange areas of #82A: Light Blue - 73% Transmission. This filter is a Mars. Additionally useful for viewing Mercury during very lightly coloured filter which works well for nearly all daylight or dusk. Best with apertures of 8” or more. planetary and lunar observing because it does not reduce the apparent brightness of the object but does offer a #25A: Red - 14% Transmission. This filter will virtually slight increase in contrast. Nice for splitting binary stars, eliminate the blue and green wavelengths which results in checking out the gas tails of comets, and is even useful strong contrast for Mars. Best with apertures of 8” or for enhancing the galactic structure of bright galaxies! more. Can be paired with other color filters. A good filter choice for telescopes with an aperture of 3” or more. #38A: Dark Blue - 17% Transmission. Heavily blocks red-orange wavelengths, acting nearly opposite of a #25A S G N Mysterious Martian Cloud is Back Sep/Oct 2020 pg 7

Image left is most recent “elongated cloud” photo taken July 19. Labelled image right is from Sep 2018 and identifies the features in the area. The cloud typically forms every martian solstice and lasts for about 80 martian days.

“Elongated Cloud” Returns on Mars is in the southernmost position in the martian skies, just like 21 December on Earth. In the early mornings during this ESA Press Release July 29/2020 period, this fleeting cloud grows for approximately three A mysteriously long, thin cloud has again appeared over the hours, quickly disappearing again just a few hours later. 20-km high Arsia Mons volcano on Mars. Most spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet tend to observe in the afternoon, however Mars Express is in a A recurrent feature, the cloud is made up of water ice, but privileged position to gather and provide crucial information despite appearances it is not a plume linked to volcanic on this unique effect. activity. Instead, the curious stream forms as airflow is influenced by the volcano’s ‘leeward’ slope − the side that Luckily for Mars Express, the highly elliptical orbit of the does not face the wind. spacecraft, coupled with the wide field of view of the VMC instrument, lets us take pictures covering a wide area of the These images of the cloud, which can reach up to 1800-km planet in the early morning. in length, were taken on 17 and 19 July by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express, which has been The Mars Express science team have now named the cloud studying the Red Planet from orbit for the past 16 years. the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud, AMEC. Stay tuned as scientists continue to investigate, and reveal more mysteries “We have been investigating this intriguing phenomenon from Mars. You can find more pictures of AMEC, as well as and were expecting to see such a cloud form around now,” other ‘alien’ features of Mars, on the VMC Flickr page. explains Jorge Hernandez-Bernal, PhD candidate at the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and lead author of the ongoing study.

“This elongated cloud forms every martian year during this The High Resolution Stereo season around the southern solstice, and repeats for 80 Camera on board ESA’s Mars days or even more, following a rapid daily cycle. However, Express snapped this view we don’t know yet if the clouds are always quite this Sep 21, 2018 of the water ice impressive”. cloud. The cloud, which measures 915 km in this view, also casts a shadow on the A martian day, or sol, is slightly longer than an Earth day at surface. North is up. More 24 h, 39 min, 35 s. A martian year is 668 sols, approximately information: Mars Express 687 days, so the seasons last for twice as long. keeps an eye on curious cloud

The southern solstice is the period of the year when the Sun

Quetican Field of View by Doug Cunningham Sep/Oct 2020 pg 8 2020 Perseid Meteor Shower Observing During Covid-19 “Panels of changing stars, sashes of vapour, Silver tails of meteor streams, washes, and rockets of fire - It was only a dream, Oh Hoh, Yay, Yay, Loo, Loo, only a dream, five, six, seven, five, six, seven, …” Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967) “The World of Carl Sandburg” Observing “Meteors”, or “Shooting Stars”, on a warm summer’s night, has been a wonderful pastime for my wife, Paula, and myself. The Perseid meteor shower is the most dependable meteor shower of the whole year. Although it usually peaks about August 12th, the Sometimes our Earth’s orbital motion will carry it into the path of a shower’s duration is usually broad, so the Perseids can be observed swarm of these meteoroid particles. When this happens, the rate of for a couple of nights on either side of the peak date. One thing we meteor production dramatically increases and is called a meteor like is the meteor shower takes place in August, which for us, is the shower. During the peak of a meteor shower the number of meteors best summer weather month! When we have been fortunate to seen by an independent observer from a clear, and unobstructed dark observe these meteors against the star clouds of the Milky Way, and sky site, can exceed 120 meteors per hour. This number is called the observe them from a dark sky site, on a transparent and moonless “Zenith Hourly Rate” or abbreviated as ZHR. In the case of the night, then the experience has been riveting and unforgettable! So, Perseids, the ZHR is 90 meteors per hour. These swarms of we usually plan our summer to include this activity. meteoroid particles are usually shed by comets when they pass into the inner solar system. The source of the August Perseid meteors is Fortunately, we live on the Bruce Peninsula, a dark sky community, the periodic comet, Swift-Tuttle. This comet has a large nucleus, and this year, because of the reduced air travel caused in part by the about 26 km in diameter, and because it returns to our vicinity with COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced the clearest and most an orbital period of only 133 years, the Perseid meteoroid particles transparent skies in our memory- great conditions for observing are continually replaced. meteors. This year we planned on observing the Perseids from our Lake Huon cottage on the west side of the Bruce Peninsula. During a meteor shower, if the observer were to trace the paths of the shooting stars backwards, the meteors will appear to originate Meteors, also known as “shooting stars”, are not a rare phenomenon from the same point on the sky, called the “radiant point”. [See p.18 and, on any given night, an independent observer can see about 8 for the Orionid radiant -ed] The radiant effect occurs because the meteors an hour. These are called “sporadic” meteors because they meteoroids that produce a specific meteor shower share a common occur randomly and are not associated with a defined shower. A and parallel motion about the Sun. When they burn up in the Earth’s meteor is the term used by astronomers to atmosphere the viewing parallax makes describe the streak of light produced when them appear to originate from the same a meteoroid, moving at very high speed, place on the sky. The constellation enters the Earth’s atmosphere, usually containing the radiant point gives its between 80 km and 100 km above the name to actual meteor shower. For Earth’s surface. This meteoroid becomes example, the Perseid meteor shower ablated, heated to incandescence and which occurs around August 12th each usually vapourized. Sometimes, if the summer, has its radiant point located meteoroid particle has enough mass to within the constellation Perseus. It is avoid complete evaporation by the usually the most dependable and atmospheric frictional heating, then it can convenient meteor shower to observe. actually make it to the ground. This residual fragment is called a meteorite and On very rare occurrences, a meteor eagerly sought by collectors. storm can occur. A good example of a meteor storm happened on the night of In spite of the meteor’s bright light and November 13th, 1833 when, for over 6 long visible trail, the meteoroid particle hours, the sky over the Eastern US was itself is usually quite small, perhaps the illuminated by a deluge of meteors size of a sand grain or pebble. It’s amazing numbering in the tens of thousands! that so much light can be produced by such Many meteors were as bright as a tiny particle. The reason is the high fireworks! Reports indicated that there kinetic energy of the meteoroid particle is was not a time during the 6 hour period being converted by atmospheric friction that there wasn’t a shooting star visible into heat and light, when it strikes our in the night sky. The radiant point for atmosphere. For Perseid meteors, the this particular storm was located in the impact speed of the meteoroid fragments is constellation of Leo -hence the Leonids. 60 km per second, and sometimes, as in the case of the Leonid Meteors, these entry Image left: Leonids over Niagara Falls velocities can be as high as 71 km per Nov 13, 1833. Woodcut from Atlas of the second! Stars by E.Weib)

Quetican Field of View Perseid Meteors 2020 (Cont’d) Sep/Oct 2020 pg 9

This year, the peak of the Perseids was predicted to occur on early increase in transparency and the brighter stars of Perseus sparkled Wednesday morning, August 12th. Because the light of the waning like brilliant diamonds! It was almost like a curtain had parted and gibbous Moon would interfere with the fainter meteors, we decided opened a view into a jewelry store’s diamond showcase. That to observe the meteors between 10:45 PM and 1:00 PM on both Tuesday, August 11th, and Wednesday, August 12th. We set up our “reclining anti-gravity chairs” on the observing deck at our cottage. We call them “anti- gravity chairs” because the comfortable position of our body in the chair distributes our weight when observing over the whole back and legs, so we don’t really feel our weight as we would sitting in a normal chair. The Clear Sky Chart had predicted good seeing and g o o d a t m o s p h e r i c transparency over our cottage, from early evening until until just past 1:00 AM on both nights. These reclining chairs are the most comfortable and effective chairs we have owned for observing the stars.

On both nights, the Milky Way was splendid! The interstellar dust lanes were amazingly well defined, especially on our first night of observing. Moving from Sagittarius up through Aquila and Scutum and on through Cygnus and into Cassiopeia and Perseus gave APOD image by Petr Horalek Aug 10, 2020 is a composite our galaxy a 3-D effect. It was a wide screen effect I said to Paula. While reclining in my anti-gravity chair I could imagine taken over eight nights and containing over 400 meteors from approaching an edge-on spiral galaxy viewing from the deck of the 2018 August's Perseids. starship Enterprise. The visual effect of seeing our Milky Way from this angle, at this time of the night, when the galactic plane was still special transparent window remained open for about 15 minutes. low enough, was quite amazing. I have experienced this effect We both remarked on the wonderful vista. As happened on our before, from Northern China’s Gobi Desert, and from Chile’s previous night, we were regularly treated to many meteors and we Atacama Desert near San Pedro. But never before have I had such a saw 71 of them during our roughly two hour observing time. By striking effect from home. Meanwhile, meteors, bright and dim 1:05 PM on both nights, we began to lose our transparency and were streaking though our sky. During our roughly two hour contrast, due to the scattered light of the rising gibbous moon. observing time, we counted 80 meteors. A couple were brilliant, as bright as Jupiter, and they left smoke trails. I searched the internet Unfortunately, most people live under light-polluted night skies and for a photo of the Perseids taken against the background of the they must travel great distances outside their urban home area to Milky Way. I came across one splendid composite image, taken by find dark night skies. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Petr Horalek of Slovakia. He captured the Perseid meteors over an in their annual “Observer’s Handbook”, has a Section (p 79-84) 8 day period around the peak of the shower. If any image can devoted to Light Pollution, written by astronomer, Robert Dick. He convey what Paula and I saw and experienced on our first night of has included a table, on Page 84, listing Canada’s Dark Sky observing the 2020 Perseids, then Horalek’s image does it. Preserves. Some of those in Southern Ontario include: Bluewater Outdoor Ed Centre, near Wiarton; North Frontenac Township, near On our second observing night, Wednesday night, both Paula and I Kingston; Killarney Provincial Park, near Sudbury; Bruce both experienced a similar view of the Milky Way as we had on the Peninsula National Park, near Tobermory; Gordon’s Park, near previous night where the Milky Way passes from Cassiopeia, and South Bay, on Manitoulin Island; Point Pelee National Park, near down through the Double Cluster of Perseus and on through Leamington; and the Torrence Barrens, near Gravenhurst. Mirfak. But, on the night, Wednesday, we experienced a different Copies of the Observer’s Handbook can be obtained from: effect that was so striking that we roughly noted the time. It was Royal Astronomical Society of Canada about 12 :15 AM, and that part of our sky experienced a dazzling 203-4920 Dundas Street West, Toronto Ontario M9A 1B7 Telephone : 416-924-7973 Email [email protected] S G N Betelgeuse Dimming Explained? Sep/Oct 2020 pg 10 Hubble Finds That Betelgeuse's Mysterious Dimming Is Due to a Traumatic Outburst

Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are Hubble captured signs of dense, heated material moving showing that the unexpected dimming of the supergiant star through the star's atmosphere in September, October, and Betelgeuse was most likely caused by an immense amount November 2019. Then, in December, several ground-based of hot material ejected into space, forming a dust cloud that telescopes observed the star decreasing in brightness in its blocked starlight coming from Betelgeuse's surface. southern hemisphere.

Hubble researchers suggest that the dust cloud formed “With Hubble, we see the material as it left the star’s visible when superhot plasma unleashed from an upwelling of a surface and moved out through the atmosphere, before the large convection cell on the star's surface passed through dust formed that caused the star to appear to dim,” Dupree the hot atmosphere to the colder outer layers, where it said. “We could see the effect of a dense, hot region in the cooled and formed dust grains. The resulting dust cloud southeast part of the star moving outward. blocked light from about a quarter of the star's surface, in late 2019. By April 2020, the star’s light returned to normal. "This material was two to four times more luminous than the star's normal brightness," she continued. "And then, about a Betelgeuse is an aging, red supergiant star that has swelled month later, the south part of Betelgeuse dimmed in size due to complex, evolving changes in its nuclear conspicuously as the star grew fainter. We think it is possible fusion furnace at the core. The star is so huge now that if it that a dark cloud resulted from the outflow that Hubble replaced the Sun at the center of our solar system, its outer detected. Only Hubble gives us this evidence that led up to surface would extend past the orbit of Jupiter. the dimming.” The team's paper will appear online Aug. 13 in The Astrophysical Journal. The unprecedented phenomenon for Betelgeuse's great dimming, eventually noticeable to even the naked eye, Massive supergiant stars like Betelgeuse are important started in October 2019. By mid-February 2020, the monster because they expel heavy elements such as carbon into star had lost more than two-thirds of its brilliance. space that become the building blocks of new generations of stars. Carbon is also a basic ingredient for life. This sudden dimming has mystified astronomers, who had several theories for the abrupt change. One idea was that a Betelgeuse is so close to Earth, and so large, that Hubble huge, cool, dark "star spot" covered a wide patch of the has been able to resolve surface features – making it the visible surface. But the Hubble observations, led by Andrea only such star, except for our Sun, where surface detail can Dupree, associate director of the Center for Astrophysics | be seen. Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggest a dust cloud covering a portion of the star. The red supergiant is destined to end its life in a supernova blast. Some astronomers think the sudden dimming may be Several months of Hubble's ultraviolet-light spectroscopic a pre-supernova event. The star is relatively nearby, about observations of Betelgeuse, beginning in January 2019, yield 725 light-years away, which means the dimming would have a timeline leading up to the darkening. These observations happened around the year 1300. But its light is just reaching provide important new clues to the mechanism behind the Earth now. dimming. [With Betelgeuse, astronomers can watch in real time (almost) -ed]. S G N Sun and Moon News Sep/Oct 2020 pg 11

SOLAR CYCLE 25 STRENGTHENS: from SPACEWEATHER.COM There’s no longer any doubt. New Solar Cycle 25 is coming to life. The latest sign came yesterday (Aug 3) with the emergence of a new sunspot group, AR2770, inset in this magnetic map (right) of the sun's surface from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

AR2770 has two dark cores (each about the size of Mars) and is crackling with minor B- class solar flares. Its potential for even stronger flares will become clear in the days ahead as the sunspot turns toward Earth, more fully r e v e a l i n g i t s m a g n e t i c complexity.

Active regions from Solar Cycle 25 are now strewn across Cycle 25 is gaining steam. However, that doesn't mean Solar the sun's northern hemisphere. In the cases of AR2769 and Minimum is finished. These are just "starter sunspots," AR2770, the fields have intensified enough to form dark pipsqueaks compared to the behemoths expected when cores--that is, sunspots. A few days ago, AR2768 also had Solar Cycle 25 reaches its peak a few years from now. Solar visible sunspots. It's a target-rich environment for amateur activity should remain generally low despite this uptick in astronomers with safe solar telescopes. The appearance of sunspot counts. On the other hand, even a starter sunspot so many active regions at once is a clear sign that Solar can occasionally cause a very big storm--so stay tuned.

Satellite images 'dark side' of moon DSCOVR, the Deep S p a c e C l i m a t e Observatory satellite launched in Feb 2015, captured a unique view of the moon as it passed between the spacecraft and Earth on July 16, 2015. Images like this can be taken about twice a year. (NASA)

The satellite, launched in 2015, sits around 1 million miles away from the Earth in what is called a "neutral gravity point" between the Earth and Sun, allowing it to continuously monitor the two objects at the same time with little interference. Periodically the Moon crosses the face of Earth and DSCOVR can image the side never seen from Earth. It can also catch the Moon’s shadow passing over Earth. Image right shows the lunar umbral shadow as it fell over central North America on Aug 21, 2017. BAS members were there in Nebraska at the time enjoying it from the ground! Feature Constellation: Pegasus and Andromeda Sep/Oct 2020 pg 12 Pegasus (Peg) α−Peg - Markab β−Peg - Scheat Andromeda (And) α−Andromedae -Alpheratz γ−Peg - Algenib ε-Peg - Enif ζ−Peg - Homam β-Andromedae -Mirach γ-Andromedae -Almaak η−Peg - θ−Peg -Baham Andromeda is an attractive constellation consisting of two long The main feature of this constellation is the so-called Great curved lines of stars beginning at Alpheratz and trailing to the Square of Pegasus, formed by the four stars β, γ, α-Pegasi and northeast. Alpheratz is the 2nd magnitude star at the northeast α-And. The latter star [Alpheratz] actually belongs to corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Andromeda is most Andromeda (see chart). The stars Polaris, Alpheratz and γ- famous for the Great Nebula, M 31, the only spiral galaxy in the Pegasi form a good stellar landmark; the line connecting them heavens visible to the naked eye. In binoculars it appears as a indicates the equinoctial colure [the 0 H RA line that runs faint elongated misty patch, slightly brighter in the center. through the N celestial pole and the First Point of Ares]. β DOUBLE STARS Pegasi is one of the largest stars known; if it were in the sun's Mag. Sep’n (s) Remarks position, its size would extend beyond the orbit of Venus. γ 2.1-5.4 10 Yellow-Purplish Blue; one of the most DOUBLE STARS beautiful doubles -fine color contrast. Mag. Sep’n (s) Remarks μ 4.0-11.5 34 π 4.4-8.5 36 White-Blue. ε 2.7-8.7-11.5 142-82 Yellow-Violet; triple; good contrast 56 6.0-6.0 1897 Test of keen naked eyesight; easily 1 4.2-9.0 36 separated in binos. 3 6.3-8.5 39 59 6.0-6.7 16 Yellow-Blue. Σ2841 6.5-8.0 22 Σ79 6.0-7.0 8 Very fine. Σ2848 7.2-7.5 11 Σ3050 6.5-6.5 1.5 Test for 3-inch telescope. MESSIER OBJECTS MESSIER OBJECTS Mag Remarks Mag Remarks M 15 5.2 Globular Cluster. M 31 3.4 Spiral Galaxy. The "Great Nebula”; impressive Other Objects of Interest in Pegasus sight in small telescopes; beautiful in larger ones. M 32 8.7 Elliptical Galaxy. In same field as M31. NGC 7331 - Spiral Galaxy, magnitude 10.4. R Pegasi - Long period (378 days) variable, maximum mag. 7.8.. Other Objects of Interest in Andromeda View πl and π2 with low power. This is a beautiful pair; not a double. NGC 752 -Large open cluster; lies in rich region. NGC 7662 - A planetary nebula, roughly annular in shape, with a There are only two naked 13th magnitude star in the center. eye galaxies on our sky - R Andromedae -Long period variable, 7.0 magnitude at max, our own Milky Way and period 409 days. W Andromedae -Long period variable, 7.4 magnitude at max, M31, the Andromeda period 397 days. Galaxy. Rated at a mag. of 3.4, it can be seen “Gloria Frederica”, a royal staff, even in moderatley crown and laurel wreath, now a lit skies as a faint patch defunct constellation with just 3 under the arm of bright stars (arrow) was created by Andromeda. It can be Johan Bode in 1787 to honour located using the Prussia’s king, Frederick the Great. It diagonal from Markab is still a nice star group in binoculars to Alpharatz or lined but they are not a true cluster. up from Mirach.

M31 is an edge-on spiral much like our own MW , with two companions, M32 and NGC205 just like we have in the Magellanic Clouds. It has about twice as many stars as the Milky Way, about 1 trillion, and is twice the diameter of our galaxy, 220 000 ly although its total mass is less.

In a telescope, the fuzzy region surrounding the nucleus is most obvious, but one or two dust lanes can be detected with 10-inch or larger telescopes. If imagers can be patient, M31 will be a lot closer in 4 billion years or so. Eventually, it will “collide” with the MW and merge into a single giant elliptical galaxy. Feature Constellation: Pegasus the Moose Sep/Oct 2020 pg 13

Pegasus the Moose The following is from a post by Will Morin (Indigenous Pegasus is a star pattern recognized as a moose in Ojibwe star Studies Univ. of Sudbury and Bruce Waters, founder of lore and will be featured here as the first in a series of Killarney Prov. Pk Observatory: indigenous constellation stories in future issues of SGN. I hope you enjoy learning some new ways to look at our northern Indigenous astronomy skies. To understand the star stories of the Indigenous peoples, we need to understand the geography of which we speak.

The Indigenous peoples of the woodlands of North America were and are the Anishinaabek, “people who were lowered [to Earth].” To the south of them were and are the Haudenosaunee, the “people of the long house” (often known as the Iroquois).

Both cultural groups shared many cultural elements, but were linguistically as different and diverse as the various European cultural groups. Each group had many different tribal and dialect groupings within the diverse geography around the Great Lakes and beyond in all directions.

There were Anishinaabek: Ojibway, Odawa, Potawatami around the Great Lakes,

Algonquian to the eastern woodlands, and Cree to the north and west of the woodland, and

the Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora in many communities southeast of the Great Lakes.

To understand these various tribes and their cultural important in one’s life. For example, in this part of the world, diversity, we would have to experience the context in which we experience the four seasons which, to many Indigenous, they lived, including their geography and their relationship were marked by key events: with the land, sky, and stars in each season. Fall: Moose hunt, procuring necessary food and materials to Only from this vantage point can we understand the last through the Winter Indigenous culture or teachings, which is necessary before Winter: storytelling and family time, reconnecting with one you can truly understand their stories. “The existing another Indigenous star stories were not just stories of “higher Spring: breakup of the ice, seasonal flooding, and danger beings” and their often-amorous encounters, but were seen Summer: trapping and more leisure time as part of an all-encompassing perspective of life and spirituality. Everything; the plants, animals, water, sky, and air Significantly, the constellations of the Ojibwe sky are filled were interwoven together in a complex web of life, with stories that speak to and around the key themes that understanding, and respect. The stars were a key part of that gain dominance during a particular season’s night sky. For understanding narrative. example, in the Fall sky there is the large constellation of a Moose which becomes the focus of the night sky at that time Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe, is a of the year. Similarly, the Fall was also the time of the Moose language of action and doing. That very language speaks of hunt, in which many a person was involved in either the the science that’s out there in space, how something hunting or the harvesting of the Moose. functions and its state of being. These ideas are all necessary to provide the context of Indigenous astronomy. Source: https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/ indigenous-Astronomy/ Page 6 of 12 Stories in the stars / To the Anishinaabe, stars are animate because they move Pride in our hearts - Parks Blog 2020-08-13 and have a spirit. Spirituality plays a big part in the universe because of both movement and energy. The Anishinaabek From editor: “Our” constellation Pegasus, the Flying Horse creator got his/her idea of creating the clans from the stars is seen as a Moose in Ojibwe sky lore, -an example of a so everything starts with the stars. Learning to understand remarkable convergence of depictions. More recently, the the stars is extremely important in aiding to predict both the Moose with wings legend has caught hold and not only in weather and seasonal migration and other activities Canada, eh, so we have a Pegasus-Flying Moose analog! S G N Sky Sights Sep/Oct 2020 pg 14

Mars, Uranus and Neptune Oppositions September 2020 Planets farther from the Sun than Earth (exterior Date GMT Event (subtract 4 hours from GMT for local EDT) planets) reach opposition every year, so it is no 02 05:22 FM rises locally at 9:39 pm EDT surprise that the other two gas giants Uranus and 06 04:42 Mars 0.0°S of Moon: Occ’n visible in S.Atlantic, Africa. Neptune will do so along with Saturn and Jupiter in 2020. This dates are Sep 11 for Neptune and Oct 31 0.5° apart at 11 pm locally Sep 5 for Uranus. Both are so far away from us that the fact 06 06:31 Moon at Apogee: 405 606 km they are brighter and larger is barely noticeable. 09 18:12 Aldebaran 4.2°S of Moon Uranus goes from 5.88 to 5.66 and increases in size 10 09:26 LQ Moon rises locally at 11:29 pm EDT Sep 9 from 3.4 to 3.8 arc-seconds across. Neptune, being 11 19:00 Neptune at Opposition (magn.= 7.8, disk = 2.4” across) farther away has a smaller range and goes from 13 00:10 Venus 2.5°S of Beehive magnitude 7.96 and 2.2” across to 7.81 and 2.4”. 13 04:50 Pollux 4.3°N of Moon On the other hand, Mars will undergo a whopping 14 03:19 Beehive 1.8°S of Moon change at opposition time compared to earlier and 14 04:43 Venus 4.5°S of Moon will become THE planet to watch this fall. Six months 15 15:51 Regulus 4.3°S of Moon ago, Mars was a tiny 3.5” across (Uranus-sized!) and 17 11:00 NM rises locally at 7:01 pm EDT only magnitude 1.8. In six months, Mars will increase to 22.6” across and shine at a spectacular -2.62 18 13:44 Moon at Perigee: 359 081 km outshining even Jupiter by a third of a magnitude! On 19 03:00 Mercury at Aphelion top of that and the main reason Mars is favoured this 22 06:06 Mercury 0.3°N of Spica (Spica-Mercury 1° apart 7 pm) year, is that it will be 50° above the southern horizon 22 10:27 Antares 6.0°S of Moon well above the turbulent air near the ground. 22 13:31 Autumnal Equinox (8:31 am EDT) Is it any surprise then, to readers that this issue of 24 01:55 FQ Moon rises locally at 2:43 pm EDT Sep 23 SGN has 4 pages devoted to Mars and we haven’t 25 06:46 Jupiter 1.6°N of Moon even mentioned the Mars probe Perseverance which 25 20:46 Saturn 2.3°N of Moon is on its way to the Red Planet right now. Landing is not due to Feb 2021 so there is still time to do an October 2020 article or two on that mission. Stay tuned. Date GMT Event BAS “Zooms” Sep 2 and Oct 7 01 16:00 Mercury at Greatest Elongation East: 25.8°E 01 21:05 FM rises locally at 7:26 pm EDT BAS will continue Zoom meetings for the Sep 2 02 17:09 Venus 0.1°S of Regulus (26’ sep’n at 3 am Oct 3) and Oct 7 regular club sessions. A recent survey 03 03:21 Mars 0.7°N of Moon: Occn. (1° apart 10:30 pm locally) indicated little interest in physical meetings at this time. Lorraine will alert you as usual by 03 17:22 Moon at Apogee: 406 321 km email shortly ahead of time with a link and 07 01:02 Aldebaran 4.5°S of Moon password to use to join the meeting. It helps to 10 00:39 LQ Moon rises locally at 11:44 pm EDT Oct 9 download Zoom from this site https://zoom.us 10 13:18 Pollux 4.1°N of Moon 11 12:27 Beehive 2.1°S of Moon BAS Viewing Events 13 01:59 Regulus 4.5°S of Moon in September/October 13 23:00 Mars at Opposition (magn.= -2.6, disk = 22.6” across) Viewing events at the Fox Observatory for 13 23:57 Venus 4.3°S of Moon September and October continue to be 16 19:31 NM rises locally at 7:10 pm EDT affected by Covid-19 restrictions. None of the 16 23:46 Moon at Perigee: 356 913 km BAS equipment is being used at this time, so it 19 19:12 Antares 5.7°S of Moon is a bring-your-own-scope situation. Note also 21 05:00 Orionid Meteors, 20/h, peak 1 am EDT, Moon 26% that there are no washrooms available on site and any in Wiarton or Hepworth are closed by 22 17:10 Jupiter 2.0°N of Moon 10 pm. Dark of the Moon viewing nights are 23 03:49 Saturn 2.6°N of Moon set for Sep 19 and Oct 17. 23 13:23 FQ Moon rises locally at 3:19 pm EDT 25 18:00 Mercury at Inferior Conjunction (not vis.) Reminders of these viewing nights will come 29 16:13 Mars 3.0°N of Moon be email. Maximum number of participants is 10, masks are recommended, please bring 30 18:46 Moon at Apogee: 406 393 km hand sanitizer (and mosquito repellant!). 30 21:00 Venus at Perihelion Contact John H. by email if you are interested 31 14:49 FM rises locally at 6:34 pm EDT in attending. 31 16:00 Uranus at Opposition (magn.= 5.7, disk = 3.75” across) Sky Sights Sep/Oct 2020 pg 15 MERCURY is in the evening sky in September Planets but so low on the horizon to be impossible to see. It passes between us and Sun Oct 22. This fall is not good Mercury-watching. VENUS, continues as Morning Star in September and October and passes close to the Moon again on Sep 14 as well as the Beehive Cluster. It makes a very close Beehive approach to Regulus on Oct 2 in the wee hours of morning. MARS, M44 (-1.8 to -2.62 on Oct 13) earlier and earlier as opposition approaches on Oct 13. Mars at opposition will be more than half-way to the zenith in elevation and should not be missed! JUPITER, (-2.2 by end of October) and SATURN, (0.6) are past the meridian at sunset and setting well before midnight by month end. Both are still good viewing! URANUS, (5.7) in Pisces and NEPTUNE, (7.8) in Aquarius • Venus straddle Mars in dark evening skies throughout the fall. Dwarf planet, Ceres (8.6) stays in Aquarius east of Saturn and west of Mars throughout autumn. Asteroid, Vesta (7.9) passes through the Beehive Cluster Aug 28. Don’t miss it! PLUTO (mag. 14.3) stays close to Jupiter in Sep/Oct skies. Finder charts for Pluto in 2020 are on the BAS website. Venus and the Beehive Cluster are near a thin last crescent The table below gives the sunrise/sunset times and the Sun’s altitude Moon in the morning sky Sep 14. Venus is travelling for dates in September and October. The moon phase dates and eastwards (down and to the left) and is under 2.5° from M44 moonrise times for Owen Sound are in the Astronomy Events listing from Sep 12 to 14. This scene is for Sep 14 at 5 am. The on pg. 14. Check https://www.timeanddate.com for precise Moon Moon and planets pass through Cancer regularly and M44 and Sun rise and set times for your location. being only a degree from the ecliptic is often visited by solar Sunrise/set times: Owen Sound 44°35‘N 80°55’W system objects. You may recall Venus visited the Pleiades just Times in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) last April. M45, too, is close to the ecliptic -only 4° away. Vernal Equinox is due at 9:30 am EDT Sep 22 Date Rise Noon altitude Set Sep 10 8:57 am 50.0° 7:42 pm Sep 20 7:09 am 46.2° 7:23 pm Sep 30 7:21 am 42.3° 7:05 pm Oct 10 7:33 am 38.4° 6:47 pm Oct 20 7:46 am 34.8° 6:30 pm Oct 30 7:59 am 31.4° 6:14 pm Data from www.timeanddate.com Orionid Meteors appear in the evening of Oct 20/21 and peak at 1 am Oct 21. Under best conditions, 20 per hour are expected, and although the Moon sets by 9:30 pm, the radiant in Orion does not rise for an other hour, thus numbers will be reduced. Orionids are the 2nd fastest meteors at 67 km/s, swifter than Perseids at 60 km/s but not Leonids at 71 km/s.

Five Planets appear over 110° of ecliptic in mid-October. The four gas giants and three rocky planets, Mars, Pluto and Ceres are all on the same side of the 11.17 AU to Earth solar system. All but 1.68 Billion km P l u t o c a n b e s p o t t e d w i t h 7.51 AU to Earth binoculars and you 1.13 Billion km can catch Venus in the morning sky as well. Sadly Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen at this time. S G N The Miscellaneous Page Sep/Oct 2020 pg 16 BAS Member Loaner Scopes SGN BAS telescopes temporarily not available. Classified BAS equipment is currently not being made available for loan. BAS exec Ads Section continues to assess the situation with respect to Covid-19 and email notice See also For Sale page will be given if the situation changes. www.johns-astronomy.com Thanks for your understanding at this unusual time.

Contact [email protected] for any of these items. FOR SALE: NEW PRICE! 12.5 inch f/6 Dobsonian See the complete list on Homebuilt by experienced telescope maker in 1980. See Sep 2014 SGN pg 9 for build details. Truss tube design with full thickness www.johns-astronomy.com For Sale page. Coulter mirror -one of their best, recently re-aluminized. Focuser and secondary mirror/spider is a Novak unit. Alt-azimuth mount (3/4-inch Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0 contains 26 ply) is a nice wood grain finish with coating of Varathane. This is a charts covering the whole sky and large telescope and probably would be happy in a relatively showing 81,312 single, multiple, and permanent location, but is portable if you have lots of trunk space. variable stars of magnitude 8.5 and Loading into and out of a car trunk is easier with two people. Can be up with 2,700 deep-sky objects. seen at the Fox Observatory. Asking $759 but willing to negotiate. Asking $60 Contact John H. at 519-371-0670 or [email protected].

Two-inch mirror diagonal plus adapter for C-8’ or Meade SCTs $80

Logitech QuickCam Express USB Rack&Pinion Focuser 1-½” video cam. suitable for dobsonian Model V-UB2 reflector. Long focus range. (video res Asking $30. 640x480, asking $10. Meade full aperture glass Tube rings. Two sizes avail. Meade 2x-3x variable solar filter (9.25” ID) - One to fit 5” and one for 6 Barlow (1.25”) asking $20 orange/yellow image inch tubes. Clamshell-type (equivalent to Thousand that open up and clamp Oaks Type 2 Glass filter) down with knurled knobs. asking $40 Asking $20 either set. Meade illum. reticle (double cross-hair) 1.5 V req’d $25 Above: Lumicon off-axis guider body -nylon screw fittings $25

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