Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club the Sidereal Times
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SOUTHEASTERN IOWA ASTRONOMY CLUB THE SIDEREAL TIMES SEPTEMBER 2013 A M EMBER SOCIETY OF THE ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE CLUB OFFICERS : MINUTES AUGUST 16, 2013 Executive Committee President Jim Hilkin called the meeng the club sent for her mother's fu- to order at 7:07pm with the following neral. Karen said that she will be President Jim Hilkin Vice President Libby Snipes members in aendance: Judy Smith- updang the look of the newsleer Treasurer Vicki Philabaum son, Karen & Larry Johnson, Libby in the near future. Dave reported Secretary David Philabaum Snipes, Jim Wilt, Ray Reineke, Dave & that a boy scout group camping at Chief Observer David Philabaum Vicki Philabaum, John Toney, and guest Big Hollow will be coming to the Members-at-Large Claus Benninghoven observatory later tonight. The next Duane Gerling Mike Tripodi. Vicki moved to approve Blake Stumpf the minutes as published, seconded by group scheduled is Great River Board of Directors Chrisan School on September 20 th . Judy, moon passed. Vicki gave the Chair Judy Hilkin Treasurer's report. Checks were wrien Jim Hilkin reported on the following Vice Chair Ray Reineke for: Astronomical League dues, liability maintenance items: some dirt has Secretary David Philabaum insurance, the phone bill, and paint for been obtained to extend the berm Members-at-Large David Martin the parking lot and doors. The club bal- on the south side of the observatory Blake Stumpf Jim Wilt ance is $1,601.05 and the grant balance farther to the east to block head- Audit Committee is $1,630.98 for a total of $3,232.03 in lights on cars coming from Area E the checking account. Larry moved to and the beach; the Viburnum bush- Karen Johnson (2011) Dean Moberg (2012) approve the Treasurer's report, se- es on the north side of the observa- JT Stumpf (2013) conded by Jim Wilt, moon passed. tory will be removed; the new doors Judy thanked the club for the flowers for the Prugh-Carver observatory are in and Jim is working with SCC INSIDE THIS ISSUE : (continued on page 4) Space Place 2, 3 UPCOMING DATES Looking Back 3 ~ The next meeting will October 18 at 7:00 pm at Minutes (cont.) 4 be Friday, September 20, Witte Observatory at the Witte Observatory Treasurer’s Report 4 ~ Members and guests at 7 pm. nights ~ September 28 Observer’s Report 5 ~ Deadline for the Octo- and October 12 Space Place Items 6 ber newsletter is ~ Membership dues Wednesday, October 9, At The Observatory 6 were due in April. 2013 Calendar 7 ~ October meeting on Sky Maps 8-9 PAGE 2 THE SIDEREAL TIMES HOW TO HUNT FOR YOUR VERY OWN SUPERNOVA ! B Y DR. E THAN SIEGEL In our day-to-day lives, stars seem like the plodes. most fixed and unchanging of all the night sky objects. Shining relentlessly and con- stantly for billions of years, it's only the The inrushing matter approaches the cen- long-term motion of these individual nu- ter of the star, then rebounds and bounces clear furnaces and our own motion outwards, creating a shockwave that even- through the cosmos that results in the tually causes what we see as a core- most minute, barely-perceptible changes. collapse supernova, the most common type of supernova in the Universe! These occur only a few times a century in most Unless, that is, you're talking about a star galaxies, but because it's the most mas- reaching the end of its life. A star like our sive, hottest, shortest-lived stars that cre- Sun will burn through all the hydrogen in ate these core-collapse supernovae, we its core after approximately 10 billion can increase our odds of finding one by years, after which the core contracts and watching the most actively star-forming heats up, and the heavier element helium galaxies very closely. Want to maximize begins to fuse. About a quarter of all stars your chances of finding one for yourself? are massive enough that they'll reach this Here's how. “...we can increase giant stage, but the most massive ones -- our odds of finding only about 0.1% of all stars -- will contin- one by watching the ue to fuse leaner elements past carbon, Pick a galaxy in the process of a major most actively star- oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sul- merger, and get to know it. Learn where forming galaxies phur and all the way up to iron, cobalt, the foreground stars are, where the appar- very closely.” and nickel in their core. For the rare ultra- ent bright spots are, what its distinctive massive stars that make it this far, their features are. If a supernova occurs, it will cores become so massive that they're un- appear first as a barely perceptible bright stable against gravitational collapse. spot that wasn't there before, and it will When they run out of fuel, the core im- quickly brighten over a few nights. If you (continued on page 3) SN 2013ai, via its discoverer, Em- manuel Conseil, taken with the Slooh.com robotic telescope just a few days after its emergence in NGC 2207 (top); NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI) of the same interacting galaxies prior to the supernova (bottom). SEPTEMBER 2013 PAGE 3 Looking Back in the Sidereal Times 25 Years Ago - September, 1988 Dave Bachtell reports that the Fecker telescope is now ready for regular use. He joined Jim Hilkin and Jim Wilt as they worked to install the drive gears onto the mount outside the Wie Observatory. When they tested it they were very sasfied with the results. Claus Benninghoven is going to be checking on the feasibility of having the objecve glass ground in order to clear some of the vitrificaon that has clouded it. It will be very interesng to see if this is possible. On the weekend of September 23 and 24 SIAC will be hosng a public view to take advantage of the Mars Spec- tacle this month. There will be invitaons published in the newspaper and aired on the radio and TV inving eve- ryone to join us. This should give people a good chance to get to know us and find out what SIAC is all about. The lens of the Fecker telescope was polished by E & W Opcal in Minneapolis to remove some of the cloudiness in the glass. Originally the Fecker telescope was stored in the classroom and installed on the pipe mount in the yard just off of the deck. Eventually the Prugh-Carver Observatory was built to house the Fecker. About 200 people came to the Mars viewing. Fi een years later, as noted last month, when Mars had its next close opposion about 750 people came to view on one night thanks to the event being menoned numerous mes on naonal network newscasts and scores of Internet web sites. 10 Years Ago - September, 2003 First Public Mars Images Released Sep. 12, 2003 - For the past few weeks, NASA has been leng the public select targets for the mars Global Surveyor spacecra , and the first image was released today. The locaon was the summit crater of a giant volcano called Pavonis Mons - the walls and floor of the crater are covered with thick dust. It was suggested by U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Robert F. Sanders, of Jacksonville, N.C. from the hundreds of selecons submied so far. Mars Global Surveyor has taken 120,000 images of the planet's surface in high de- tail, but this is only 3% of the enre planet. (Mars Global Surveyor was developed by JPL and launched November 1996. On November 2, 2006, the spacecra failed to respond to messages and commands. A faint signal was de- tected three days later which indicated that it had gone into safe mode . Aempts to contact the spacecra and resolve the problem failed, and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.) HOW TO HUNT FOR YOUR VERY OWN SUPERNOVA (CONT . FROM PAGE 2) find what appears to be a "new star" in one of these son who's ever seen it! galaxies and it checks out, report it immediately ; you just might have discovered a new supernova! Read more about the evolution and ultimate fate of the stars in our universe: http://science.nasa.gov/ This is one of the few cutting-edge astronomical dis- astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and- coveries well-suited to amateurs; Australian Robert evolve/ . Evans holds the all-time record with 42 (and count- ing) original supernova discoveries. If you ever find one for yourself, you'll have seen an exploding star While you are out looking for supernovas, kids can whose light traveled millions of light-years across the have a blast finding constellations using the Space Universe right to you, and you'll be the very first per- Place star finder: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/starfinder/ . PAGE 4 THE SIDEREAL TIMES MINUTES (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) to spray paint them; paint is available for anyone will- would be between the studs of the building. Dave gave ing to paint the doors of the Wie Observatory and the Observer's report. The first image of comet ISON Stone-Kelly Observatory, paint is also available to has been obtained since it has reappeared from the paint the lines on the parking lot; all of the scopes in glare of the sun and it shows that the comet is two the Prugh-Carver observatory now have new covers magnitudes fainter than it was predicted to be at this along with the Ealing telescope.