Highlights of the December Sky - - - 1st - - - DAWN: Mercury and Mars are 11° apart in the southeastern sky before sunrise. DUSK: Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter form a line 18° long with the waxing crescent Moon to their upper le. th - - - 4 - - - KAS First Quarter Moon 1:58 am EST - - - 10th - - - Annual Meeting: Friday, December 6 @ 6:30 pm DUSK: Venus and Saturn are Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center less than 2° apart above the southwestern horizon. Holiday Party & BINGO! - See Page 5 for Details PM: A waxing gibbous Nomination & Election for 2020 KAS Board Members Moon moves within 5° of Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. Board Meeting: Sunday, December 8 @ 5:00 pm Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome - - - 12th - - - Full Moon 12:12 am EST Remote Session: Saturday, December 14 @ 8:00 pm DAWN: Mars is less than ¼° WMU Rood Hall (Room 1110) - See Page 12 for Details to the upper le of the double star Alpha Librae (Zubenelgenubi). - - - 13th - - - PM: The Geminid meteor shower peaks, but is washed Inside the Newsletter. out by a waning gibbous Moon. November Meeng Minutes............. p. 2 - - - 17th - - - Board Meeng Minutes..................... p. 3 AM: The nearly last quarter Moon is about 4° to the Observaons...................................... p. 4 upper le of Regulus in Leo the Lion. KAS Holiday Party.............................. p. 5 Choosing a Telescope........................ p. 6 - - - 18th - - - Last Quarter Moon NASA Night Sky Notes........................ p. 9 11:57 pm EST December Night Sky.......................... p. 10 - - - 20th - - - AM: The Moon is about 5° KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 11 from Porrima in Virgo. Remote Viewing Session.................... p. 12 - - - 26th - - - New Moon 12:13 am EST November Meeting Minutes The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society coincidence that most of these elements are the foundation was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, for life. Scientists have made great headways in the past November 1, 2019 at 7:06 pm EDT. Approximately 46 century discovering where these elements originated from. members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo A table showing the chemical elements shortly after the Big Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Bang would have only shown three elements: hydrogen, helium, and lithium (Li). The remaining elements found in Richard had the privilege of presenting Aaron Roman with a Nature were produced in stars. certificate and pin for completing the Astronomical League’s Honorary Messier Program. This was Aaron’s first observing One of the elements that help prove this is technetium (Tc, award and we hope it’s not his last. In his President’s Report, #43 on the periodic table). Technetium is considered a Richard asked for KAS and astronomically-themed clothing synthetic element as very little of it is found in Nature. All designs. We plan to offer a new line of clothing on a custom isotopes of technetium are radioactive, none have a half-life design website. This way members can order any size in any longer than ~4 million years. Paul Merrill, while at Mount color without anyone having to bring items to sell at Wilson Observatory in 1952, was the first to detect the KAMSC. Richard also encouraged all KAS members to spectral signature of technetium in red giant stars. These old, attend the first-ever Remote Viewing Session and celebration dying stars contained abundant amounts of this relatively on November 16th. A Remote Telescope Training Session short-lived element. This supported the hypothesis that heavy has been scheduled for November 22nd (Note: This has been elements are produced by nucleosynthesis in stars. postponed to December 7th due to issues with Piishii Observatory’s roof). Finally, all members were asked to Dr. Spyrou then transitioned into a discussion of the different renew their membership (if needed) and to contribute to the forms of elements, referred to as isotopes (containing the Owl Observatory Upgrade Project. same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons). One element highlighted was #42, molybdenum (Mo), which Our special guest speaker for the evening was Dr. Artemis has an unknown number of isotopes. Isotopes of Spyrou, an associate professor in the Department of Physics molybdenum can be made in a variety of processes. Some & Astronomy at Michigan State University and an Associate isotopes are made in Type II or Type Ia supernovae by Director for Education and Outreach for the Facility for Rare proton capture reaction or p-process. Other forms of Isotope Beams (FRIB). The title of Dr. Spyrou’s talk was molybdenum are made in the atmospheres of giant stars by Year of the Periodic Table: The Synthesis of the Elements in the slow neutron capture or s-process. Isotopes can even be the Stars and in the Lab. created by the rapid neutron capture or r-process in Type II supernovae and possibly even neutron star mergers. Dr. Spyrou began by showing a Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements. Currently, 118 chemical elements have The next topic covered in detail by Dr. Spyrou was the been identified. Of those, the first 94 are found in Nature, proton-proton chain, the series of three nuclear reactions that The remaining 24 are synthetically produced in nuclear build a helium nucleus by adding protons one at a time. It is reactors or particle accelerators. As even most amateur by this process stars the mass of the Sun and lower generate astronomers know, hydrogen (H) and helium (He) are by far energy in their cores. Elements beyond helium are produced the most abundant elements in Nature. Other common by different fusion reactions, but it ends at iron. Iron fusion, elements highlighted included carbon (C), oxygen (O), occurring in only the most massive stars, absorbs energy phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), and iron (Fe). It is no (rather than releasing it) which causes the star to go supernova. Elements beyond iron can be produced in stars (or supernovae) by the s- and r-processes mentioned earlier. The p-process breaks elements down to simpler forms. A simulation of the r-process was then shown. Dr. Spyrou later passed along a link to a site where interested members can view this simulation (and many more). Dr. Spyrou then discussed MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and the new Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) that is still under construction. She shared a video about FRIB that can be viewed online. Dr. Spyrou concluded by inviting KAS members to take a private group tour of FRIB at some point in the near future. Opening nominations for 2020 KAS Officers and At-Large Board Members were held after the snack break. Notable Professor Artemis Spyrou, from MSU, was the guest nominations include Don Stilwell for Treasurer and Dave speaker at the general meeting on November 1st. Garten, Rich Mather, and Aaron Roman for Member-At- Large. All remaining nominations were for current serving Prime Focus Page 2 December 2019 picture of the activities of Mr. Ashby is emerging. Cathy and Mike said they would keep us informed when new material of interest is found. They departed, and the regular board meeting was convened by Richard at 5:12 pm. Don presented the Treasurer’s Report, covering current account balances and cash flow since January 1, 2019. Richard noted that PayPal funds were not shown in the account balances and should be included. He also suggested that training fees for the Remote Telescope should be displayed in the maintenance account. Richard then summarized November/December events. The outlook for the Mercury transit event on November 11th was dismal. [Note added in proof: The weather on the actual date didn’t even rise to dismal.] Things looked much more promising for the first Remote Viewing Session and Congratulations to Aaron Roman for completing the th Astronomical League’s Honorary Messier Program. Ceremony on November 16 at Rood Hall, beginning at 7pm. A Remote Telescope Training Session was set for November 22nd at KAMSC, and another Remote Viewing board members. Final nominations and elections will be held th at the annual meeting on December 6th. Session was planned for 8pm on December 14 (with a cloud date of Dec. 21st) at Rood Hall. The KAS Annual Meeting & th Richard shared an e-mail he received from Oceanside Photo Holiday Party was set for December 6 at KAMSC with a & Telescope (OPT) just before the meeting. It was for the special start time of 6:30 pm. new STELLINA Smart Telescope from Vaonis. It features a built-in digital camera that is controlled through a In a discussion of follow-up items, Richard reported that he smartphone app. The price is $4,000! (Note: there is a had received a return authorization number for the gearboxes review online.) After 6-months of trying, Aaron Roman of the Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on the new Owl reported that he finally caught Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Observatory telescope. Astro-Physics has said that a simple transiting the meridian in October. Mike Sinclair mentioned (but unspecified) fix will stop the ominous noises sometimes the possible discovery of a mini black in a binary star heard when the mount is slewed. A second fundraising letter system. Duane Weller mentioned the discovery of a new was sent out with membership renewal notices, in the hope millisecond pulsar. In bad news, SpaceX is about to launch that we will soon have enough to finish the Owl upgrades. A another 60 Starlink satellites. After discussing upcoming numerical lock box for the KNC front gate has been chosen, events, the meeting concluded at 9:11 pm. but an opinion from KNC is awaited. Finally, Richard suggested we purchase a power adapter to test the Meade 10- inch f/6.3 Classic LX200 telescope that was donated late last year.