The Ephemeris April 2014 Volume 25 Number 04 - The Official Publication of the San Jose Astronomical Association Exploratory Trip to Henry Houge Park April Events Coe State Park – Hunting Hollow Lot Friday, April 04 By Ed Wong Public Star party: 8:30-10:30pm Bear Creek Stables, Los Gatos This is my report of an exploratory trip (in lieu of Houge Park this session) to Henry Coe – Hunting Hollow Lot. I have been interested in exploring this access. The use fee is $6 per person Sunday, April 06 parking lot as a potential site that club and is deposited right on site. The site is Solar observing: 2-4PM members could visit for dark sky viewing an easy drive, within 1 hour from Houge Fix-It Day: 2-4PM and imaging. I came across this site last Park and is 10 minutes from Mendoza Saturday, April 12 January when I was out scouting for Ranch. There were very few cars on the Board of Directors Meeting: 6-7:30pm new dark sky sites and wanted to bring road I think mostly because the access General Meeting Social Time: 7:30-8pm some members back with me for an road dead ends shortly after the site Guest Speaker; Derek Breit: 8pm Exploratory Trip. On Fri. March 21st Lee entrance. The site is pretty dark, SQM Topic: Occultations; Asteroidal and Lunar Hoglan, Gary Chock and I met at the meter reading of 21.1 around 9:30pm. site to explore and do some observing. There is also camping if you choose to Friday, April 18 First impression of the lot, it is big; 265 stay overnight. Beginner Astronomy Class: 7:45-8:45pm feet by 171 feet. For comparison, RCDO The Bad – The is no lock or gate at the In-Town Star party (Houge): 8:45-10:45pm is 146 feet by 70 feet. entrance so it’s 7/24 hour access which We setup our gear as the sun was going means we have no control over other down. Lee brought the “son of the cars driving in while we are viewing. SJAA events are subject to cancellation due to weather. Please visit website for up-to-date info. beast” scope, a 16 inch Dob, Gary had Horizons not that low; from the center his Astro72 refractor and 20×80 Celes- of the lot, the south is about 30 de- tron Binoculars and I had my Oberwerk grees, east and west about 20 degrees SJAA Contacts 28×110 Binoculars. As sun went down, and north is about 15 degrees. The ele- President: Rob Jaworski we started to look at the objects in the vation is about 600 feet so there could Vice President: Lee Hoglan west; the Pleiades, Orion Nebula, and be fog on some nights. Double Cluster. The Orion Nebula in the The Ugly – Possible that night hikers Treasurer: Michael Packer 16” dob was very bright and impressive could pull into the lot, happened to us. Secretary: Teruo Utsumi but, so was the sky glow behind it due They had some lights on for about Director: Greg Claytor to the light dome in the west. I placed 15mins as they were gathering their Director: Dave Ittner my DGM Optics NPB filter in the binocu- stuff to hike into the park. For this rea- lars and the view was quite good, not as son, the site seems more suited to view- Director: Ed Wong bright as the Dob but, very nice. With ing than imaging. Director: Rich Neuschaefer the NPB filters in the binoculars, the My overall impressions of the site: Director: pending skyglow was diminished while the con- I think this is a good site for viewing. It trast and detail on the nebula really is the darkest of the sites that club Beginner Class: pending popped out. members currently go to (RCDO, Men- Fix-it Program: Ed Wong Next we went on a galaxy hunt. In both doza Ranch) It’s good to know that this Imaging SIG: Harsh Kaushikkar the Dob and the 28×110 binos we had site is available for use on a 7/24 basis. Library: Sukhada Palav pretty good views of the Leo Triplet, While it’s not perfect, neither are the M95, M96, M105, the Markarian Chain, other sites that we have access to. I Loaner Program: Dave Ittner M51, M101, M106, M108, M109, Owl think overall the good qualities do out- Ephemeris Newsletter - Nebula, M81, M82, M64. Gary was hav- weigh the bad on this site. Editor Sandy Mohan ing some nice views of the bigger star The GPS location of the site is: Production Tom Piller clusters like the Hyades, Beehive and 37°04’33.6″N 121°27’59.4″W Mel 111. Publicity: Rob Jaworski We ended up wrapping up about Questions: Lee Hoglan 10:30pm and all agreed it was one of INSIDE THIS ISSUE Quick STARt Dave Ittner the best nights of observing we have Auction Photos………...……2 Solar: Michael Packer had in a long time. Stories & Announcements.3 As far as the site qualities go: School Events: Jim Van Nuland Articles…..……..…………..4-5 The Good – This site is big, all of the Kid Spot………...……………..6 Speakers: Teruo Utsumi regular SJAA members who come out to view on a regular basis could fit in that Club Updates………………...7 E-mails: http://www.sjaa.net/contact-us/ lot with room to spare. There is no lock Membership form…………..8 or gate at the entrance so it’s 7/24 hour
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 1 April 2014 SJAA AUCTION - March 16, 2014
GOING ONCE
SOLD!!!
GOING TWICE
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 2 April 2014 Adventures of a Stargazer dark sky the rest of the night. There're some teeth in this next story. From Lee Hoglan My dad is getting up there in age, and he's never been
Because of the nature of what we do, it's no surprise ama- much of a stargazer, but he likes the ride. So I take him to teur astronomers have some unexpected adventures the observatory when I can. On a recent occasion there (MISADVENTURES) while heading out to stargaze, set up a were about a dozen observers around the observatory en- telescope or build an observatory. Some experiences are joying a picnic. My father decided to remove his false teeth funny and some not. and stash them in a paper cup. That was a very bad idea. When I was in college in the 70's I had a 16" Sonotube Of course the cup got tossed out and I spent the entire next Newtonian on a trailer. Boy, did I get some strange looks morning sifting through old wrappers and paper plates and driving down the highway. Very few knew what it was. Most coffee grounds looking for my dad's fake chompers. I did thought it was some kind of artillery launcher, some find them in a black garbage bag in the back of my friend's pickup truck. Maybe he should get implants. thought I was part of a traveling circus and the rest won- dered Why I was hauling around a hot water heater. So much for the misadventures in astronomy. I think I'll take up Chess. Then there was the time outside of Lake Almanor when I was out on a dark country road late at night. I had a big SJAA Yosemite Star Party pair of binoculars in the car. I was driving kind of slowly looking for a side road to pull off and do some stargazing. I From Jim Van Nuland didn't think too much of it when a car with two guys pulled The annual SJAA Yosemite star party will be held on July 25 and up behind. I drove on looking for a clearing. Well, I guess 26, at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. Up to 30 people the guys thought anybody driving that slowly was either will be given free admission and camping, in exchange for two drunk or up to no good because it wasn't long before red public events on Friday and Saturday evenings. In what time is and blue lights started flashing behind me. After pulling left, we can be tourists. We are expected to have at least one over and explaining my intention, and giving the local sher- scope per two people, and to attend both star parties, not just iffs an astronomy lesson, I proceeded to a nice open field Friday or Saturday. For these reasons, this is probably not suita- by a canal where my big binoculars made the Andromeda ble for a family camping trip. The camping is rough by modern galaxy look like a sparkling Frisbee. standards: no dining room, no showers, no hot water. Read about
it on the SJAA Yosemite page
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 3 April 2014 Big-Bang Theory: New Evidence
The exact nature of the Some 13.8 billion years ago, waves depends on the pre- just before the Big Bang, the cise moment inflation oc- enormous, galaxy-filled uni- curred. "This detection is not verse we know today was con- only indicating that inflation tained inside a tiny, dense, took place,” Loeb says, “but extremely hot point. Suddenly, also telling us when it took it began rapidly expanding place": 10-34 (a decimal faster than the speed of point followed by 33 zeroes light in a cataclysmic explo- and then a one) seconds sion. The universe grew from a after the start of the Big subatomic size to that of a golf Bang. ball in an incomprehensibly The research group, which short fraction of a second. also included Clement This earliest instant of expan- Pryke of the University of sion, known as cosmic infla- Minnesota, Jamie Bock of tion, explains why the universe Caltech and Chao-Lin is relatively uniform (galaxies Kuo of Stanford, didn't find that formed as the universe gravitational waves them- cooled, for instance, appear to selves, but rather indirect be scattered evenly as far as evidence of them, in the form the telescope can see) and also (Image via NASA) of a special pattern of polari- explains the seeds of density that gave rise to the universe’s struc- zation caused by the waves in ture. the cosmic microwave background. “Our team hunted for a special It’s a nice story, but for decades after physicists proposed it, our evi- type of polarization called B-modes, which represents a twisting or dence for it has been limited. Our chief means of studying the Big curl pattern in the polarized orientations of the ancient light,” Bock Bang—the faint radiation left over from the explosion called said in a press statement. the cosmic microwave background (CMB)—dates to about 380,000 The researchers collected this data using the BICEP2 tele- years afterward, instead of the moment itself. scope, stationed in Antarctica, where cold, dry air limits interference A significant new piece of evidence emerged March 17 2014, when a from the Earth’s atmosphere on the faint cosmic microwave back- group of scientists led by astronomer John Kovac of the Harvard- ground signal. BICEP2 is one of a suite of identical telescopes looking Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that they've found for this signature, called the Keck Array. There’s also the adjacent indirect evidence of gravitational waves—minute distortions in the South Pole Telescope, which reported data that indicated the pres- universe's gravitational field—that were unleashed during inflation, a ence of B-mode polarization in the CMB last summer. tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. If the finding is correct, That instrument, however, wasn't designed to detect polarization at the waves serve as a confirmation of inflation. the scale produced by gravitational waves, so it likely resulted instead "Inflation is the 'bang' of the Big Bang," says theoretical physicist from the interference of distant galaxies that the CMB passed through Alan Guth, who proposed the theory of cosmic inflation in 1979. "It's before reaching Earth. the mechanism that caused the universe to enter this period of gigan- The BICEP-2 Telescope (the white dish at right), along with the South tic expansion." Pole Telescope (at left). Several physicists who were not involved in the research have had It's still not entirely clear that the BICEP2 team has detected B-mode the chance to assess the raw data, and they agree with the analysis. polarization that is in fact definitive proof of gravitational waves. Fur- "It's very, very likely that this is real," says Avi Loeb, a theoretical ther confirmation will need to come from data collected by the Euro- physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, noting that the re- pean Space Agency's Planck Satellite (which is observing the cosmic searchers spent three years analyzing microwave background at a much the data to eliminate any chance of an wider angle), due to be released at error. the end of the summer. Robert W. Wilson, who shared the If true, though, the find would go a 1978 Nobel Prize in physics for his long way toward ratifying the theory discovery of the cosmic microwave of inflation. "The presence of this background, agrees, and believes that polarization, induced by the gravity if confirmed, the work is almost cer- waves, is the last big thing predicted tain to garner a Nobel Prize. Loeb says by inflation," Wilson says. "It gives the finding would be one of the most you ever-more confidence that this important physics discoveries of the really is the correct scenario." past 15 years—bigger It would also reflect something truly than the discovery of the Higgs Bos- astounding: the oldest evidence we on. have of absolutely anything. During inflation, shown at far left, the "You can't use cosmic microwave universe expanded by many orders of background to figure out what hap- (Image via BICEP-2 Project) magnitude in size in a fraction of a pened in the early, early universe," second. Loeb says. For the first 380,000 years, the electromagnetic waves The presence of detectable gravitational waves—often referred to as that make up the CMB couldn't pass freely through space. "If we can "ripples in the fabric of spacetime"—is predicted by the theory of look at gravitational waves, we can go all the way back to almost the inflation. Pre-existing fluctuations in the strength of gravity on very beginning.” a microscopic scale, Guth says, would have been stretched out by inflation, producing macroscopic waves. Credit: Smithsonian
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 4 April 2014 Hubble Witnesses Asteroid's It is unlikely the asteroid is disintegrating because of a collision with another asteroid, which would have been instantaneous and Mysterious Disintegration violent by comparison to what has been observed. Debris from such a high-velocity smashup would also be expected to travel NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recorded the never-before- much faster than observed. Nor is the asteroid coming unglued seen break-up of an asteroid into as many as 10 smaller pieces. due to the pressure of interior ices warming and vaporizing. Fragile comets, comprised of ice and dust, have been seen falling This leaves a scenario in which the asteroid is disintegrating due apart as they approach the sun, but nothing like this has ever to a subtle effect of sunlight, which causes the rotation rate of the before been observed in the asteroid belt. asteroid to gradually increase. Eventually, its component pieces -- "This is a rock, and seeing it fall apart before our eyes is pretty like grapes on a stem -- succumb to centrifugal force and gently amazing," said David Jewitt of the University of California at Los pull apart. The possibility of disruption in this manner has been Angeles, who led the discussed by scien- astronomical foren- tists for several sics investigation. years, but never reli- The crumbling aster- ably observed. oid, designated For this scenario to P/2013 R3, was first occur, P/2013 R3 noticed as an unusu- must have a weak, al, fuzzy-looking ob- fractured interior -- ject by the Catalina probably as the re- and Pan STARRS sky sult of numerous non surveys on Sept. 15, -destructive collisions 2013. A follow-up with other asteroids. observation on Octo- Most small asteroids ber 1 with the W. M. are thought to have Keck Observatory on been severely dam- the summit of Mauna aged in this way. Kea, a dormant vol- P/2013 R3 is likely cano on the island of the byproduct of just Hawaii, revealed such a collision three bodies moving sometime in the last together in an enve- billion years. lope of dust nearly With the previous the diameter of discovery of an active Earth. This series of Hubble Space Telescope images reveals the breakup of an asteroid asteroid spouting six "The Keck Observatory showed over a period of several months starting in late 2013. The largest fragments are up tails, named P/2013 P5, astrono- us this thing was worth looking to 180 meters (200 yards) in radius. mers are finding more evidence at with Hubble," Jewitt said. "With its superior resolution, space the pressure of sunlight may be telescope observations soon showed there were really 10 embed- the primary force causing the disintegration of small asteroids -- ded objects, each with comet-like dust tails. The four largest less than a mile across-- in our solar system. rocky fragments are up to 400 yards in diameter, about four The asteroid's remnant debris, weighing about 200,000 tons, will times the length of a football field." in the future provide a rich source of meteoroids. Most will even- Hubble data showed the fragments drifting away from each other tually plunge into the sun, but a small fraction of the debris may one day blaze across our skies as meteors. at a leisurely one mph. The asteroid began coming apart early last year, but new pieces continue to reveal themselves, as Credit: Tony Phillips, NASA proved in the most recent images.
This artist’s impres- sion shows the yel- low hypergiant star HR5171. This is a very rare type of star with only a dozen known in our galaxy.
Largest yellow star ever seen revealed in new light
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 5 April 2014 KID SPOT
Kid Spot Jokes:
What does an astronaut do when he gets angry? He blasts off.
What do you call a loony spaceman? An astronut!
Kid Spot Quiz:
1. What is the name of the first satellite sent into space?
2. What is the name of NASA’s most famous space telescope?
Kid Spot Night Sky Challenge: March 2014
See if you can spot the following objects in the sky:
Jupiter – All month Mars – Will be closest to Earth and will be very bright! Total lunar eclipse – April 15 Spica – in the constellaƟon Virgo
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance Photo Credit: Wikipedia Constellations
Algieba, Gamma Leonis, is a binary Leo—The Lion star with a third optical component; the primary and secondary are divisible Leo /ˈliːoʊ/ is one of the constellations of in small telescopes and the tertiary is the zodiac, lying between Cancer to the visible in binoculars. west and Virgo to the east. Its name is Latin for lion, and to the ancient Leo contains many bright galaxies; Greeks represented the Nemean Li- Messier 65, Messier 66, Messier 95, on killed by the mythical Greek he- Messier 96, Messier 105, and NGC ro Heracles (known to the ancient Ro- 3628 are the most famous, the first mans as Hercules) as one of his twelve two being part of the Leo Triplet. labors. The Leo Ring, a cloud of hydrogen and Its symbol is (♌). Leo is one of the 48 helium gas, is found in orbit of two constellations described by the 2nd centu- galaxies found within this constellation. ry astronomer Ptolemy and Leo remains Leo was one of the earliest recognized one of the 88 modern constellations to- constellations, with archaeological day, and one of the most easily recogniza- evidence that the Mesopotamians had ble due to its many bright stars and a a similar constellation as early as 4000 distinctive shape that is reminiscent of the BCE. The Persians called Leo crouching lion it depicts. Ser or Shir; the Turks, Artan; the The lion's mane and shoulders also form Syrians, Aryo; the Jews, Arye; the an asterism known as "the Sickle", which Indians, Simha, all meaning "lion". to modern observers may resemble a backwards "question mark." Some mythologists believe that in Su-
meria, Leo represented the monster Leo contains many bright stars, many of which were individually identi- Khumbaba, who was killed by Gilgamesh. fied by the ancients. There are four stars of first or second magnitude, In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was called UR.GU.LA, the with render this constellation especially prominent: "Great Lion"; the bright star Regulus was known as "the star that stands Regulus, designated Alpha Leonis, is a blue-white main-sequence star of at the Lion's breast." Regulus also had magnitude 1.34, 77.5 light-years from Earth. It is a double star divisible in distinctly regal associations, as it was Kid Spot Quiz Answers: binoculars, with a secondary of magnitude 7.7. Its traditional name known as the King Star. (Regulus) means "the little king".
Beta Leonis, called Denebola, is at the opposite end of the constella- 1) Sputnik Source: Wikipedia tion to Regulus. It is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.23, 36 light-years 2) Hubble from Earth. The name Denebola means "the lion's tail".
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 6 April 2014 Club Updates
SJAA Library will take place June 25-29, 2014. See good amounts, this annual event again Michael Packer or the SJAA BLOG for proved its worth in the value that it brings From Sukhada Palav to the amateur astronomy community more details. throughout the bay area, and throughout This last month SJAA library underwent There is currently one (1) board seat Northern California. some infrastructural makeover and is al- open that needs to be filled. See Lee most ready for you! Please visit the library Hoglan or any board member if you There will be more write ups on the SJAA page for more details - http:// are interested. blog, but preliminary numbers show that www.sjaa.net/sjaa-library/. there were about fifty bidders, ten sellers, Please also take a look at our Wish list for well over a hundred individual lots being kids' books posted on the SJAA webpage. Announcements made available, and over $6700 worth of transactions. Including the auction sale of SJAA library will gladly accept donations The 34th annual SJAA Auc- towards any of these books. Your feedback donated telescopes and other gear, initial on our collection or specific books is also tion is over. Thank you to estimates indicate the club netted over $2600 as a result of the event. welcome! I can be reached for any ques- all who participated! tions or comments at: Volunteers are needed to help The crowd was in great spirits throughout [email protected] check in/out books at various the day. There was pizza, crock pot fire- house chili, sweet desserts, soda pop and Houge Park events. Contact club other edibles available. The event started Advanced Loaner Telescope librarian Sukhada Palav if interest- on time at noon and ended at around 4PM, Program ed. just as planned. Many people commented From Dave Ittner The next Public Star Party will be held how smoothly it ran despite all the new Friday, April 4th at Bear Creek Stables folks working the critical functions, not least The purpose of this program is for SJAA in lieu of Houge Park. to mention was Greg Claytor in his premi- members to evaluate equipment they are ere performance as auctioneer. Greg kept considering purchasing or are just curious the crowd entertained, while working to about. Check out the growing list of equip- secure the highest price for the seller, yet ment on the web page. Please note that Board Meeting Excerpts maintained good deals for the bargain certain items have restrictions or special hunters in the crowd. March 15, 2014 conditions that must be met. Thank you to all who came and were a part If you are an SJAA member and an experi- In attendance of this signature SJAA event, sellers, bid- enced observer or have been through the Rob Jaworski, Lee Hoglan, Ed Wong, Greg ders and observers all! SJAA QuickSTARt program please con- Claytor, Dave Ittner, Teruo Utsumi, Rich tact Dave Ittner to request a particular Neuschaefer, Michael Packer Dark Sky Events item. Please consider donating unused Officers equipment. Selection and Approval of 2014 Officers: Apr-May 2014
President; Rob Jaworski Fix-It Program Friday, April 04 Vice President; Lee Hoglan Public Star party: 8:30-10:30pm From Ed Wong Treasurer; Michael Packer Bear Creek Stables, Los Gatos
If you plan on bringing something to the Secretary; Teruo Utsumi April 19 FixIt session inside Building 1, though it's New Alternate Viewing Site not required, we ask that you check out Starry Nights Star Party: 9-11pm The Friday, April 4th In-Town Start Party the FixIt page on the SJAA website and fill Rancho Canada del Oro (RCDO) will be held at Bear Creek Stables. out the form so we know what to expect. Saturday, April 26 Here's where to find it all: Library Henry Coe State Park http://www.sjaa.net/fixit Sukhada Palav will generate an an- Mendoza Ranch
nouncement regarding a new book wish list for the Club library. Saturday, May 17 From the Board of Directors Starry Nights Star Party: 9-11pm Total Lunar Eclipse Party Rancho Canada del Oro (RCDO) General Notices April 14-15 SJAA is signed up for Cupertino's 6th Saturday, May 31 Rich Neuschaefer volunteered to run the Annual Earth Day Festival, Saturday, Henry Coe State Park April 5th, 2014 from 11am - 3pm lunar eclipse event which will start Mendoza Ranch SJAA is signed up for Astronomy Day Monday night and end early Tuesday and SJ MLK Public Library Saturday morning. SJAA Ephemeris newsletter of the San Jose Astro- May 10 2014 from 11am - 3pm. nomical Association, is published monthly
The annual SJAA Yosemite star party SJAA Auction 2014 Articles for publication should be submitted by the will be held on July 25 and 26, 2014, From Rob Jaworski 20th of the previous month. at Glacier Point in Yosemite National San Jose Astronomical Association Park. See the SJAA webpage for more The 34th annual SJAA Auction was a P.O. Box 28243 information. smashing success! With an energized San Jose, CA 95159-8243 The Golden State Star Party (GSSP) crowd, lots of humor and good spirits dur- http://www.sjaa.net/contact ing bidding, and lots of items being sold for
SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 7 April 2014
San Jose, CA 95159-8243 95159-8243 CA Jose, San
P.O. Box 28243 28243 Box P.O. here here
postage postage San Jose Astronomical Association Association Astronomical Jose San Place Place
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SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 8 April 2014