Highlights of the April Sky. . .

------2nd ------Full Moon Prime Focus rd P s ------3rd ------PM: Spica above Moon. A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

------7th ------AM: Antares left of Moon. April 2007

------8thth ------AM: Jupiter above Moon.

------10th ------ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents Dusk: Pleiades 3º rightright ofof Venus next 3 evenings.

Last Quarter Moon General Meeting: Friday, April 13 @ 7:00 pm

------13th ------Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 12 for Details Dawn: Mars lower left of Moon. Observing Session: Saturday, April 14 @ 8:00 pm

------17th ------Venus & Saturn - Kalamazoo Nature Center New Moon.

thth Day: Saturday, April 21 @ 10:00 am ------19 ------PM: Pleiades lower right, Kalamazoo Nature Center - See Page 4 for Details Venus upper left of Moon.

thth Observing Session: Saturday, April 21 @ 8:00 pm ------20 ------PM: Venus below Moon. Venus, Saturn, & the Moon - Kalamazoo Nature Center

------21st ------ASTRONOMY DAY

------22nd ------PM: Pollux above Moon. InsideInside thethe Newsletter.Newsletter. .. ..

------23rd ------AM: Lyrid meteor shower March Meeting Minutes...... p. 2 (10--20 per hour). Board Meeting Minutes...... p. 2

------24thth ------Observations...... p. 3 PM: Saturn left of Moon. Astronomy Day 2007...... p. 4 First Quarter Moon Observing Clubs...... p. 5 th ------25th ------2007 Winter ...... p. 6 PM: Saturn right, Regulus leftleft ofof Moon.Moon. New Horizons Swings By Jupiter...... p. 8

------28thth ------NASA Space Place...... p. 9 Dawn: Uranus 1º aboveabove April Night Sky...... p. 10 Mars next two mornings. KAS Officers & Announcements...... p. 11 ------30thth ------PM: Spica above Moon. www.kasonline.org March Meeting Minutes Board Meeting Minutes

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society The KAS Board met on March 3rd at Sunnyside Church. was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, President Richard Bell brought the meeting to order at 5:05 March 2, 2007 at 7:15 pm. Approximately 35 members and pm. All board members were present for at least part of the guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & meeting (Jean DeMott, Dick Gillespie, Rich Mather, Dan Science Center (KAMSC). Morgan, Jack Price, Dave Woolf, and Roger Williams).

Our guest speaker for the evening was one-time KAS member Rich Mather presented the Treasurer’s Report, which showed and president, John Kirchhoff. John called his presentation total current assets of $8,629.05. Income so far in 2007 in- High Resolution Lunar & Planetary Imaging - Recording cluded $1255 in dues, $75 in donations, $215 for Owl Obser- More Than the Eye Can See. Before webcams were invented, vatory Fund, and the $1,000 Pfizer grant obtained by Jean. high resolution planetary photography was a frustrating ex- perience. Webcams revolutionized planetary imaging because Follow-up business items included the equipment check-out of their ability to take hundreds, even thousands of images in form being developed by Dave Woolf. Dave still needed in- the span of a few minutes. These images could then automati- formation about the accessory items to be listed on the form. cally be stacked and aligned while simultaneously filtering out Considerable discussion then ensued about the desirability of the moments of bad seeing. The result is planetary images so having KAS and Observing Session brochures printed in sharp they surpass the human eye. color. The original idea was to print the observing dates di- rectly on the brochure, but this leads to problems in estimating John showed us some of the webcams available today. The the number needed and possibly having extras to discard at most popular model is the Philips ToUcam. Both Meade and year’s end. There was as yet incomplete information about Celestron make planetary imagers similar to webcams. the price structure for different numbers of copies. No deci- Higher end models include CCD instruments from Atik and sion was made, but the cost appeared prohibitive at this time. Lumenera. John then discussed other pieces of equipment In other previous business, Jack had bought the plexiglass required to produce sharp images. He uses a Celestron 9.25” required for a red-light sign, and he said that it would be built Schmidt-Cassegrain on a German equatorial mount. He soon. Richard brought a proposal to buy a 55 mW green laser highly recommended a remote zero image-shift focuser, such pointer (about $210) to help with the public star lectures. as the ones produced by JMI. Ultra-violet and infrared cut-off After a motion by Jean and a second by Dick, the Board voted filters were also recommended. unanimously to do this.

Some of the factors for high resolution imaging are a precise A major item relating to Astronomy Day was the need to ob- collimation of the telescope and allowing ample time for your tain Table Top Displays for the exhibits. Richard and Jean instrument to reach thermal equilibrium. John showed some had located an internet bargain price of $98 for a tri-fold amazing images of tube currents radiating out of his telescope. board with Velcro-attachment capability. Unfortunately, it There are several types of software available today for stack- was apparently too good a bargain and it had been discontin- ing and aligning images. The most popular is RegiStax. The ued by the time of the meeting. The alternatives located so far best part, besides the fact that it’s very powerful and easy to were closer to $250 in price. After further discussion, it was use, is that it’s FREE! John ended his presentation by show- moved by Roger and seconded by Jack that a maximum of ing some of his incredible images of the , Moon, and plan- $1,000 be authorized for the purchase of three displays (this ets such as Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. insures no net loss to the treasury, since the $1,000 can be recovered by Jean with the 2007 Pfizer grant). The motion Richard give his president’s report after the snack break. Vol- passed 7-1 (Dick Gillespie gave the opposing vote). unteers are still needed for Astronomy Day. The robotic tele- scope imaging session is tentatively scheduled to take place Participation by KAS members in the Air Zoo Scout Rally on on June 16th. A $5 participation fee is necessary to help off- the last weekend in August was endorsed. Jean reminded set costs. The Coronado PST that the KAS just purchased everyone of the kick-off for her 2007 Perpetual Plant Sale and was on display. It’ll be available for check-out soon. Don asked anyone cleaning up flower beds to keep her in mind for Stilwell mentioned that Webster Telescopes has invited KAS donations. She also asked interested parties to join in a sub- members to observe through some their giant Dobsonians. group working on land acquisition, with a request for a 2-year Observing will take place at the Lake Hudson Dark-Sky Pre- commitment to allow for serious progress on the project. Be- serve at the earliest opportunity. Contact Don for details. cause of scheduling conflicts, the next meeting date was set Other news items discussed included the New Horizons flyby for April 22nd, same time and place. of Jupiter (see page 8) and incredible new views of Saturn by Cassini. The meeting concluded at 9:02 pm. Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams

Prime Focus Page 2 April 2007 ObservationsObservations by Richard S. Bell

Success! The KAS Saint Patrick’s Day Messier Marathon had the luck of the Irish. Skies were clear and the seeing was excellent. Not only did we bag some M objects, but we had some fantastic views of Venus and Saturn. Hopefully we’ll have a full report in next months edition of Prime Focus. The big news is that Robert Norton and Don Stilwell observed 109 of the 110 Messier Objects. They missed M30, which is very difficult to observe in the morning twilight at our latitude. This beats Mark Miller’s record of 103 set in 1999. By the way, the next St. Patty’s Day Marathon will be held in 2018. The “regular” Marathon will return next year. Let’s hope our good luck continues, because it’s time for another season of Public Observing Sessions and Astronomy Day!

The first observing session of the month is on April 14th, the day after the general meeting (delayed one week due to the holiday weekend). We’ve been able to pull-off the first ses- sion of the season for the past two years now. Let’s hope the Bill & Inez Carlson at the general meeting of the KAS on December 4, streak continues! Our biggest outreach and educational event 1996; then held in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum Planetarium. of the year, Astronomy Day, is a week later on April 21st. Check out the poster on the next page for the complete sched- available for loan to all members in good standing. If you’d ule. Volunteers for the hands-on tables are still needed, so like to learn more about the PST, check out the Test Report in show some Astronomy Day spirit and sign-up now. Oh yes, the February 2005 issue of Sky & Telescope (page 96). If we still need some 6 ounce tomato paste cans. Please bring you’d like to take pictures of the Sun with the PST then read what you’ve got to the April General Meeting. the article in the September 2006 issue of Sky & Telescope (page 100). Observing the Sun in Hα is a lot of fun and will A special debut will take place on Astronomy Day (weather only get better as we get closer to solar maximum! permitting). As you may have already read, the KAS pur- chased a Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) and a Tele Finally, I have some sad news to report. Long-time KAS Vue Tele-Pod with the $1,000 grant we received from Pfizer member Dr. William Carlson passed away on February 14th at (courtesy of Jean DeMott). We got a nice deal on a slightly the age of 80. Dr. Carlson was a Professor of Psychology at used PST and Dan Morgan has generously donated the Tele- Western Michigan University. I first met Bill (as he was Pod head. Thank you, Dan! So, if you attend Astronomy known to us) and his wife Inez in the Hans Baldauf Planetar- Day, you’ll have a chance to take it for a spin. Once Dave ium at the old Kalamazoo Public Museum. They regularly Woolf creates a check-out form, the PST and Tele-Pod will be attended my shows and he always stayed after to chat about astronomy. I encouraged him to join the KAS and he attended his first meeting in November 1995.

Bill was a regular attendee at our general meetings after 1995 and, like at the old planetarium, would always be sure to chat with me about astronomy. Kirk Korista commented that Bill always asked very intelligent questions during his presenta- tions. That wasn’t surprising, since Bill always said astron- omy was much more interesting than Psychology! Bill moved to Baltimore, Maryland to be closer to his family after his wife passed away a few years ago. Even then, he supported the KAS and was a member until the end of 2006. I meant to call him for the longest time and finally tried this past Janu- ary, but by then it was too late. It just goes to show that no matter how busy we get with our daily lives, we have to take the time to stop and smell the roses, or in our case, stop and The KAS purchased this Coronado PST and Tele Vue Tele-Pod for member use. It’ll make its official debut on Astronomy Day. look up to the stars.

Prime Focus Page 3 April 2007 presents

MAIN PROGRAMMING 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Hands-on Activity Make a miniature model of the out of a toilet paper tube and an aluminum can or cut out and decorate some stars to hang from your ceiling.

Displays Check out some of our members best astrophotography, take a close look at the Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer Space Telescopes and the beautiful images they have created.

Solar Observing View our star close up! Telescopes with safe solar filters will be setup on the deck outside the Glen Vista Room and/or in the Nature Center’s main parking lot (weather permitting).

Ask the 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

The most knowledgeable members of the KAS will be on hand throughout the day to answer any and all questions about telescopes, constellations, planets, stars, black holes, galaxies, and much more.

Astronomy Day Theater 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

From our closest neighbor (the Moon) to distant galaxies, explore bizarre facts about the universe, intriguing what ifs, and fascinating answers that will inspire more questions. A new documentary begins at the top of every hour. Check our web site to see what’s playing!

Saturday Night Stargazing 8:00 pm Observe the Moon, Venus, Saturn and the deep sky delights of spring through our 12” telescope in Owl Observatory as well as member telescopes (weather permitting).

7000 North Westnedge Ave.

Visit KAS Online for more Information: www.kasonline.org ObservingObserving ClubsClubs Motivate & Direct Your Viewing

by Roger Williams

Have you had the experience of waiting days for clear view- All require keeping observing logs that include specified data ing weather and then finding excuses for not setting up all of fields. Most of the targets can be downloaded as lists from your equipment when a good night finally presents itself? the A.L. site, but a few (i.e., the Globular Cluster Club) re- One way to maintain enthusiasm for getting out under the quire buying a guidebook. Finally, some certificates are sky is to have a long-range viewing plan or goal. As a mem- awarded based on confirmation of the observations by your ber of the KAS, you are also automatically a member of the ALCOR, while others require a copy of the observing log to Astronomical League. This makes you eligible to receive be submitted to a specified A.L. representative. So find a observing awards from a large variety of observing clubs. club that fits with your interests, learn the rules, and get out These are summarized on KAS Online (click on Astroweb there under the skies! It is time for more KAS member and then Observing Programs), with links to the A.L. site. names to be added to those awards lists. Each club has a set of required observations or activities to be carried out and documented. After verification of the observing logs, A.L. awards a certificate and a pin.

There are appropriate clubs for every level of experience and Here’s a breakdown of observing clubs completed by past equipment. For the new enthusiast, a planisphere and eye- and present KAS members: balls are all that is needed to carry out the observations of the Constellation Hunter Club or Universe Sample Club. Add a Binocular Messier Club pair of binoculars, and you can do the Lunar Club, Sky Richard Bell, Becky Csia, Michael Dupuis, Mark Miller, Puppy Club (children 10 or younger), or Binocular Messier Eric Schreur, and Mike Sinclair. Club. For telescopic observations, several levels of difficulty are presented. Deep Sky Binocular Club Richard Bell, Mark Miller, and Mike Sinclair. The Messier Club requires observation of 70 of the 110 M- objects, with an Honorary certificate available for observa- Double Star Club tion of all 110 (there are six KAS members on the Messier Club list, but the last was added in 1998). Moving up in dif- Richard Bell, Michael Dupuis, Mark Miller, and Mike Sin- ficulty, the Herschel 400 Club chooses 400 NGC objects clair. from the Herschel catalog that are not on the Messier list. Two of our members (Mark Miller and Robert Wade) have Herschel 400 Club completed this list. An even greater challenge is offered by Mark Miller and Robert Wade. the Herschel II Club, with a list of another 400 NGC objects. Other observing clubs concentrate on asteroids, comets, dou- Lunar Club ble stars (4 KAS members completed this one, the last in Richard Bell, Becky Csia, Mark Miller, and Mike Sinclair. 2000), meteors, planets, and the Sun. Messier Club While some of the observing programs require dark skies Richard Bell, Michael Dupuis, Mark Miller, Eric Schreur, and large-aperture telescopes, others are deliberately oriented Mike Sinclair, and Henry Van Gamert. towards mediocre viewing conditions. The Urban Observing Club actually requires that light pollution should prevent the Southern Sky Binocular Club Milky Way from being visible to the naked eye. Mark Miller Whatever program is chosen, it is important to learn the de- tails of the requirements from the A.L. web site before begin- Universe Sampler ning observations, because the rules differ. Programs that Jeff Kavanaugh, Christopher Sinclair, Karen Sinclair, Kim- want to teach recognizing the skies and finding deep-sky berly Sinclair, and Mike Sinclair. objects may prohibit using GOTO telescopes and computers to find the objects. Those that concentrate more on observ- Roger Williams is our resident CCD expert and serves as the ing the objects may allow any method of finding them. Secretary and Astronomical League Correspondent (ALCor) Some are strictly visual, while others may allow or even rec- for the KAS. Strangely enough, he’s never completed an A.L. ommend imaging. Observing Club! Perhaps that’ll change in the near future...

Prime Focus Page 5 April 2007 February 12th was the starting day for the 2007 Winter Star Party near Marathon in the Florida Keys. This was the first time (for WSP) that a long and heavy rain occurred on the set- up day and this caused flooded puddles and lots of mud. Most of the big RVs made it in but ruts were left in many places so that cars had difficulties. This year, my wife and I stayed at a nearby resort so I skipped by and planned on a day 2 set-up in forecasted sunshine. When I drove in to set up, I was greeted by Dennis Schmalzel from rural Flint and he invited me to set-up by him on the beach. The Girl Scout camp still had about 10% unusable landscape due to puddles and ruts. Many other attendees were at the same resort so that my breakfast time had many opportunities for star party conversations. You can easily tell who’s who by the T-Shirts.

A full array of vendors had setups of mounts, accessories and Here’s Camp Wesumke, located on West Summerland Key, as seen telescopes for frobbing: Tele Vue, Oceanside, Wolf, APM, from the air. Can you see Bill waving to the camera? Burgess, Denkmeier, Howie Glatter, Stellarvue and more. Meade had a small(er) tent with the $60K monster anyone or two could lift the 200+lb. OTA over your head and RCX400/MAX scope. It sounds like a garbage disposal when attach it safely. Several observatories of plastic construction slewing and easily dews up in Florida. Dennis wondered how were on display. The Sky Shed POD (skyshedpod.com) was too small for me but did appear to be sturdy. I didn’t like the half roof open design but others may.

Speaker programs started on the afternoon of the second day. Wil Tirion gave a presentation about star atlases and how he got started in creating more useable star maps. He showed historical constellation globes and ancient map examples that were mainly artwork of the period. Recently the scientific star positions were added but not to any benefit for beginner observers. So, Wil made his own by applying his graphic art skills while aiming to visually see the real sky like his observing experience. He eventually worked on dozens of similar projects over the years and eventually had to give up his day job. He is nearing retirement age now and hopes to reduce his working hours to only a few prime projects soon.

Richard Schmude gave us the recent updates on observational characteristics of Uranus. This tiny dot in the sky has advanced a few interesting theories about polar/equator brightness variations and some possible atmospheric material that can be visually penetrated and perhaps understood by composition and temperature. He will be releasing a book on the subject soon. Jerry Lodriguss (astropix.com) completely reviewed his DSLR camera experiences. He is a professional sports photographer so has modern equipment and imaging support in his day job. He explained a lot of Do’s and Don’ts and various optimized and limiting settings for best astrophotography results. He is one of many “pretty picture” Photoshop experienced fellows that create the wow pictures we see in magazines. I am more of a classic (old fashioned) Legendary star map maker Wil Tirion gave one of many science type and event image collector but I appreciate these presentations at the 2007 Winter Star Party. astro-beauty advances.

Prime Focus Page 6 April 2007 Some people have lots and lots of computer time and to 400x and 500x. This year each clear night seemed to be in resources. Jack Newton also presented his updates that some kind of transition and only allowed me 250x. I cruised mentioned (plugged) his booked-up B&B in Osoyoos, BC and through the Milky Way at 25x and hit most of the atlased Sky Village developments in Portal, AZ. He also showed objects. I watched Dennis using his DSI pro for imaging. We DSLR images he had recently collected documenting concluded that most of his aiming difficulties could be interesting astronomy events. He uses his DSLR for polar reduced by having a parallel finder/guider with a wide field alignment by taking continuous images near Polaris while eyepiece. Finding with a small chip is always tedious. I talked making suitable mechanical mount adjustments. Don Parker to Kevin from Texas as I viewed thru his 24 inch. The Rosette went through Jupiter image processing and showed his and Hubble’s Variable Nebula were thoroughly examined. A decisions leading to the best results. He is most interested in couple of days later we recognized each others voice at the preserving scientific details while not “overdoing it”. He has resort breakfast table. WSP concluded with a cool and windy recently crossed over to the Dark Side by trying a few deep session of door prizes that left me lucked out again. I did take sky images. He has so many buddies to assist or do the image home great educational information and updated contacts with processing that his TV time is still maximized. friendly experts. Also notice that observing many NGC objects thru “upper Puppis” never takes place from Michigan. Sheldon Faworski has many years of telescope building experience and described the details of his 4” f/4 reflector The 2008 Winter Star Party will be held from February 4th - astrograph designed for a CCD camera only. This small sized 10th at Camp Wesumke on West Summerland Key. For more instrument puts a one degree image on a ¼-inch chip and is information check out the official WSP web site: lightweight enough to be added to most mounts. Putting it on a Paramount monster needed no counterweights. Sheldon’s http://www.scas.org/wsp.htm buddy, Sean Walker, does a lot of the imaging and processing – again, pretty pictures were the goal. Continuing on to the nth degree in Photoshop was the Scott Ireland presentation on color management for monitors, printers, and each program used in processing. Use calibration devices if you want correct color results. Many eyeball views are not the same as calibrated measurements. Most of this applies to publications of pretty pictures with minimum color failures.

Ron Diulio gave a presentation on spectroscopy in astronomy. He showed the 3 major spectrographs currently on the market and typical results. These allow a CCD camera to record the spectra of astronomical objects at low resolution optics for stellar classification and high resolution for unique object analysis. Several simpler attachments were described also; especially the ones used in his educational projects. Russell Romanella from NASA wrapped up the speaker programs with an update on the near future space program describing budget driven schedules for man-to-Mars, Moon Base, and shuttle replacement programs. See Popular Mechanics magazine for details. He is the payload manager for the current shuttle program at Cape Canaveral.

When you stay off-site you can have a more selective schedule; sleeping in during cloudy weather, shower anytime, local restaurants to visit, and driving around freedom. Campers have the full time advantage of vendor visits and demos, telescope talking on the berm, and meeting new people constantly. Off-site people must park on the road for night time visits and I used a wagon to haul in/out my optics and electronics on clear nights. The mount was set up but left covered at other times. I suffered a few fire ant bites on my sandaled toes and will use a large tarp under my mount in future WSP’s with a chemical treatment on my beach sand area. Bill Nigg was caught in the act as he tried to make off with Meade’s Saturn was at opposition but I didn’t get the excellent seeing I 20” RCX400 Not-A-Ritchey-Chrétien Telescope on the ultra-massive hoped for. Three years ago everybody at WSP was going up (and apparently ultra-noisy) MaxMount.

Prime Focus Page 7 April 2007 SwingsSwings ByBy JupiterJupiter

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft successfully completed a volcanic activity on Io. flyby of Jupiter on February 28th, using the massive planet's gravity to pick up speed for its 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto "We designed the entire Jupiter encounter to be a tough test and the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond. for the mission team and our spacecraft, and we're passing the test," says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern "We're on our way to Pluto," said New Horizons Mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Operations Manager Alice Bowman of Johns Hopkins Uni- "We're not only learning what we can expect from the space- versity Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md. "The craft when we visit Pluto in eight years, we're already getting swingby was a success; the spacecraft is on course and per- some stunning science results at Jupiter - and there's more to formed just as we expected." come."

New Horizons came within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter at While much of the close-in science data will be sent back to 12:43 a.m. EST, placing the spacecraft on target to reach the Earth during the coming weeks, the team also downloaded a Pluto system in July 2015. sampling of images to During closest approach, verify New Horizons' per- the spacecraft could not formance. communicate with Earth, but gathered science data The outbound leg of New on the giant planet, its Horizons' journey in- moons and atmosphere. cludes the first-ever trip down the long "tail" of At 11:55 a.m. EST mis- Jupiter's magnetosphere, a sion operators at APL wide stream of charged established contact particles that extends through NASA's Deep more than 100 million Space Network and con- miles beyond the planet. firmed New Horizons' Amateur backyard tele- health and status. scopes, the giant Keck telescope in Hawaii, The fastest spacecraft ever NASA's Hubble Space launched, New Horizons Telescope and Chandra X- is gaining nearly 9,000 Ray Observatory and mph from Jupiter's gravity other ground and space- - accelerating to more based telescopes are turn- than 52,000 mph. The ing to Jupiter as New Ho- spacecraft has covered rizons flies by, ready to approximately 500 million provide global context to miles since its launch in the close-up data New January 2006 and reached Horizons gathers. Jupiter faster than seven previous spacecraft to visit the 's largest planet. New Horizons raced through a target New Horizons is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers just 500 miles across, the equivalent of a skeet shooter in Program of medium-class spacecraft exploration projects. Washington hitting a target in Baltimore on the first try. The Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washing- New Horizons has been running through an intense six-month ton. The mission team also includes NASA's Goddard Space long systems check that will include more than 700 science Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; NASA's Jet Propulsion Labo- observations of the Jupiter system by the end of June. More ratory, Pasadena, Calif.; the U.S. Department of Energy, than half of those observations are taking place this week, Washington; Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo.; including scans of Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, measure- and several corporations and university partners. ments of its magnetic cocoon, surveys of its delicate rings, maps of the composition and topography of the large moons For the latest news and images from the New Horizons mis- Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and a detailed look at sion, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons

Prime Focus Page 8 April 2007 NASA Space Place EarlyEarly BirdBird GetsGets thethe WormWorm or “Black Hole Breakfast” by Dr. Tony Phillips We all know that birds eat worms. Every day, millions of birds eat millions of worms. It’s going on all around you! But how often have you awakened in the morning, stalked out in the dewy grass, and actually seen a bird having breakfast? Even though we know it happens all the time, a bird gulping a worm is a rare sight.

Just like a black hole gulping a star…

Every day in the Universe, millions of stars fall into millions of black holes. And that’s bad news for the stars. Black holes exert terrible tides, and stars that come too close are literally ripped apart as they fall into the gullet of the monster. A long burp of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation signals the meal for all to see.

Yet rarely catch a black hole in the act. “It’s like An artists impression of GALEX in orbit around the Earth. The Solar the problem of the bird and the worm,” says astronomer panels are deployed and the telescope cover is open, nominal Christopher Martin of Caltech. “You have to be in the right operations are proceeding. place at the right time, looking in the right direction and pay- ing attention.” (GALEX), an ultraviolet space telescope,” explains Gezari. Her team reported the observation in the December 2006 issue A great place to look is deep in the cores of galaxies. Most of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. “Other telescopes have galaxies have massive black holes sitting in their pinwheel seen black holes devouring stars before,” she adds, “but this is centers, with dense swarms of stars all around. An occasional the first time we have been able to watch the process from meal is inevitable. beginning to end.”

A group of astronomers led by Suvi Gezari of Caltech re- The meal began about two years ago. After the initial blast, cently surveyed more than 10,000 galactic cores—and they radiation diminished as the black hole slowly consumed the caught one! In a distant, unnamed elliptical galaxy, a star fell star. GALEX has monitored the process throughout. Addi- into a central black hole and “burped” a blast of ultraviolet tional data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Canada- radiation. France-Hawaii Telescope and the Keck Telescope in Hawaii helped Gezari’s team chronicle the event in multiple wave- “We detected the blast using the Galaxy Evolution Explorer lengths

Studying the process in its entirety “helps us understand how black holes feed and grow in their host galaxies,” notes Mar- tin.

One down, millions to go.

"Now that we know we can observe these events with ultra- violet light,” says Gezari, “we've got a new tool for finding more.”

For more on this and other findings of GALEX, see www.galex.caltech.edu. For help explaining black holes to kids, visit The Space Place at spaceplace.nasa.gov.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, In this artist’s concept, a giant black hole is caught devouring a star California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the that ventured too close. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Prime Focus Page 9 April 2007 AprilApril NightNight Sky...... Sky......

This star map is property of the This map represents the sky at the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. NORTH following local standard times: However you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, y Late March 11 pm so long as it is for non-profit y Early April 10 pm educational purposes and full y Late April 9 pm credit is given to the KAS. y Early May 8 pm www.kasonline.org EAST WEST

SOUTH

rilliant Venus, the goddess of Venus moves between the Pleiades and Vega every hour. Briefs outbursts are love and beauty, will be 3º away the Hyades by mid-month. possible. In 1982 the rate unexpectedly from the Pleiades, the seven increased to 90 for one hour, and 180 to sisters, for three days beginning on April The Lyrid meteor shower peaks during 300 for a few minutes! The Lyrids have 10th. Binoculars and short focal length the early morning hours on April 23rd. been observed for over 2600 years. The telescopes will easily place these Approximately 10-20 meteors will source of this ancient shower is Comet celestial ladies in the same field of view. appear to radiate near the bright star Thatcher (C/1861 G1). KAS OFFICERS April 2007 Page 11 PRESIDENT Richard S. Bell 373-8942 S&T Subscription Discount [email protected] One of the many benefits of KAS VICE PRESIDENT membership is a $10 discount on a one year Jack Price subscription to the premiere astronomical 343-3193 magazine, Sky & Telescope. A regular one [email protected] year subscription costs $42.95; you pay only TREASURER $32.95. It’s like receiving two free issues! Rich Mather 629-5312 To take advantage, bring a check (made [email protected] payable to Sky Publishing) to the next general meeting or contact the KAS Treasurer, Rich SECRETARY/ALCOR Mather (629-5312) or Bill Nigg (665-7545) Roger Williams for more information. You must pay through 375-4867 the KAS to receive the discount. [email protected]

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE Jean DeMott 381-1406 [email protected]

Dick Gillespie 966-9653 Mystery of the Missing Seasons [email protected] Saturday 11:00 AM, Sunday 1:30 PM

Dan Morgan ASI: Cosmos 964-3156 Wednesday 3:00 pm & Saturday 2:00 PM [email protected] Explorers of Mauna Kea Dave Woolf Saturday & Sunday 3:00 PM 762-8268 [email protected] Planetarium admission is $3.00 per person. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is located at 230 North Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo. For more information please call (269) 373-7990 or visit us on the web at www.kalamazoomuseum.org

GETGET OUTOUT & OBSERVE!OBSERVE! APRIL OBSERVING SCHEDULE Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave.

Saturday, April 14 @ 8:00 pm Venus & Saturn

Saturday, April 21 @ 8:00 pm Astronomy Day

with the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society General Meeting Preview

Presented by Will Millar Professor of Astronomy, Grand Rapids Community College

Objects in the Universe emit many forms of energy, which is picked up by ground and space-based instruments. X-ray and Radio emissions from some of these objects could be an indication of a supernova event. Using the instruments at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, our speaker spent seven nights obtaining optical spectra of 51 of these objects - located in the face-on spiral galaxy NCG 300 in the constellation Sculptor - which will be used to verify whether these objects are actually SNRs (supernova remnants). Mr. Millar will give us a photographic tour of the observatory and the equipment he used, Australia in general, and some of the results of his ongoing research into these objects.

Friday, April 13 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center 600 West Vine, Suite 400

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC STAMP 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

© April 2007, Stargazer Productions