Tri-Star Conference a Day Immersed in Amateur Astronomy

Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society

News About Amateur Astronomy in Southwestern Virginia

Volume 27 – Number 4 April 2010

Tri-Star Conference A Day Immersed in Amateur Astronomy

Early March means Tri-Star. This annual all- Destination Siberia! day conference is sponsored by the Cline Ob- servatory (pictured here) at Guilford Technical Imagine being selected to join an interna- Community College, and hosted by the Greens- tional team of scientists whose mission was boro (NC) Astronomy Club. It unofﬁcially kicks to extract deep core samples from beneath a off the year’s amateur astronomy events. frozen lake bed in Siberia. While not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, it deﬁnitely would be a The RVAS life-experience for the right person. Tim Mar- was well tin, an earth science teacher from Greensboro represented Day School, described his Siberian adventures by seven in his talk, “Arctic Impact.” members, several of whom contributed to this article, with Jack Gross contributing the photos.

Over one hundred people were greeted with morning refreshments of coffee, soft drinks, cookies and donuts. Everyone was encouraged to visit the wonderful amateur images of M33, M51, and the Horsehead Nebula that were in the astro-photo display room. Also included were sketches of the Leo Trio of galaxies, and the fall galaxy, NGC 253.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 1 of 18 Contined next page Over 3.5 million years ago, a meteor 5.) Its orbital plane would match the orbital slammed into far northeastern Siberia, creat- plane that its parent world has around its sun. ing the twelve mile wide impact site known as 6.) Its orbital tilt would be about zero degrees. El’gygytgyn. The resulting crater has long since Therefore, it would have no seasons. filled with water which remains frozen for much 7.) At midnight on its near side, its 9 degrees- of the year. The thick ice provides a safe plat- wide parent world would reflect vast amounts form for mounting a massive drilling rig to send of sunlight, preventing true night time darkness. a drill 500 feet to the lake floor, then another 1000 feet into the fractured rock. Core samples This would be truly a setting for science taken, hopefully, will provide clues as to the fiction yarns. Think “Avatar.” nature of the impact, how it affected local life, and the effects on the area of subsequent cli- What amateur astronomers do mate change. This analysis is ongoing. Observing is If our Earth were a moon what amateur astronomy is all Our Earth’s history has been greatly influ- about. In his talk enced by it having only one moon, and a rather “Visual Observ- large one at that. Imagine our Earth, not as a ing in a Digital planet, but as a large moon of an even larger Age,” Roger world. In “What Ivester of the if the Earth Were Cleveland County a Moon,” Dr. Neil (NC) Astronomical Comins of the Uni- Society encour- versity of Maine aged people to (photo at left) de- spend more quality time under the stars. scribed his thoughts as he outlined a Today’s gear and equipment are great, but scenario of the don’t discount yesteryear’s scopes and accesso- Earth orbiting a Neptune-sized planet. This sys- ries. In other words, even if you don’t own the tem would be the same distance that the Earth latest and greatest, go out and observe. Great is from the sun, ie., it would be located in the views can still be had with forty year old six “Goldilocks Zone” of being neither too hot nor inch reflectors equipped with Erfle eyepieces. too cold for life to flourish. Mr. Ivester emphasized that past great as- Dr. Comins showed that the Earth-sized tronomers took good observing notes, and that moon would experience strange orbital conse- today’s amateurs should also. This should be quences: done because of other reasons besides poster- 1.) Both it and its parent world would be tidally ity. If amateurs practice describing the details locked so that each body would have a hemi- of what they see, they will find that they can sphere that would continually face the opposing learn to see more. Plus, sketching what is seen world. through the eyepiece can train the observer to 2.) A total solar eclipse would occur every day see more still. at noon, and last for a couple of hours. 3.) Its far side would never have the Neptune- The results will be as if the telescope has sized parent world in the sky. at least 20% greater aperture than it really 4.) Ocean tides would be about one-third of does. Mr. Ivester’s big message is “observe and what they are on our Earth. document.”

Contined next page RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 2 of 18 The end is near? Dr. Crider described his experiences dealing with the public’s too common belief of hoaxes. “People believe crazy things,” began Dr. Tony He discussed how they get started, why they Crider of Elon University in his presentation are perpetuated, and how to debunk them. “2012: Exploitation of the Mayan Long Count.” Unfortunately, the public does not respond well Doomsday fanatics will be telling us much about to the presentation of well-documented facts. their and so-called Mayan predictions of a However, he found that a good way to combat worldwide cataclysm in 2012. these silly beliefs is to let people know about the individuals behind the fanciful stories. Once Dr. Crider, an authority on Mayan culture people learn about them, see who they are, and the Mayan calendar, explained why the and listen to them promoting their ideas, they Mayan calendar does not end on December 21, quickly realize how ridiculous their “theories” 2012 and that the Mayan’s did not predict the really are. end of the world. One ﬁnal bit of business

The day ended with the popular door prize segment. Congratulations to RVAS member Roger Yeager for win- ning not one, but two door prizes: a gift certiﬁcate from Lumicon and a Galil- eoscope.

Frank Baratta’s Astro-Quiz

Stonehenge, near Salisbury, England, gets all the glory among Neolithic astronomical monuments. In fact, Ireland has its own astronomical site to rival Stonehenge. What’s the name of this Irish site?

Answer to Last Month’s Astro-Quiz: New Moon in March is the time of the Messier Marathon. Of the 110 objects on the list, M74 and M30 are the two that most often defeat Marathoners. M74 is an 11th magnitude spiral galaxy in Pisces. It’s the Messi- er object closest to the western horizon at sunset. It quickly gets too low in the murk to log. M30, an 8th magnitude globular cluster in Capricornus, has the opposite prob- lem. It clears the eastern horizon barely 45 minutes before sunrise, making it rather difﬁcult to locate.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 3 of 18 How to Make Cheap Astro Photos by Roger Pommerenke

A few years ago RVAS club member Paul Photoshop and Photo Elements will accept the Caffrey wowed the audience at a club meeting plug-in. by demonstrating how to make cheap astro photos simply by modifying a web cam. This article After the plug-in is installed you will need will show you how to make even cheaper astro to download your dataset of FITS files at http:// photos – and you don’t even need a web cam. www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_libera- tor/datasets.html Note that there is more than The secret for ‘taking’ really cheap astro one file. Each file was taken through one of photos is to download the same files used 24 different filters, e.g., OIII, H-alpha, 555nM, by professional astronomers: Flexible Image 814nM, SII, etc. And don’t forget to get the de- Transport System (FITS). tailed instructions.

FITS files have been used by professional This is a very brief summary of the process: astronomers since 1982. (Information can be found at http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_intro. 1. Liberate the images from the files. html). However it wasn’t until 2004 that 2. Adjust white and black levels. It is fun to amateurs had a tool to ‘liberate’ the photo play with different ‘stretch functions’. from the file. This tool is a plug-in developed 3. Stack the images. for Adobe Photoshop and aptly named FITS 4. Add color to each layer of the grayscale im- Liberator. You can download this free plug-in at ages. There are suggested colors to use with http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/index. each filter. html. While there, make sure your version of 5. The fun part -- adjust color.

The Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society is a membership organization of amateur astronomers dedicated to the pursuit of astronomical observational and photographic activities. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month, at the Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. Meetings are open to the public. Observing sessions are held one or two weekends a month at a dark-sky site. Yearly individual dues are $20.00. Family dues are $25.00. Student dues are $10.00. Articles, quotes, etc. published in the newsletter do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the RVAS or its editor. RVAS web page: http://rvasclub.org

Ofﬁcers/Executive Committee/Editor Randy Sowden, President ([email protected]) John Goss, Vice President ([email protected]) Open, Secretary ([email protected]) Jeff Suhr, Treasurer ([email protected]) Mark Hodges, Immediate Past President ([email protected]) Paul Caffrey, Past President ([email protected]) Dave Thomas, Member at Large ([email protected]) Clark M. Thomas, RVAS Newsletter Editor ([email protected])

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 4 of 18 A Spirited Evening Under the Stars in Northern Botetourt County

Blue Ridge Vineyards near Eagle Rock held an “Equinox Star Party” and wine tasting — on March 20, of course — with ﬁve RVAS members attending. Clear skies and warm temperatures greeted the one hundred stargazers as they looked through the scopes at the Moon, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and M42.

NASA also jumped into the act by sending the International Space Station to slowly sweep overhead, reaching magnitude -3.3. A few minutes before that, an Iridium Flare brieﬂy appeared, burning at magnitude -8. The crowd of the very happy wine tasters actually clapped!

Thank you Paul Caffrey, John and Genevieve Goss, Gary Hatﬁeld, Larry Mattox, and Chris Pohlad-Thomas for making this a memorable evening for all!

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 5 of 18 The Eyes Have It... March RVAS Meeting Looks at Eyepieces

By John Goss

The most critical component of a telescope, Eyepieces Panel other than its primary lens or mirror, are the eyepieces. They can make or break the view Three RVAS observers, each of whom uses through any telescope. The March RVAS meet- a different style of optical telescope, discussed ing focused on discussing these essential items. their experiences with eyepieces: Clark Thomas A few important terms were examined. - reﬂectors, Fred Davis - refractors, and Mark Hodges - Schmidt-Cassegrains.

A 16 inch f/4.9 Dobsonian reflector with a motorized tracker is the scope of choice for Clark Thomas. This instrument gives great views of galaxies and globular star clusters. Clark commonly uses 8 mm and 22 mm Lantha- num eyepieces. He often uses the 22 mm eyepiece to give him a magnification of about 90x. Eyepiece focal length. This is the distance On very rare occasions he boosts it to 600x. from the image plane, which is between the objective and the field lens of the eyepiece. It Fred Davis enjoys observing the planets and can also be derived from a complicated formula moon with his 6 inch f/8 refractor. He also does which includes the focal lengths of the indi- occasional galaxy and globular cluster observ- vidual lens elements. The eyepiece’s focal length ing. Most of the time he uses a 40 mm Plossl is always printed on either the eyepiece barrel eyepiece which gives 30x with his scope. or eyelens cap. An 11 inch f/10 Celestron Schmidt-Casseg- Eye Relief. The distance between the eye rain is Mark Hodges’ favorite instrument. This lens and the point where the image forms. In provides him with great all-around views of the general, an eye relief greater than 15 mm is planets, moon, clusters, nebulae and galaxies. considered good. He has a set of Nagler and Panoptic eyepieces, which provide magnifications of 50x - 300x. Exit Pupil. This is the diameter of the cone These eyepieces provide a very wide field of of light which enters the eye. An exit pupil view with great eye relief. greater than 7 mm is considered wasteful because not all the light enters the eye through Eyepieces are at the heart of any telescope. the eye’s nighttime adapted pupil. The value of The best way to determine which style that is the exit pupil is found by dividing the objective best for the cost is to try them on your own diameter by the magnification. scope under real observing conditions.

Field of view. The apparent field of view The next time you observe with other mem- is a property of its construction and is gener- bers, why not swap oculars? You may just find ally printed on information that comes with the your next great eyepiece discovery! eyepiece. It can be found by multiplying the magnification by the true field of view.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 6 of 18 Future President of RVAS Arrives

Congratulations, Randy and Vivian. Now we know why our es- teemed president cannot renew his presidency. He’s busy grooming another successor.

Nicolas will take over right after his big brother, Benjamin (below left), serves his own RVAS presidency.

Nicolas Allen Sowden arrived at 9 a.m. on Monday, 3/22/2010. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 6 ounces, and he is 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing ﬁne. Two Famous April Birthday Astronomers By Genevieve Goss

Eugene Shoemaker, born in 1928, Bart Jan Bok was born in 1906, also in was originally to be the first scientist on the the Netherlands. Bok was a popular personal- Moon, fulfilling a lifelong dream. However, a ity in the field of astronomy, noted for his af- minor adrenal gland disorder disqualified him fability and humor. The Asteroid 1983 Bok was from serving. Instead, he trained his friend named for him while he was still living. In the and replacement, geologist Harrison Schmitt. ceremony announcing the award, he thanked Over the next 40 years he shifted his attention the IAU for giving him “a little plot of land to from the study of craters on the Earth and retire and live on.” In his work, he mapped the Moon to the study of the bodies that created spiral arm of the Milky Way, studied star clus- them. In 1993, Shoemaker along with his wife, ters, interstellar gas, and the small, dark stel- astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker, and David Levy lar clouds of gas now known as Bok globules. In discovered and named the comet Shoemaker- 1975 Bok coauthored the statement “Objections Levy 9. The comet became a media sensation to Astrology” which was endorsed by 186 as- when, in 1994, it collided with Jupiter. In 1997, tronomers, astrophysicists, and other scientists, while on a trip to Australia, Shoemaker was including nineteen winners of the Nobel Prize. killed in an auto accident.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 7 of 18 Cloudy, With a Slight Chance of Extinction By Jack Gross

Over a light-year from our star dwells a years in the inner part of the solar system spherical swarm of primordial crud called the where planets are located, and most of their “Oort cloud.” This seething horde is made up of time 0.8 to 1.6 light years from the Sun. a guesstimated 10 trillion chunks of frozen am- monia, methane and water. It is also believed With such long orbital periods, their pres- to be the source of all the long-period comets ence within the inner solar system is, for all such as Halley’s Comet. practical purposes, a one-time event. However, astronomers Astronomers discover several believe that the of these long bits and pieces period comets comprising the every year, so Oort cloud there is prob- formed much ably a very closer to the large source Sun. However, for this type of they were un- comet out there able to coalesce, somewhere. If so that very Halley’s Comet’s early in the mass is typi- solar system’s cal of these evolution they comets, then were scattered the Oort cloud out into space could have by the gravita- a total mass tional slingshot greater than all effects of the of the planets giant planets. put together.

The Oort At the vast cloud has never been imaged, but the Dutch distance of the Oort Cloud, the gravitational astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort postulated its lure of nearby passing stars can perturb their existence in 1950. The existence of our Oort orbits, and send them careening into the in- Cloud is only a working hypothesis, since the ner solar system. Jupiter and Saturn also can evidence is mostly inferred from the aphelia of deﬂect long period comets completely out of long period comet orbits which appear to lie at the solar system. Or they may devour them as the distance of about one light year from the Jupiter did with Shoemaker Levy-9. A similar Sun. Orbits of these long period comets are impact with our planet is possible, though less so elliptical that they spend only two to four probable in the near term. There are scars left

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 8 of 18 Continued next page... on Earth’s surface by high velocity impacts of evidence that any of these were primarily large objects from outer space. For more proof, caused by impacts of asteroids or comets. take a look at the Moon! An even greater extinction occurred just One such blow caused a mass extinction of before the dinosaurs took over. Called “the life on Earth and killed off the dinosaurs. Pa- great dying,” this event at the end of the leobiologists, paleontologists, and astronomers Permian era could have been the result of both pretty much agree that one of the worst mass massive volcanism, and a massive asteroid im- extinctions in our history occurred about 65 pact. Coincidence, or cause and effect? See million years ago. It was probably caused by this site: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/ the impact of a large comet or asteroid that y2002/28jan_extinction.htm?list485357 created the Chicxulub crater which is now hid- den on the Yucatan Peninsula and beneath the We may prefer to think that the dinosaur- Gulf of Mexico. killing impactor came from the Oort cloud, so that any repeat would be very unlikely. Think The evidence for that event is strong, again. Recent science points to a rocky collision and found in a thin layer of rock distributed inside our nearby asteroid belt creating the around the world, called the K-T layer, which big object that liberated us mammals from the separates the Cretaceous from the Tertiary dinosaur monarchy: http://www.astronomy.com/ period. Rare Iridium concentrations, which are asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5941 hard to ﬁnd on Earth, but abundant in most asteroids and comets, are found in the K-T If I were a betting man, I would place my boundary. In addition, shocked quartz granules wager on a series of natural events, aggravated and tektite glass spherules are also found in and hastened by mankind, for the next mass large quantities. This evidence is the smoking extinction. Current theory suggests our planet gun proof of a massive impact from outer space is already undergoing a sixth mass extinction, around the time the big dinosaurs vanished. brought about by humanity itself: http://www. well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html The small, but nevertheless possible danger of a catastrophic impact to our planet originat- Below is an illustration about Dinosaurs and the ing from the asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt, and Deccan Traps. See http://ﬁlebox.vt.edu/artsci/geol- the Oort cloud has been the subject of my last ogy/mclean/Dinosaur_Volcano_Extinction/ several newsletter articles. My interest arouse partly because the wide ex- posure of “end of the Earth” scenarios found in the popular media, and partly because of the astronomical attention given by professional researchers to this subject.

However, there are at least ﬁve other well documented mass extinctions of life on this planet, and perhaps as many as ﬁfteen. Except for the Cretaceous- Tertiary one, there is little

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 9 of 18 SkyFi and SkyVoyager By Clark Thomas

At the recent 2010 MacWorld Expo one of the only such device specifically designed for the Best of Show winners was a cordless sys- telescope control. It is battery-powered for tem for GoTo telescopes. If you have, or plan field use. Unlike bluetooth devices, SkyFi re- to acquire, an iPod touch or an iPhone, then quires no pairing, and no special drivers. It consider the advantages of this advanced sys- uses TCP/IP protocols, the language of the tem for your scope. Internet. Once powered on, SkyFi creates its own Carina Software has 802.11 wireless network. developed two products. More info: http://www. The first is called SkyFi, carinasoft.com/products/ and it is a WiFi-to-Se- skyfi/index.html rial adapter. The second complements the first. It SkyVoyager is a pow- is called SkyVoyager, and erful planetarium pro- is an iPhone app. SkyFi is gram for the iPhone and a Wi-Fi device that con- iPod Touch. It has a da- nects to a Go-To tele- tabase of 300,000 stars scope’s RS-232 port. Use to the 10th magnitude, your Mac or PC as a remote control. and 30,000 deep sky objects, plus many other cool features. It can work alone, or with the The SkyFi can use the WiFi capabilities built SkyFi. For full information, see: http://www. into your Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPod Touch. It is carinasoft.com/products/skyvoyager/index.html

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 10 of 18 Kitt Peak National Observatory By Jiri Kolejka

This year on Valentines Day I celebrated Math-Pierce solar telescope and the ARO radio with the second great love of my life, astrono- telescope. The Mayall 4-meter telescope has a my. On February 10th I had left the ﬁrst great quartz mirror by General Electric that weights love of my life, my wife Anne, in snow covered 16 tons, but its mechanism is balanced so well freezing Roanoke, and headed for the more that it is operated by one 1⁄4 hp rated motor. inviting climate of Arizona.

The unusually tough winter with continually clouded night skies in Virginia helped me accept a long standing invitation by my son Michael to visit The Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in southern Arizona. The Kitt Peak of Quinlan Mountain chain is located high above Sonoran Desert in Tohono O’odhan Nation reservation at 6880 feet altitude, 75 miles southwest of Tucson, near the border with Mexico.

The WIYN 3.5-meter telescope is newer in design with herringbone design mirror weighing only about 1600 lbs.

Kitt Peak has the largest collection of optical telescopes anywhere in the world — 25 telescopes with mirrors ranging from 0.4 meter up to 4 meters, including a giant solar telescope, plus 2 radio telescopes. The Observa- tory was leased in 1950 for 25¢ per acre per year from the Tohono O’odham under perpetual agreement. Its operations are funded by The National Science Foundation (NSF), and since 1958 the site has been administered by The As- sociation of Universities for Research in Astron- omy (AURA). The McMath-Pierce unobstructed solar The principal instruments of the Observa- telescope is the largest in the world with focal tory are the Mayall 4-meter and the WIYN length 82.6 meters penetrating deep under- 3.5-meter Ritchey-Chretien telescopes, the Mc- ground and oriented against Polaris.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 11 of 18 Continued next page... amateur astronomers for about $850 per night. I had planned for the all-night activity, but after receiving a huge utility bill from Ap- palachian Power in January, I scaled down my expectation to the $45 program. Our evening program started with a tour of the 2.4-meter robotic telescope remotely operated by the AURA, followed by an unforgettable sunset observation. The weather conditions on that Valentine night were perfect for celestial observations. According to the instructor guid- ing our group, it was the first clear sky night of this year! I have never seen so many stars and the Milky Way so clearly. The night sky view from the Visitors Center patio was awe- The ARO radio telescope with its 12-meter some. diameter dish is a part of The UofA Steward Observatory. Kitt Peak is also famous for its first 91 cm reflector telescope used in search for near Earth asteroids. In 2005 the Tohono O’odham brought a lawsuit against the NSF to stop construction of gamma ray detectors under Kitt Peak summit because they interfered with the tribe’s Sacred I’itoi spirit. Everyday the Observatory is open to the public from 9 am till 4 pm, and offers hour- long guided tours for a small fee. Afterwards the Observatory is limited to a maximum of 60 visitors who have made advance reservations, and paid a $45 fee to participate in audio-visual programs in the Visitor Center and celestial Our group had 18 people and was assigned observations with binoculars and with three the 20” telescope located above the visitor cen- Ritchey-Chretien telescopes, one with 20” and ter. Our instructor was an astronomy undergrad two 16” mirrors. The Observatory also of- student from Tucson. He started the show with fers The Kitt Peak Advance Observing program Castor and Mars, then the Orion nebula (M42), (AOP), all-night use of a telescope to advanced several star clusters and galaxies, including open cluster M37 in Auriga, Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Cigar galaxy (M82). I have seen them all many times before, but never in such a detail that made me gasp at them with open mouth. Our celestial observations lasted till 10:30 pm, well past the normal closing time, I guess because the instructors enjoyed the ex- ceptionally clear sky night too. Afterwards, following our instructor’s van with our vehicle headlights turned off, it took us half an hour to descend Kitt Peak, and another hour of driving to our hotel in Tucson. I must admit it was the most memorable Valen- tines Day for me ever, at least away from my number one love.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 12 of 18 Tycho Brahe’s Mysterious Death By Jiri Kolejka

The famous Danish-born astronomer Tycho too polite to leave the table while the ruler Brahe’s death is still surrounded by a mystery was present. that might be ﬁnally resolved by the Czech authorities granting permission to experts from Another and more plausible legend says the Danish Aarhus University to explore the astron- great astronomer was murdered on behest of omer’s grave in Prague’s Tyn Church. the Danish king Christian IV, whose portrait is shown below. The Danish researchers suspect Tycho Brahe was in fact the king’s father.

Tycho Brahe died in Prague in 1601 under suspicious circumstances linking Danish king Christian IV to his death. There are several theories about what happened to Tycho Brahe.

The goal of this Danish project is to analyze the astronomer’s remains in Prague for any signs of arsenic, and also to carry out research in Denmark on the king Christian IV remains that would include comparison of their DNA.

The consequences of this research could be far reaching, meaning that the Danish kings of the 300-year period since the Christian IV reign are bastards, though the present Danish queen is not his descendant.

To us astronomers it might seem that Tycho One legend is mentioned in the Czech-born Brahe did more than just observe the sky late author Milan Kundera’s novel “Immortality.” It at nights, eh? says Tycho Brahe’s bladder burst during a din- ner party with Emperor Rudolf, because he was [Source of this story: Czech Radio 7, Prague.]

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 13 of 18 Apollo Moon Panoramas By Dave Thomas

During the Apollo Moon landing program there were many photographs made by the astronauts. This month I made panoramas of some of the photographs from Apollo missions 15, 16, and 17 that have been digitized from the original ﬁlm rolls. I was able to put together four panoramic scenes from the collection posted by NASA on the web. Apollo 15 landed close to Mount Hadley and Hadley Rille on Mare Imbrium. This mission also included the ﬁrst use of the LRV, Lunar Rov- ing Vehicle. The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, ALSEP, was deployed. The mission had a two day stay at the site, July 31 - August 1, 1971.

[Images at left and immediately below from Apollo 15.]

The Apollo 16 landing site was the Descartes Highlands. The mission included a speed test of the LRV. The ALSEP experiment package was also deployed. The time on the surface was four days, 20-23 of April 1972. [The top two images on the next page are from Apollo 16.]

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 14 of 18 Continued next page... The Apollo 17 mission was the last Lunar mission, and the last manned mission beyond low earth orbit. Apollo 17 landed on the Moon on December 11, 1972. The landing site was the Montes Taurus region of Mare Serenitatis. The astronauts deployed the ALSEP package and explored the local area using the LRV. [Images below from Apollo 17.]

The Lunar Module lifted the crew off the Lunar surface on December 17, 1972. No human has returned to the Moon since.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 15 of 18 Are We at the Center of the Universe?

By Clark M. Thomas

One of the ways those who are “in” with the first inflationary geometry was set off by Relativity show their superior wisdom over the colossal bang itself; followed by an expan- those who are not yet so enlightened is to sion era where Dark Energy and Dark Matter explain how everybody is apparently at the were similar in strength; and then followed by center of the Universe. Dark Energy assuming an increasingly greater dominance. There are two visual Within the current aids used to demonstrate idea of one universe this fact: the baking the gravitational force raison loaf, and any line of Dark Matter and the of galaxies. Both are expansive force of Dark correct, but only within Energy almost canceled limits. each other’s effects for several billion years. The loaf of bread However, Einstein’s anti- that contains many rai- implosion fudge factor sins expands as it bakes. is Dark Energy, which Every raisin that was gathers strength as together in the begin- time/distance passes. ning thinks they alone are at the center, when Some would say no raisin really is. that the known universe will eventually expand into an ethereal vastness, followed by eventual Any one straight line of galaxies represents chaos as entropy (chaos) triumphs over negen- a large number of lines that could be drawn in tropy (order) many billions of years hence. This all directions from any reference point in space. is a logical consequence of accelerating Dark For simplicity, one line of galaxies features Energy within a unitary Universe. expansion, with each galaxy’s residents feeling they are stationary, while all others are reced- This vision is compelling, but likely very ing. Indeed, if we feel we are stationary, other wrong. For example, looking again at the ex- galaxy residents in deep space can look at our panding raisin bread loaf, it is true that each galaxy and feel the same about themselves as raisin sees others expanding from itself, creat- we recede from them. These are all relative ing the illusion of being at the center of the perspectives. loaf. However – and this is very important – that raisin loaf in the whole does indeed have Be it galaxies or raisins, the idea goes back an external shell or boundary, much like the to the brief period of inflation shortly after objective “shell” of the expanding universe. At the local big bang. During inflation our tiny the objective boundary raisins can look in many universe expanded very rapidly, only to slow directions to see other raisins receding, but down for a few billion years, and then about they cannot look outward beyond the shell to five billion years before our present era start see any more raisins at all. to accelerate expansion again. In other words,

Continued next page... RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 16 of 18 You could argue that the relative boundary Background, and then see elements with blue we are seeing is Hubble’s radius. In Hubble’s shifts beyond. horizon model we are inside an increasingly expanding universal horizon. This boundary is a Consider any line of galaxies within our ex- function of the observer’s position. In contrast, panding known universe. That line does not ex- black hole event horizons are small and fairly tend outward infinitely in all directions, just as fixed in size, where even light does not escape. it does not extend inward infinitely. All but the last galaxies toward either end of the line can Universal space itself appears to be see others receding, helping them feel like they expanding under the force of increasing Dark are at the center. However, within the limits Energy, to where distant galaxies appear to of detectability, when you are approaching the be approaching the speed of light (relative outward “end of the line” you will be able to to us) as they accelerate beyond our Hubble see more movement in one direction than in the radius. This is fine, but eventually a real radius other direction. At the outward end of the line beyond our apparent Hubble radius exists, as you will be like a raison on the real surface of determined by the history of our big bang. the loaf of bread.

Just inside the objective expanding bound- It is possible to contend that the total Uni- ary of our big bang universe anything nearby verse goes inﬁnitely in all directions, and that would not appear to be accelerating fast at all model is intellectually compelling. However, the — even if they could appear to be accelerating unitary Big Bang idea has only one Universe, near the speed of light relative to another per- whereas a multiverse may extend inﬁnitely, but spective deeper within the known universe. only within a “bubble soup” of many individual big-bang universes, of which ours is but one. Of course, this reality does not exclude approaching objects Even if there is produced by an but one Universe, adjacent universe. and beyond our Approaching ob- big bang there is jects moving ap- nothing organized parently slower that we can detect, than the speed then there will be of light at our a historical “end of universe’s objec- the line” for galaxies tive border would created by baryonic exhibit a blue shift, matter which whereas objects emerged several within our universe million Earth years would shift red. after the big bang.

This blue shift In other words, phenomenon is a from a raisin-loaf window for dis- perspective, our covery. With the detectable universe right instruments would end, even if we could penetrate the Universe beyond the red-shifted our local big bang Cosmic Microwave universe did not.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 17 of 18 Calendar of Events by Frank Baratta

MONTHLY MEETING: MONTHLY MEETING: Monday, April 19th, 7:30 p.m., Center in the Square, Roanoke. There will be the ﬁrst installment of “The ABCs of Amateur Astronomy,” directed at people new to the hobby. Then, upcoming astronomy events, both celestial and terrestrial, will be described. Finally, RVAS member Dave Thomas will present a short non-optical talk on solar radio bursts in the 15 meter shortwave band.

RVAS WEEKEND OBSERVING SESSIONS: Observing sessions are held at Cahas Mountain Overlook, milepost 139 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

❊ Friday and Saturday, 2nd and 3rd. Sunset is at 7:44 p.m. Astro- nomical twilight ends at 9:14 p.m. The Moon rises at 1:09 a.m. and 1:59 a.m., respectively.

❊ Friday and Saturday, 9th and 10th. Sunset is at 7:25 p.m. As- tronomical twilight ends at 9:22 p.m. The Moon sets at 3:31 and 4.27 p.m., respectively.

❊ May Sessions: 7th and 8th; 14th and 15th.

ROANOKE CITY PARKS DEPT. PUBLIC STARGAZE: Saturday, April 10th, 8:30 p.m., Cahas Overlook, milepost 139, Blue Ridge Parkway. For City, County and other area residents; RVAS members welcome. Call 540-774-5651, for information. (Next session: May 8th, 8:30 p.m., Cahas Overlook.)

FRANKLIN COUNTY PARKS DEPT. PUBLIC STARGAZE: Saturday, May 1st , 8:45 p.m., Franklin Co. Recreational Park. For Franklin County residents; RVAS members welcome. Call 540-774-5651, for information.

RVAS NL – April 2010 – Pg. 18 of 18