: Fort Worth Astronomical Society (Est. 1949) May - June 2011 Astronomical League Member May Meeting: Dr. Sara Seager Exoplanets and the Search for Habitable Worlds June Meeting: Harry Bearman Optics In the normal location Club Calendars – 2 Skyportunities – 4 Black Holes – 5 Mercury: The Elusive Planet – 6 Club Reports – 7 Hercules – 8 What’s Up with the Moon? – 9 (Back to top) PhotoBlogs – 11 1 Stargazers’ Diary – 15 May 2011 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 New Moon Museum 1:51 am Star Party Lunation 1093 3 R F Star Party Fort Worth: New Moon Moonrise 9:58 am Weekend Illuminated: 20.4% 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 First Qtr Moon 3 R F 3:33 pm Lunar Party Werner X Low in West & barely visible to us this month. (Peaks Challenge binary star for May: 48 Virginis @ 11:24 pm – shortly Notable variable star for May: R Hydrae (Hydra) before Moonset) Notable carbon star for May: SS Virginis Fort Worth: Moonset:12:25 am 15 16 17 Full Moon 18 19 20 21 Moon at Perigee 6:09 am 6 am (225,021 miles) FWAS Meeting Exoplanets & the Search for Habitable Worlds Dr. Sara Seager Normal Room 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Moon at Apogee Last Qtr Moon Algol @ Minima 7:07 am 5 am 9:40 pm NW (251,036 miles) 29 30 31 Top ten deep-sky objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M83, M87, M104, M106, NGC 4449, NGC 4565 Top ten binocular deep-sky objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M84, M86, M87, M104, M106, Mel 111 Challenge deep-sky object for May: 3C 273 (Virgo) (Some objects require dark skies to be seen.) Memorial Day June 2011 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 New Moon Museum 4:03 pm Star Party Lunation 1094 3 R F Challenge: Star Party Sunset 8:32 pm Moonset 8:40 pm Can you see the Fort Worth: super-thin crescent Moonrise 8:52 am Moon? New Moon Moonset:11:07 pm You’d better have a high vantage point. Weekend Illuminated: 9.6% 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 First Qtr Moon Double Shadow 3 R F 9:11 pm Transit on Jupiter Lunar Party 4:26 am Werner X Moon @ Perigee not visible to us this 9 pm month. It peaks (228,161 miles) 11:34 AM & Moonrise is 1:08 PM Jupiter’s Moons in 1-2-3-4 order Jupiter rises 4am until A.T. @ 4:40 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Algol @ Minima Saturn’s Moons Moon at Perigee Full Moon 4:31 am NW sky in 2-3-4-5-6 order 11:59:59 pm 3:14 pm 1:43 am – Saturn (222,507 miles) Total Lunar Eclipse sets. not visible to us. LOW in western Moon below horizon. sky! Challenge binary star for June: Gamma Coronae Borealis Notable carbon star for June: V Coronae Borealis 19 21 22 23 24 25 20 . Last Qtr Moon 6:48 am Moon at Apogee 11 pm FWAS Meeting (251,036 miles) Optics with Harry Bearman Normal Room 26 27 28 29 30 31 Pluto Opposition 1 am Top ten deep-sky objects for June: M5, M101, M102, NGC 5566, NGC 5585, NGC 5689, NGC 5746, NGC 5813, NGC 5838, GC 5907 Top five binocular deep-sky objects for June: Solstice M5, M101, M102, NGC 5466, NGC 5907 June 21 12:16 pm Challenge deep-sky object for June: Abell 2065 (Back to top) 3 Observing & Outreach Opportunities Weather permitting (FWAS contacts in parentheses) FWAS & Noble Planetarium Star Party. Star Parties are the public outreach events of the society. Club members volunteer their time and telescopes to educate the public about the night sky. Star parties are also excellent opportunities for those new to astronomy, as they give the beginner a chance to use different kinds of equipment or ask experienced club members for assistance with their own equipment. We set up in the front of the Museum at 1600 Gendy where you can back up your vehicles up to the curb around the circle the front of the Museum of Science and History and the Cowgirl Museums. From there you can unload and set up on the sidewalk area. You may leave your cars and trucks at the curb, that way you will not have to pay the parking fee. This change is due to the fact that the Parking Lots are now fee based. (Be sure to check the e-group in the days leading up to the star party). Brownie Bribes are often provided! (Linda Krouse and Michele Martinez) OUR NEXT STAR PARTIES: June 4th and then July 9th weather permitting. May 7 (DSO) & May 14 (Lunar) — Three Rivers Foundation (3RF) Star Party — 3RF invites you out to Comanche Springs near Crowell, Texas for a night under the stars. The dark skies of Big Ranch Country provide a spectacular view of the universe. The party starts with solar observing followed by a break. Evening activities begin with a short educational introduction to astronomy. The observatories and Star Field are then opened to the public to enjoy the use of many different kinds of astronomy instruments. For more information the day of a scheduled star party, please call 940-655- 3384. (Russ Boatright and Doug Brown) (Panhandle Plains, where Oklahoma tucks into the Texas Panhandle) th h 3RF will have two public events next month in June: June 4 for Deep Sky Observation and June 11 for Lunar. May 17 – Estero Llano Grande State Park (World Birding Center) – Full Moon Party! Come celebrate the full moon and see all that the park has to offer after hours. We will take a night hike; learn about the stars and constellations, search for scorpions, tarantulas, common pauraques, frogs and owls and much more! Accessible for the mobility, visually and hearing impaired. (956) 565-3919. This event repeats June 15th. May 21 – Purtis Creek State Park – Make a star wheel and learn how to use it, learn about the solar system and view the night sky through a telescope. Weather permitting, meet at the over flow camping parking lot. (903) 425-2332. This repeats June 25th. May 28 – Copper Breaks State Park – Sun Fun & Starwalk - Begin your celestial journey in the afternoon with Sun Fun, which features solar viewing of our closest star, the sun. In the evening take a Star Walk for a naked eye tour of the night sky over the park followed by a closer look through telescopes and binoculars. Accessible for the mobility impaired. Call for specific times; fees free for Texas State Parks Pass members, $2 non-members, $1 senior citizens, free for children 12 and under. (940) 839-4331. This event repeats June 25th. June 11 – San Angelo State Park – Join the San Angelo Amateur Astronomy Club as they explore planets, galaxies and other wonders of deep space. Club members will provide telescopes and share their knowledge of our expanding universe. Enter through the South Shore Gate House. Directions to the Chaparral Pavilion location will be provided. Start time will be at twilight. (325) 949-4757. June 25 – Big Bend Ranch State Park – Take a tour of the night sky with local amateur astronomy clubs up on Scenic Mountain. Learn about far away galaxies and planets. Watch the sunset atop the bluff before the presentations begin. This is a fun and educational way to spend Saturday night outdoors with your family! (432) 263-4931. 4 (Back to top) The May / June Sky – Thomsen Foundation -- 9 pm local time, June 4th – from Heavens-Above.com Star Charts: Sky & Telescope Sky Maps http://tinyrul.com/5np8n http://www.skymaps.com Heavens Above International Space Station Transits http://www.heavens-above.com http://tinyrul.com/y8zk5c Black Holes: Watch videos on YouTube (you must be reading electronic PDF while connected to the Internet in order to link) (Back to top) 5 Cloudy Night Library Media reviews by Matt J. McCullar, FWAS Mercury: The Elusive Planet by Robert G. Strom Published in 1987 by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC 197 pages ISBN 0-87474-892-5 Mercury is one of those objects in astronomy that we all hear about, but rarely see. It moves quickly, never gets very far from the sun’s glare, and simply isn’t very interesting to look at through a telescope. It’s been known about since ancient times but some famous astronomers never even looked at it. So mysterious was this tiny planet that, according to the author, “Mercury’s true rotation period was not known until 1965, and this information was not obtained by telescopes, but rather by radar observations… From Earth, Mercury always appears featureless. Even the best telescopic photographs, taken under optimum conditions, show only vague hints of markings.” How did Mercury earn its name? The ancient Greeks observed that Mercury moved more rapidly among the background stars than the other “wanderers,” so they named it Hermes – the messenger of the gods, and the god of twilight and dawn who announced the rising of Zeus, the god of day. Strom explains: “The adjective ‘Hermian’ is used when referring to certain aspects of Mercury, such as cartographic designations.” Even so, the Romans largely adopted the Greek gods as their own, but gave them new names; in this case, Mercurius. Mercury rotates three times for every two trips around the sun. It also has no seasons, because it has almost no axial tilt. It has no atmosphere, for two reasons: its close proximity to the blast furnace that is the Sun and because of its small size (and, therefore, low escape velocity for any gases).