ECLIPSE NEWSLETTER The Eclipse Newsletter is dedicated to increasing the knowledge of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology and related subjects. VOLUMN 2 NUMBER 1 JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2018 PLEASE SEND ALL PHOTOS, QUESTIONS AND REQUST FOR ARTICLES TO [email protected] 1 MCAO PUBLIC NIGHTS AND FAMILY NIGHTS. The general public and MCAO members are invited to visit the Observatory on select Monday evenings at 8PM for Public Night programs. These programs include discussions and illustrated talks on astronomy, planetarium programs and offer the opportunity to view the planets, moon and other objects through the telescope, weather permitting. Due to limited parking and seating at the observatory, admission is by reservation only. Public Night attendance is limited to adults and students 5th grade and above. If you are interested in making reservations for a public night, you can contact us by calling 302-654- 6407 between the hours of 9 am and 1 pm Monday through Friday. Or you can email us any time at [email protected] or [email protected]. The public nights will be presented even if the weather does not permit observation through the telescope. The admission fees are $3 for adults and $2 for children. There is no admission cost for MCAO members, but reservations are still required. If you are interested in becoming a MCAO member, please see the link for membership. We also offer family memberships. Family Nights are scheduled from late spring to early fall on Friday nights at 8:30PM. These programs are opportunities for families with younger children to see and learn about astronomy by looking at and enjoying the sky and its wonders. It is meant to teach young children from ages 6-12 about astronomy in simple terms they can really understand. Reservations are required and admission fees are $3 for adults and $2 for children. MCAO WEB SITE IS mountcuba.org CONTENTS: HAVE YOU EVER ASKED? ASTRONOMICAL TERMS: UPCOMING DAS STAR PARTIES METEOR SHOWERS SUN HALOS HOW MANY GALAZIES IN THE UNIVERSE? OUR MILKY WAY GALAXY HOW TO FIND CONSTELLATIONS. THIS EDITIONS CONSTALLATION. WHAT ARE THE MESSIER OBJECTS? 2 HAVE YOU EVER ASKED? What is a lightyear? A light-year is how astronomers measure distance in space. It’s defined by how far a beam of light travels in one year – a distance of six trillion miles. Think of it as the bigger, bolder cousin of the inch, the mile, the kilometer, and the furlong. If you like to keep up with what’s going on in astronomy, it’s worth spending a little bit of time understanding what the deal is with this funny unit of measurement. Take a minute and have some fun. Google each object above and learn more. How to change lightyears to miles. https://www.calculateme.com/Astronomy/LightYears/ToMiles.htm What is Fusion in Science? Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. It is the reaction in which two atoms of hydrogen combine together, or fuse, to form an atom of helium. In the process some of the mass of the hydrogen is converted into energy. What is a Qurak? A quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. The name "quark" was taken by Murray Gell-Mann from the book "Finnegan's Wake" by James Joyce. The line "Three quarks for Muster Mark..." appears in the fanciful book. Gell-Mann received the 1969 Nobel Prize for his work in classifying elementary particles. 3 ASTRONOMICAL TERMS celestial equator - The celestial equator is a great circle on the imaginary celestial sphere, in the same plane as the Earth's equator. In other words, it is a projection of the terrestrial equator out into space. As a result of the Earth's axial tilt, the celestial equator is inclined by 23.4° with respect to the ecliptic plane. UPCOMING DAS STAR PARTIES For more information on DAS STAR PARTIES, visit the mountcuba.org web site. Select Delaware Astronomical Society DAS. Select Events at top and then STAR PARTIES. METEOR SHOWERS All meteor shower listed below are the easiest to observe and provide the most activity. Particular attention should be noted to the time and moonlight conditions. All these showers are best seen after midnight. Some are not even visible until after midnight. Showers that peak with the moon’s phase greater than one half illuminated (first quarter to last quarter) will be affected by moonlight and difficult to observe. While the time each shower is best seen remains much the same year after year, the moonlight conditions change considerably from one year to the next. As we approach the date of each shower's maximum, be sure to consult the latest AMS article about Meteor Showers, which will provide in depth information on each shower and how to best view it. Quadrantids Active from January 1st to January 10th The Quadrantids have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year but usually fall short due to the short length of maximum activity (6 hours) and the poor weather experienced during early January. The average hourly rates one can expect under dark skies is 25. These meteors 4 usually lack persistent trains but often produce bright fireballs. Due to the high northerly declination (celestial latitude) these meteors are not well seen from the southern hemisphere. Radiant: 15:18 +49.5° - ZHR: 120 - Velocity: 26 miles/sec (medium - 42.2km/sec) - Parent Object: 2003 EH (Asteroid) Radiant = Point of origin. ZHR = In astronomy, the Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of a meteor shower is the number of meteors a single observer would see in an hour of peak activity. Velocity = Average speed of an Asteroid is 25 km/sec. Average speed of these is much faster. SUN HALOS Halo is the name for a family of optical phenomena produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky. Many of these are near the Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the best known halo types are the circular halo (properly called the 22° halo), light pillars and sun dogs, but there are many more; some of them fairly common, others (extremely) rare. 5 The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere, but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals are responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions. Atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed. They often do mean that rain is going to fall within the next 24 hours as the cirrostratus clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system. 6 HOW MANY GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE? According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least TWO hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. They've counted the galaxies in a particular region, and multiplied this up to estimate the number for the whole universe. How do we know how many galaxies are in our universe? According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. They’ve counted the galaxies in a particular region, and multiplied this up to estimate the number for the whole universe. Astronomers get to travel to some of the most remote places on Earth to use huge optical telescopes far away from light pollution in order to make observations. Optical telescopes have been used for astronomical observation since the time of Galileo, but the technology has moved on significantly since then. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Twinkling stars may be pretty and romantic, but this distortion of the starlight by changes in temperature and wind speed as it travels through the atmosphere has been the bane of astronomers’ lives. Fortunately, adaptive optics can now compensate for the twinkles. By shining a laser in to the night sky, the path the star light takes to reach the telescope can be found more accurately. And a rapidly tilting mirror to adjust the light coming into the telescope makes the image much clearer. Telescopes in space A simpler way to overcome the atmospheric distortions is to put your telescope above the atmosphere. The Hubble Space Telescope orbits 600 km above the Earth and has been sending back the most amazing images of our universe since 1993. In 2013, NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency are due to launch the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to replace Hubble. The JWST will look at how the universe began and how galaxies are formed, but in order to do this it won’t use visible light to produce images. Unlike Hubble it will use infrared light. By being sensitive to infrared light, the JWST will be able to detect objects hidden behind dust clouds and galaxies that are moving away from us at such speeds that their light has been red- shifted out of the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum.