alactic Observer GJohn J. McCarthy Observatory Volume 9, No. 6 June 2016 Dead End? Conventional wisdom has long held that galaxies regenerate from the gas and debris of their own dead stars. Find out why that isn't always true - inside, page 15 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org June 2016 • 1 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 Barone Jim Johnstone Colin Campbell Carly KleinStern Dennis Cartolano Bob Lambert Mike Chiarella Roger Moore Route Jeff Chodak Parker Moreland, PhD Bill Cloutier Allan Ostergren Cecilia Dietrich Marc Polansky Dirk Feather Joe Privitera Randy Fender Monty Robson Randy Finden Don Ross John Gebauer Gene Schilling Elaine Green Katie Shusdock Tina Hartzell Paul Woodell Tom Heydenburg Amy Ziffer In This Issue OUT THE WINDOW ON YOUR LEFT .................................... 4 ASTRONOMICAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ......................... 12 SURVEYOR 1 LANDING SITE .............................................. 4 COMMONLY USED TERMS ............................................... 14 2016 MERCURY TRANSIT PHOTO ...................................... 5 REFERENCES ON DISTANCES ............................................ 14 MERCURY TRANSIT ......................................................... 5 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION/IRIDIUM SATELLITES .......... 14 SATURN AT OPPOSITION ................................................... 6 SOLAR ACTIVITY ........................................................... 14 FINAL APPROACH ........................................................... 7 FRONT PAGE IMAGE ...................................................... 15 MARTIAN WEATHER ....................................................... 7 PAGE 3 PHOTOS ............................................................ 16 A MOON FOR MAKEMAKE ............................................... 8 SECOND SATURDAY STARS ............................................... 17 NEW MARS PORTRAIT .................................................... 8 JUNE GRAPHIC CALENDAR .............................................. 18 SUMMER SOLSTICE ......................................................... 9 JUNE HISTORY .............................................................. 10 WOMEN IN SPACE .......................................................... 10 AN EXTRAORDINARY FEAT .............................................. 10 JUPITER AND ITS MOONS ................................................. 11 JOVIAN MOON TRANSITS ................................................ 11 SUNRISE AND SUNSET ...................................................... 11 SUMMER NIGHTS ........................................................... 11 2 • June 2016 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org June Astronomy Calendar and Space Exploration Almanac Space Shuttle External Tank J a a c i o w 2 t d 4 N http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org June 2016 • 3 “Out the Window on ing deep-space navigation tech- Your Left” niques, intercept maneuvers, and T’S BEEN ALMOST 45 years long-distance communications. since we left the last footprint Surveyor 1 executed a precision on the dusty lunar surface. landing just north of the crater I Flamsteed. The 10-foot (3 meter) Sadly, as a nation founded on ex- ploration and the conquest of new tall spacecraft was supported on frontiers, we appear to have lost three legs constructed of aluminum our will to lead as a space-faring tubing that were folded for launch. nation. But, what if the average Power was provided by two solar citizen had the means to visit our panels mounted on top of a central only natural satellite; what would mast. More than 10,000 photos were returned before night fall. Surveyor 1 survived the lunar night, trans- NASA Photo: Astronaut Alan Bean mitting an additional 1,000 photos inspects the Surveyor 3 spacecraft on the second day before succumb- which was within walking distance of ing to a precipitous voltage drop. the Apollo 12 landing site. Surveyor 1 Landing Site Lansberg A • Surveyor 1 • Flamsteed Oceanus Procellarum they see out the window of their spacecraft as they entered orbit around the Moon? This column may provide some thoughts to ponder when planning your visit (if only in your imagination). On February 3, 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to Euclides successfully land on the Moon.The • Letronne Soviet landing returned data for three Earth days, transmitting the first images from the surface of the Moon. The United States followed up three months later with the successful landing of the robotic Surveyor 1 spacecraft in the south- western region of Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms). Seven unmanned Surveyor spacecraft were launched between May 1966 and January 1968, five Gassendi of which were successful. Surveyor was a precursor to the "The Helmet" Apollo program, providing data on prospective landing sites and sur- Image: Mare Humorum face conditions, as well as validat- Bill Cloutier 4 • June 2016 http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org Mercury Transit 2016 Mercury Transit Photo ERCURY HAS A highly elliptical orbit, with its Mdistance from the Sun varying as much as 15 million miles (24 million km). Its orbital plane is inclined (7°) to Earth’s orbital plane. Twice each year, in May and Novem- ber, the orbital plane of Mercury intersects the orbital plane of Earth. If both planets are in a favorable position, a transit can be seen. On average, a transit of Mercury occurs 13 times a century. On the morning of May 9, 2016, the planet Mercury crossed in front of the Sun, as viewed from Earth. The next transit will occur on November 11, 2019. French astronomer Pierre Gassendi was the first to view a transit of Mercury in 1631, but it was Edmond Halley who realized that the transit in 1677 could be used to accurately determine the distance to the Sun (by measuring the parallax shift of the planet as seen from different locations on Earth). The distance to the Sun is now known with great precision, but Image: transits of Mercury and Venus Bill Cloutier still have scientific significance. In 2012, the atmosphere of Venus was studied in great detail as it transited the Sun. Scientists were able to identify the elemen- tal composition of the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere from the way dif ferent kinds of light were absorbed. While Mercury’s ethereal atmosphere is almost non-existent when compared to Venus, the informa- tion gathered on its exosphere (ul- tra-thin atmosphere) will be use- ful in probing planets around other stars. Transits are also useful in de- tecting exoplanets. If a planet crosses another star, in our line of sight, it blocks a small portion of the star ’s light. The Kepler Mercury and Earth on May 9, 2016. Credit: NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System https://eyes.nasa.gov/ http://www.mccarthyobservatory.org June 2016 • 5 Space Telescope used this tech- nique as it monitored 150,000 stars JPL's Solar System Simulator in a patch of sky in the constella- http//space.jpl.nasa.gov tion Cygnus over four years. The Kepler mission team recently announced that they had verified an additional 1,284 new planets. This brings the total number of planets found by the space telescope to 2,325, all by the transit method. Of the 1,284 new candidates, 550 may be rocky worlds, nine of which orbit their stars at a distance where liquid water can exist (in the habitable or “goldilocks” zone). Saturn at Opposition The Earth will come between Saturn and the Sun on June 3 rd, an arrangement known as “Opposition” (the Earth and Mars were in Opposition on May 22nd). On that day, Saturn will rise with the setting Sun and be vis- ible the entire night. At closest approach, Saturn will be approxi- mately 837.9 million miles (1.35 billion km) from Earth - slightly further away than in 2015. The difference in appearance (diam- eter) won’t be noticeable. Saturn can be found in the con- stellation Ophiuchus during the Photo: Bill Cloutier month of June. The planet will be relatively bright (rivaling the brighter June 30th marks the 12th anniver- stars in the sky) with an apparent sphere when the Cassini spacecraft sary of the arrival of the Cassini magnitude of 0.8 (but not as bright arrived in 2004 with the planet’ s spacecraft in the Saturnian sys- as Mars in Scorpius, just to the east). north pole in perpetual darkness. tem. Its mission will end in 2017, Saturn and Mars will be less than 5° Saturn’s Vernal equinox occurred with the spacecraft passing apart in the evening sky in late in August 2009 with both hemi- through the gap between the August (25th). On June 18 th, Saturn spheres experiencing equal planet and its innermost ring on and a waxing gibbous Moon will be amounts of sunlight. At the equi- several orbits before taking a fi- even closer with a 3.2° separation. noxes, the rings appear almost nal plunge into Saturn’ s atmo- Saturn’s axial tilt is almost 27° edge on. Since that time, our sphere, a campaign dubbed “The (as compared to Earth’s 23.5° or view of the rings has improved. Grand Finale.” The close encoun- Jupiter’s 3°). The axial tilt pro- At the northern summer solstice ters will