Star Dust National Capital Astronomers, Inc. April 2013 Volume 71, Issue 8 http://capitalastronomers.org Celebrating 75 years 1937-2012 Next Meeting April 2013: Joleen K. Carlberg Carnegie Institution of Washington When: Sat. April 13, 2013 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Time: 7:30 pm Red Giant Stars Say "Death to Planets!" Where: UMD Observatory Speaker: Joleen K. Carlberg Abstract: Surveys of exoplanets have uncovered numerous star (CIW-DTM) systems that have Jupiter-sized planets orbiting in the equivalent of the inner Solar System. Many of these planets are doomed to Table of Contents be engulfed by their host stars sometime during the stellar red Preview of April 2013 Talk 1 giant phase of evolution. Unlike the tiny terrestrial planets in our MASPG Talks 2 own Solar System, gas giant planets can measurably increase their star's rotation and surface composition when they are ATM Coating Machine 2 engulfed. In this talk, I will overview the evolution of stars, the Exploring the Sky 3 effects of stellar evolution on planetary systems, and the hunt for Occultation Maps 4 observational evidence of planetary engulfment. Occultations 5 Casimir Effect 6 Hopewell May 4 6 Calendar 7 Directions to Dinner/Meeting Our new location for dinner with the speaker before each meeting is at Mulligan’s Grill and Pub on the UM Golf Course. Mulligan’s is one intersection closer to the observatory on Route 193 than UMUC. One turns on to "Golf Course Road" and drives a few hundred feet to the golf course building, where "Mulligan's Grill and Pub" is located. The dinner menu can be downloaded from http://mulligans.umd.edu/ The meeting is held at the UMD Astronomy Observatory on Metzerott Rd about halfway between Adelphi Rd and University Blvd. Need a Ride? Please contact Jay Miller, 240-401- 8693, if you need a ride from the metro to dinner or to the meeting at the observatory. Please try to let him know in advance by e-mail at [email protected]. Continued on Page 2 Star Dust © 2013. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. April 2013 Vol 71, Iss 8 2 Continued from Page 1 Observing after the Meeting Following the meeting, members and Biography: I am currently a Vera Rubin Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie guests are welcome to tour through Institution of Washington’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. I earned my BS the Observatory. Weather permitting, in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Villanova University and my PhD in Astronomy several of the telescopes will also be from the University of Virginia in 2011. I am primarily an optical spectroscopist set up for viewing. studying the composition and rotation of red giant stars. I am interested in all phases of stellar evolution as well as the ever surprising field of exoplanets. Over Star Dust is published ten the last few years, I have had the privilege of using the telescopes at Carnegie's times yearly September through Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to collect my data. June, by the National Capital ****** Astronomers, Inc. (NCA). Note: Our previously scheduled April speaker planned on giving the ISSN: 0898-7548 same talk at the April MASPG meeting, but was forced to cancel both Editor: Michael Chesnes talks. Here is some preliminary information on the April and May, 2013 MASPG meetings. Editorial Advisors: Elizabeth Warner ****** Jeffrey Norman Wayne Warren APS Mid-Atlantic Senior Physicists Group Harold Williams http://www.aps.org/units/maspg/ John D. Gaffey, Jr. April & May 2013 Events Marjorie Weissberg PDF Distributor: Jay Miller Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Please Get Star Dust Speaker: Harold A. Williams Montgomery College Electronically NCA members able to receive Star Topic: "Time-Space Invariance and Quantum Gravity: Dust, the newsletter of the NCA, via or how c,G,and h create the fabric of Reality!" e-mail as a PDF file attachment, instead of hardcopy via U.S. Mail, can save NCA a considerable Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 amount of money on the printing and postage in the production of Star Speaker: Wallace (Wally) Manheimer Dust (the NCA’s single largest Naval Research Laboratory (Retired) expense) and also save some trees. If you can switch from paper to Topic: How Fusion Can Become Relevant digital, please contact Manjunath Rao, the NCA Secretary, at [email protected]. Time and Location: 1:00 PM, with Q&A to follow, in a 1st floor Thank you! conference room at the American Center for Physics (www.acp.org), 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD-- off River Rd., between Kenilworth Ave. Reminder and Paint Branch Parkway. After the meeting, everyone is invited to join us at Plato's Diner in College Help Needed with Vacuum Pump Park. Plato's is located at 7150 Baltimore Ave. (US Rt. 1 at Calvert on ATM Mirror Coating Machine Rd.), just south of the university's campus. What if it's clear and you If you have experience operating, maintaining, or repairing vacuum diffusion want to stick around and observe? pumps, Guy Brandenburg needs your assistance getting the mirror coating No problem -- just come over when machine at our amateur telescope making class in Chevy Chase to work you're through. This is very informal, again. Please contact him at 202-635-1860 or [email protected] . and we fully expect people to wander in and out. Star Dust © 2013. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. April 2013 Vol 71, Iss 8 3 2012-2013 Officers President: Come See the Stars! Joseph C. Morris [email protected] 703-620-0996 (h) Exploring the Sky 703-983-5672 (w) Vice-President: John Hornstein 2013 Schedule [email protected] 301-593-1095 (h) Date Time Things of interest in the month: Secretary: 4/6 8:30 PM Winter constellations; Lyrid meteor shower Manjunath Rao 5/4 9:00 PM Saturn rising in the east; the Beehive in Cancer [email protected] 571-272-0939 6/1 9:00 PM Solstice 6/21; Mercury at Castor’s feet Treasurer: 7/13 9:00 PM Summer Triangle; 5-day-old Moon near Virgo Henry Bofinger 8/10 8:30 PM Andromeda rising; Perseid meteor shower [email protected] 9/7 8:00 PM Andromeda Galaxy rising; equinox 9/22 202-675-1075 10/5 7:30 PM Astronomy Day 10/12; Orionoid meteor shower Asst. Secretary-Treasurer: Jeffrey B. Norman 11/2 7:00 PM Pleiades and Winter constellations appear [email protected] Exploring the Sky is an informal program that for over Trustees: sixty years has offered monthly opportunities for • Benson Simon (2013) • Andrew Seacord (2014) anyone in the Washington area to see the stars and • Wayne Warren (2015) planets through telescopes from a location within the • Harold Williams (2016) District of Columbia. Appointed Officers and Committee Heads: Sessions are held in Rock Creek Park once each Exploring the Sky month on a Saturday night from April through Joseph C. Morris [email protected] November, starting shortly after sunset. We meet in the field just south of the intersection of Military and Glover Telescope Making Roads NW, near the Nature Center. A parking lot is Guy Brandenburg [email protected] located next to the field. 202-635-1860 Beginners (including children) and experienced NCA Webmaster Harold Williams stargazers are all welcome—and it’s free! [email protected] 240-567-1463 (w) 301-565-3709 (h) Questions? Call the Nature Center at (202) 895-6070 or check the Internet sites: Meeting Facilities www.nps.gov/rocr/planyourvisit/expsky.htm Jay H. Miller [email protected] www.capitalastronomers.org 240-401-8693 A presentation of the National Park Service and Star Dust Editor Michael Chesnes National Capital Astronomers [email protected] 301-313-0588 Star Dust © 2013. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. April 2013 Vol 71, Iss 8 4 April 24 and May 12 Occultation Maps The multiple events zone for the graze of chi Virginis on April 24th is shown between the two dark gray lines from Shippensburg, PA to Chestertown, MD. The multiple events zone for the graze of SAO 846 on May 12th is shown between the two dark gray lines from south of Taneytown to Middle River, MD. Star Dust © 2013. Star Dust may be reproduced with credit to National Capital Astronomers, Inc. April 2013 Vol 71, Iss 8 5 Occultation Notes Mid-Atlantic Occultations and Expeditions David Dunham D following the time denotes a disappearance, while R indicates that the Asteroidal and Planetary Occultations event is a reappearance. dur. Ap. Date Day EDT Star Mag. Asteroid dmag s " Location When a power (x; actually, zoom factor) is given in the notes, the event can probably 2013 be recorded directly with a camcorder of Apr 16 Tue 22:12 2UC38759700 12.7C Polyxo 1.1 5 9 sOH,WV,VA;MD,DC? that power with no telescope needed. Apr 19 Fri 22:16 2UC35937089 13.5 Andromache 1.4 20 10 LI,NJ,PA,nOH;MD? May 7 Tue 2:23 2UC23404504 12.0C Lacadiera 0.3 15 10 NJ,DE,PA,wNY;MD? The times are for Greenbelt, MD, and will May 11 Sat 21:06 TYC13300781 11.5 Rhodesia 3.8 1 7 PA,MD,DE,sNJ;DC? be good to within +/-1 min. for other May 12 Sun 2:19 TYC56933315 12.1 Hansa 1.3 5 8 MD,PA,wNY;DE,DC? locations in the Washington-Baltimore ________________________________________________ metropolitan areas unless the cusp angle (CA) is less than 30 deg., in which case, it Lunar Grazing Occultations (*, Dunham plans no expedition) might be as much as 5 minutes different for other locations across the region.