alactic Observer GJohn J. McCarthy Observatory Volume 8, No. 10 October 2015 Blood Moon An image of the Total Lunar eclipse of September 27 2015 , captured from the McCarthy Observatory and enhanced by our JJMO imaging team. For more information, see inside, page 17 The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observvvererer New Milford High School Editorial Committee 388 Danbury Road Managing Editor New Milford, CT 06776 Bill Cloutier Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117 Production & Design Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595 www.mccarthyobservatory.org Allan Ostergren Website Development JJMO Staff Marc Polansky It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatory Technical Support has established itself as a significant educational and Bob Lambert recreational resource within the western Connecticut Dr. Parker Moreland community. Steve Allison Tom Heydenburg Steve Barone Jim Johnstone Colin Campbell Carly KleinStern Dennis Cartolano Bob Lambert Route Mike Chiarella Roger Moore Jeff Chodak Parker Moreland, PhD Bill Cloutier Allan Ostergren Doug Delisle Marc Polansky Cecilia Detrich Joe Privitera Dirk Feather Monty Robson Randy Fender Don Ross Randy Finden Gene Schilling John Gebauer Katie Shusdock Elaine Green Paul Woodell Tina Hartzell Amy Ziffer In This Issue OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT .................................... 4 COVER PHOTO AND OTHER CREDITS ................................. 15 APOLLO 11 AND 16 ......................................................... 5 SECOND SATURDAY STARS ............................................... 16 THE SECRET TO A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE OCTOBER GRAPHIC CALENDAR ....................................... 17 MAY BE IN THE STARS ..................................................... 6 MOVING ON DOWN ......................................................... 7 DIONE ........................................................................... 7 PLUTO .......................................................................... 8 RISING SEAS .................................................................. 8 SALTY BRINE FLOWS ON MARS ........................................ 9 HALLOWEEN RETROSPECTIVE ......................................... 10 OCTOBER NIGHTS .......................................................... 11 SUNRISE AND SUNSET ...................................................... 11 ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ......................... 11 REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ............................................ 14 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES .......... 14 SOLAR ACTIVITY ........................................................... 14 2 • Oct 2015 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org October Astronomy Calendar and Space Exploration Almanac http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Oct 2015 • 3 “Out the Window NASA on Your Left” NASA T’S BEEN OVER 40 years since we left the last footprint Ion the dusty lunar surface. Sadly, as a nation founded on explo- ration and the conquest of new fron- tiers, we appear to have lost our will to lead as a space-faring nation. But, what if the average citizen had the means to visit our only natural satel- lite; what would they see out the win- Apollo 11 view taken from The Descartes region. Apollo 16 dow of their spacecraft as they en- the Lunar Module. landing site tered orbit around the Moon? This The Apollo 11 landing site was mineral fragments and glassy melt selected for the first lunar landing from the excavation of the underly- based upon criteria that included: no ing bedrock by direct meteor/mete- large craters and boulders to maneu- oroid impacts or crater ejecta from ver around, no mountains, cliffs or nearby impacts). valleys that might interfere with the Volcanic material (besides mare lunar module’s landing radar, a rela- basalts) was eventually collected and tively flat terrain, and a level ap- returned for study by the Apollo 17 proach and landing site. mission. The crew set down their Apollo 16 was the first mission lunar module in a deep valley on the to the lunar highlands (the previous eastern rim of the Serenitatis basin. four missions targeted various sites Exploration of the rim of the impact on the lunar maria). Among the ob- crater Shorty by geologist-astronaut jectives of the mission was the re- Harrison Schmitt uncovered a de- Mare or lunar "seas" are actually expansive low-lying plains turn of samples from the Descartes posit of volcanic glass. The orange formed by ancient lava flows and Cayley formations. Both forma- and black glass predated the crater tions were thought to be volcanic in and most likely formed deep below column may provide some thoughts origin. Instead, samples returned by the surface more than 3.6 billion to ponder when planning your visit Apollo 16 found the material to be years ago before erupting from a vol- (if only in your imagination). from impacts (for example, rock, canic vent in a lava fountain. The view this month extends from the southern shore of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) and the landing site of Apollo 11 to the cratered highlands and the land- ing site of Apollo 16. The southeast- ern (lower left) side of the image is dominated by three large craters (from north to south and youngest to oldest), Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina. The craters are situated just to the south of Sinus Asperitatis (the Bay of Roughness) which con- nects Mare Tranquillitatis with Mare Nectaris (Sea of Nectar). The high sun angle illuminates the crater’s inte- rior, showing a well preserved central Apollo 17 astronauts Schmitt and Cernan approaching crater peak in Theophilus, but little detail in Shorty during the Apollo 17 mission. Schmitt, a geologist, the battered and lava flooded Catharina. found strange orange soil during the excursion. Source: NASA 4 • Oct 2015 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Apollo 11 and 16 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Oct 2015 • 5 The Secret to a Long generative diseases such as tor drug has the potential to and Healthy Life May Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. double the potential lifespan of be in the Stars Mapping the protein’s structure is many DMD patients. Passing overhead approxi- key to designing structure-based The ISS resupply mission mately 16 times each 24-hour day, drugs that can activate or inhibit a launched in January 2015 included the crew of the International Space protein’s function. an innocuous four-inch cube Station (ISS) is diligently conduct- In the laboratory, proteins are containing an experiment labeled ing research, monitoring experi- crystallized to produce a well-or- SABOL, or “Self-Assembly in Bi- ments, taking observations, dered crystal that produces a dif- ology and the Origin of Life: A performing station repairs and fraction pattern when hit with x- Study into Alzheimer’s.” keeping up with general house- rays. X-ray crystallography visual- keeping tasks as automatic space- izes a protein’s internal structure craft carrying cargo and crew peri- at the atomic level. However, the odically arrive and depart. Within information that can be obtained on the choreographed chaos, de- the protein’s crystalline structure scribed as “routine operations,” the is greatly dependent upon the crew conducts and/or monitors a crystal’s degree of perfection. number of medical research activi- Protein crystals grown on ties that have the potential of Earth are irregular in shape and greatly improving the quality of life weight and generally small in on Earth for individuals with de- size, being affected by fluid con- JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, bilitating diseases. vection and sedimentation (caus- and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Proteins, long polymers made ing heavier structures to sink). Volkov work on the JAXA PCG inves- tigation. Source: NASA. of amino acids in the human body, Conversely, protein crystals grown are critical for proper cell function. in microgravity are uniform in size Brains of Alzheimer’s patients The proteins are folded into a and weight. They are also of a have shown an accumulation of complex three-dimensional geom- higher quality and larger than can Amyloid fibers that over time be- etry based upon the properties of be produced on Earth. The most come entangled. It is not clear at the amino acids. Occasionally, pro- powerful medical research tool on this time whether the fibers are the teins misfold. If propagated, the the ISS may be its microgravity. cause of the disease or only a misfolded proteins can become Since 2003, the Japan Aero- symptom. However, the study of toxic and have been linked to de- space Exploration Agency, or the fibers on Earth is hindered by JAXA, has been conducting gravity as lab-grown fibers tend to protein crystallization experi- settle before they can become fully ments, most recently with the entangled. In weightlessness, the support of the Russian Federal growth process is expected to con- Space Agency. Researchers have tinue with the fibers remaining sus- been successful in crystallizing pended. Analysis of the resulting proteins (for example, hemato- microgravity-grown fiber tangles poietic prostaglandin D synthase or bundles is expected to aid in our or H-PGDS) that are associated understanding of their internal with diseases such as Duchenne structure and in identifying poten- Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), the tial means of controlling the for- most common form of muscular mative processes. dystrophy. Space based research has the H-PGDS has been crystallized potential to discover new and in- Protein Crystallization Research several times in space. Analysis novative drug therapies and accel- Facility,