THE STAR THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MOUNT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL GROUP VOL. 3 NUM. 5 CONTACT US AT DAVE GROSKI [email protected] OR HANK BOUCHELLE [email protected] 302-983-7830 OUR PROGRAMS ARE HELD THE SECOND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 7:30 P.M. UNLESS INDICATED OTHERWISE MOUNT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY 1610 HILLSIDE MILL ROAD GREENVILLE, DE FOR DIRECTIONS PLEASE VISIT www.mountcuba.org PLEASE SEND ALL PHOTOS AND ARTICLES TO [email protected] 1 NEXT MEETING TUESDAY JANUARY 13, 7:30 p.m. Greetings and Introductions Dave Groski The Sky Calendar – January 2015 Hank Bouchelle Program Hands-On Astronomy The us of models to make astronomy more compelling. DECEMBERS MEETING REVIEW: For the MCAG’s December meeting, we were invited to the A. I. DuPont Middle School for a presentation of there Spitz Model A3P Planetarium. It was originally installed in July of 1962 and was used consistently until the early 1990’s when water damage knocked it out of commission. After that, the room was used as a storage area. It was rediscovered it in the Fall of 2012 by Jerome Hill a Science teacher at the middle school. With the help of Dave Groski, Hank Bouchelle and several students from the 2 school the room and the machine were put back into working order. There was a rededication of the Planetarium in 2013. Since then, it has been used not only by the students at the school but has hosted many visitors not only from the Red Clay School District but from other districts as well. The top right photo is of Jerome Hill as he was giving us a brief on the history of the project. The lower left photo shows Ed Mc Grath and several students from the A. I. High School. Mr. McGrath is the Director or Science for the Red Clay District. We from the MCAG take our hats off to all those involved in the restoration of this wonderful teaching aid. OBSERVATIONS FROM THE CONFORTABLE CHAIR Hank Bouchelle Co-Chair MCAG The MCAG has field trip! The MCAG now has a field trip under its belt and those who missed our December meeting at the A.I. DuPont Planetarium missed something special. When Jerry Hill, an eighth-grade science teacher, discovered a planetarium within A. I. and languishing under rock and mineral collections, ancient textbooks, and unneeded textbooks, he immediately began to lobby for funds to refurbish it and make it useful once again. The effort gained momentum when Dave Groski found damaged circuits in the planetarium’s control panel, repaired the faults, and coaxed the projector into operation for the first time in decades. The facility is now a gem and waiting for its first student audience. I ran the Colonial School District’s planetarium and its astronomy/earth and space science programs. I know how effective a planetarium can be. We are all looking forward to future visits. A bonus in the course of the evening was pizza and other goodies. This month’s MCAG program features some of the materials, devices, and activities that can help make solid and real topics in astronomy and astronomical phenomena. I have accumulated many lessons and activities in my 60 years of teaching and learning. There are many that I wish I could take credit for. Teachers, grandparents and parents should try to attend. Phenomona Astronomical Data by Hank Bouchelle One certainty in this life is that from time to time the study of astronomy requires us to consult a data table. And equally certain is that such a table will cause one’s eyes to lose focus for varying lengths of time. However, if we are persistent, ordered information can make sense in spite of us. Furthermore, aggregated data offers an opportunity for a larger and more complete 3 understanding. A data table can reveal trends or patterns that can be as fascinating as they are insightful. In the past, we have studied sunrise/sunset tables to draw attention to the way that, near a vernal or autumnal equinox, the length of daylight may wax or wane by several minutes each day, but near the solstices, the length may remain the same for a week or two. (See http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php) The Sun moves along an imaginary circle visible to us only as the position of the Sun at any particular time. At the time of the winter solstice, we can see only the uppermost portion of this circle. The Sun stays low as it crosses the sky. Conversely, the situation is reversed in summer. The Sun is higher at noon. The location of the rising Sun is now in the northeast.is quite has moved well. At noon on the summer solstice we can see much more of the lower portion of the circle. And the position of the circle that the Sun rcle, the Sun’s path, near the winter solstice. The Sun rises near the southeast, stays relatively close to the horizon, and sets near the southwest. Near the summer solstice larger arcs of the circle move the locations of the rising and setting Sun much further north, to approximately the northeast and northwest, and higher across the sky. An aside: Earth’s rotation causes celestial objects in the sky to move toward the west. A complete circle has 360 degrees. Earth requires 24 hours to complete its 360- degree rotation. we can expect the Sun (and Moon) to cross the sky at a rate of (360 degrees divided by 24 hours = ) 15 degrees/hour. If we convert this hour to minutes (60 minutes divided by 15 degrees) we see that the Sun travels one degree every four minutes. The Sun is ½ degree in diameter. If we use a small mirror to create an image of the Sun on a vertical surface, and draw a circle around it, the image will move completely out of the circle in two minutes.) ASTRONOMICAL TERMS AND NAMES OF THE MONTH: The Mission of the Mt. Cuba Astronomy Group is to increase knowledge and expand awareness of the science of astronomy and related technologies. When reading the articles in the STAR, you will come across various terms and names of objects you may not be familiar with. Therefore, in each edition of the STAR, we will review terms as well as objects related to Astronomy and related technologies. These topics are presented on a level that the general public can appreciate. super symmetry In particle physics, super symmetry (SUSY) is a proposed extension of space-time symmetry that relates two basic classes of elementary particles: bosons, which have an integer-valued spin, and fermions, which have a half-integer spin.[1] Each particle from one group is associated with a particle from the other, called its super partner, whose spin differs by a half-integer. In a theory with perfectly unbroken super symmetry, each pair of super partners shares the same mass and internal quantum numbers besides spin - for example, a "selectron" (super partner electron) would be a boson version of the electron, and would have the same mass energy and thus be equally easy to find in the lab. However, since no super partners have been observed yet, super symmetry must be a spontaneously broken symmetry if it exists. If super symmetry is a true symmetry of 4 nature, it would explain many mysterious features of particle physics and would help solve paradoxes such as the cosmological constant problem. The Minimal Super symmetric Standard Model is one of the best studied candidates for physics beyond the Standard Model. asterism In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars recognized on Earth's night sky. It may form part of an official constellation, or be composed of stars from more than one. Like constellations, asterisms are in most cases composed of stars which, while they are visible in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth. The mostly simple shapes and few stars make these patterns easy to identify, and thus particularly useful to those learning to familiarize themselves with the night sky. Photon A photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is the force carrier for the electromagnetic force, even when static via virtual photons. The effects of this force are easily observable at both the microscopic and macroscopic level, because the photon has zero rest mass; this allows long distance interactions. Like all elementary particles, photons are currently best explained by quantum mechanics and exhibit wave–particle duality, exhibiting properties of both waves and particles. For example, a single photon may be refracted by a lens or exhibit wave interference with itself, but also act as a particle giving a definite result when its position is measured. Outgassing Outgassing (sometimes called offgassing, particularly when in reference to indoor air quality) is the release of a gas that was dissolved, trapped, frozen or absorbed in some material.[1] Outgassing can include sublimation and evaporation which are phase transitions of a substance into a gas, as well as desorption, seepage from cracks or internal volumes and gaseous products of slow chemical reactions. Boiling is generally thought of as a separate phenomenon from outgassing because it consists of a phase transition of a liquid into a vapor made of the same substance. Desorption Desorption is a phenomenon whereby a substance is released from or through a surface. The process is the opposite of sorption (that is, either adsorption or absorption).