From the Program Chair

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

Submitted by Michael Wright for Ken Levy, Program Chair

Shara2011

Michael Shara. Source: American Museum of Natural History

Last month Dr. Gaspar Bakos of Princeton’s Astrophysical Sciences Department gave a fascinating and entertaining talk on his discovery of transiting extrasolar planets with the globe-spanning Hungarian Automated Telescope Network.

AAAP’s first meeting of 2012 will be on Tuesday, January 10. Our speaker will be Michael Shara, adjunct professor at Columbia University and curator in the Physical Sciences division at American Museum of Natural History, who will discuss how novae and type Ia supernovae are connected.

As usual the meeting will be at 8:00 p.m. in Peyton Hall, 4 Ivy Lane on the Princeton University Campus.

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December 13, 2011 AAAP Meeting

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

Submitted by Michael Wright for Larry Kane, Secretary

The meeting was called to order by Assistant Director Jeff Bernardis.

  • Sidereal Times: Co-Editor Michael Wright announced that the deadline for the January issue is December 28, 2011.
  • Outreach: Chair David Letcher requested volunteers for the next outreach event, which is a science fair at Hopewell Elementary School on March 16, 2012.
  • Finance: Treasurer Michael Mitrano said that the club’s finances are sound.
  • Observatory: Jeff Bernardis announced that electricity has been restored to the observatory so key-holder training and observing can resume. The cause of the power outage was a wire that was pulled down by wet snow and vines during the Halloween snow storm. JCP&L will remove vines from the power lines. Gene Ramsey showed the severely corroded breaker box that was recently replaced by an electrician for the cost of parts. Paying the electrician a stipend was discussed.
     
    The water and soil pipes have been winterized. Gene Ramsey and John Church checked the computer and the C14 mount and both were working fine. Also, James McHenry tested and replaced a faulty circuit breaker. The quartz heater should not be used until the electrical system is checked. There was a long discussion about possible upgrades to the observatory’s electrical system. The consensus was that the club should have an electrician inspect the system and recommend upgrades. A permit maybe required for the completed emergency repairs and future updates to the electrical system. Jeff Bernardis will discuss hiring an electrician with Director D’Angelo. In the meantime, Gene Ramsey will check and consolidate the various powers strips in the computer room if possible.

    Jeff Bernardis and John Church agreed to meet at the observatory on December 18, 2011 to remove the old alarm system and activate the new one. Directions for turning the system on and off will be provided to keyholders.

    Gene Ramsey said that park rangers and township police may stop and question members in the park. Keyholders and members are allowed to be in the park after dark. There is list of keyholders on the bulletin board in the observatory if needed.

    Rex Parker reminded that ice or snow on the roof will prevent it from opening. If any resistance is felt when rolling the roof back, stop and check the roof to avoid damaging the crank mechanism. Gene Ramsey reminded that the park does not plow the access road so members should be cautious about going to the observatory when there is snow on the ground.

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From the Outreach Chair

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

by David Letcher, Outreach Chair

Greetings everyone. I hope your holiday season is going well. Have you noticed the days are getting longer?

Our next star party will be held on Friday, March 16, 2012 at the Hopewell Elementary Science Fair. This fair starts at 5 pm and ends at 8 pm. If you can attend, let me know. My email is letcher@tcnj.edu.

Bring your scope if you have one but you can still help out if you don’t have a scope by showing the children the early spring constellations that are out that night.

I’ll also be sending an email to our membership in the near future.

Happy New Year!

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Poet’s Corner

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

Submitted by David Kaplan

                                                            CANIS MAJOR

                                                            The great Overdog,
                                                            That heavenly beast
                                                            With a star in one eye,
                                                            Gives a leap in the east.

                                                            He dances upright
                                                            All the way to the west,
                                                            And never once drops
                                                            On his forefeet to rest.

                                                            I’m a poor underdog,
                                                            But tonight I will bark
                                                            With the great Overdog
                                                            That romps through the dark.

                                                            –Robert Frost, 1928

Canis-Major

Canis-Major. Source: Linda Hall Library of Science and Engineering.

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Snippets

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

Some Nearby Young Stars May Be Much Older Than Previously Thought
Published: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 – 15:37 in Astronomy & Space

Low in the south in the summer sky shines the constellation Scorpius and the bright, red super giant star Antares. Many of the brightest stars in Scorpius, and hundreds of its fainter stars, are among the youngest stars found near Earth, and a new analysis of them may result in a rethinking of both their ages and the ages of other groups of stars. New research by astrophysicists from the University of Rochester focused on stars in the north part of the constellation, known as Upper Scorpius, which is a part of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association, one of our best studied groups of young stars and a benchmark sample for investigating the early lives of stars and the evolution of their planet-spawning disks. The Upper Scorpius stellar group lies roughly 470 light years from Earth.

The complete article may be found at http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/1/21/some.nearby.young.stars.may.be.much.older.previously.thought

NASA’s Fermi Shows That Tycho’s Star Shines In Gamma Rays
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 – 17:37 in Astronomy & Space

In early November 1572, observers on Earth witnessed the appearance of a “new star” in the constellation Cassiopeia, an event now recognized as the brightest naked-eye supernova in more than 400 years. It’s often called “Tycho’s supernova” after the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who gained renown for his extensive study of the object. Now, years of data collected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope reveal that the shattered star’s remains shine in high-energy gamma rays. The detection gives astronomers another clue in understanding the origin of cosmic rays, subatomic particles — mainly protons — that move through space at nearly the speed of light. Exactly where and how these particles attain such incredible energies has been a long-standing mystery because charged particles speeding through the galaxy are easily deflected by interstellar magnetic fields. This makes it impossible to track cosmic rays back to their sources.

The complete article may be found at http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/12/13/nasas.fermi.shows.tychos.star.shines.gamma.rays

Astronomers Look To Neighboring Galaxy For Star Formation Insight
Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 – 15:35 in Astronomy & Space

An international team of astronomers has mapped in detail the star-birthing regions of the nearest star-forming galaxy to our own, a step toward understanding the conditions surrounding star creation. Led by University of Illinois astronomy professor Tony Wong, the researchers published their findings in the December issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a popular galaxy among astronomers both for its nearness to our Milky Way and for the spectacular view it provides, a big-picture vista impossible to capture of our own galaxy.

The complete article may be found at http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/11/30/astronomers.look.neighboring.galaxy.star.formation.insight

Strange New ‘Species’ Of Ultra-Red Galaxy Discovered
Published: Thursday, December 1, 2011 – 14:38 in Astronomy & Space

In the distant reaches of the universe, almost 13 billion light-years from Earth, a strange species of galaxy lay hidden. Cloaked in dust and dimmed by the intervening distance, even the Hubble Space Telescope couldn’t spy it. It took the revealing power of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to uncover not one, but four remarkably red galaxies. And while astronomers can describe the members of this new “species,” they can’t explain what makes them so ruddy. “We’ve had to go to extremes to get the models to match our observations,” said Jiasheng Huang of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). Huang is lead author on the paper announcing the find, which was published online by the Astrophysical Journal.

Spitzer succeeded where Hubble failed because Spitzer is sensitive to infrared light — light so red that it lies beyond the visible part of the spectrum. The newfound galaxies are more than 60 times brighter in the infrared than they are at the reddest colors Hubble can detect.

The complete article may be found at http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/12/01/strange.new.species.ultra.red.galaxy.discovered

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Opportunity Finds Powerful Evidence for Ancient Liquid Water on Mars

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ST Editors

by Dr. Ken Kremer

NASA’s long lived Opportunity rover has discovered the most scientifically compelling evidence yet for the flow of liquid water on ancient Mars. The startling revelation comes in the form of a bright vein of the mineral gypsum located at the foothills of an enormous crater named Endeavour, where the intrepid robot was recently traversing in November 2011.

The light-toned vein is named “Homestake” and was found as the rover was driving northwards along the western edge of a ridge dubbed ‘Cape York’ – which is a low lying segment of the eroded rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity was scouting out a “Winter Haven” location to spend the approaching Martian winter.

Researchers announced the finding on Dec. 7 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.

“This gypsum vein is the single most powerful piece of evidence for liquid water at Mars that has been discovered by the Opportunity rover,” said Prof Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., Principal Investigator for Opportunity.

Opportunity arrived at the rim of the 14 mile (22 kilometer) wide Endeavour Crater in mid-August 2011 following an epic three year trek across treacherous dune fields from her prior investigative target at the ½ mile wide Victoria Crater – a feat once thought unimaginable. All told, Opportunity has driven more than 34 km ( 21 mi) since landing on the Red Planet way back in 2004 for a mere 90 sol mission.

The light-toned vein is apparently composed of the mineral gypsum and was deposited as a result of precipitation from percolating pools of liquid water which flowed on the surface of ancient Mars, billions of years ago. Liquid water is an essential prerequisite for life as we know it.

The panoramic mosaic below right illustrating the exact spot which also was published by Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on 12 Dec 2011. It was created by Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo.
APOD link: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111212.html

An Unusual Vein of Deposited Rock on Mars

An Unusual Vein of Deposited Rock on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Kenneth Kremer


The team believes the gypsum vein is the dihydrate of calcium sulfate; CaSO4•2H2O. On Earth, gypsum is used for making drywall and plaster of Paris.

“This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock,” said Squyres.

The ‘Homestake’ vein is about 1 centimeter wide and 40 to 50 centimeters long. Veins are a geologic indication of the past flow of liquid water. The evidence for flowing liquid water at Endeavour crater is even more powerful than the silica deposits found by Spirit around the Home Plate volcanic feature at Gusev Crater a few years ago.

Learn all about Mars and Asteroid Vesta in 3 D at my Jan. 11 lecture at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia at 8 PM.

Mars

Opportunity at Santa Mars Crater, January 2011, Sol 2476. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Kenneth Kremer

Opportunity discovered water related mineral vein at Endeavour Crater in November 2011. The Homestake vein is composed of gypsum, or calcium sulfate dehydrate and indicates the ancient flow of liquid water on Mars. This panoramic mosaic illustrates the exact spot of the vein discovery. It was published on APOD on 12 Dec 2011.

Ken’s mosaic creation of “Opportunity at Santa Maria Crater” on Mars was selected as one of the 100 best space images of 2011 by Astronomy magazine for their November 2011 Special Photo Issue – see p. 34-35. Opportunity was celebrating 7 Years on Mars.
APOD link: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110129.html

Read more about Opportunity, Curiosity and NASA’s 2011 Highlights in Ken Kremer’s features online at Universe Today:

http://www.universetoday.com/92166/2011-top-stories-from-the-best-year-ever-for-nasa-planetary-science/
http://www.universetoday.com/91603/opportunity-discovers-most-powerful-evidence-yet-for-martian-liquid-water/
http://www.universetoday.com/91959/curiosity-starts-first-science-on-mars-sojurn-how-lethal-is-space-radiation-to-lifes-survival/

Astronomy Outreach by Ken Kremer
Rittenhouse Astronomical Association (RAS), Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, Jan. 11, Wed , 8 PM, “8 Years of Mars Rovers — Mars and Vesta in 3 D”.
Website: http://www.rittenhouseastronomicalsociety.org/

New Jersey Astronomical Association NJAA- Vorhees State Park: High Bridge, NJ, March 24, Sat., 8 PM “Atlantis, the End of America’s Shuttle Program and What’s Beyond for NASA”. Website: http://www.njaa.org/

Ken Kremer:  Spaceflight magazine & Universe Today
Ken has a selection of his Shuttle photos and Mars mosaics for sale as postcards and frameable prints.

Please contact Ken for more info or science outreach presentations:
Email: kremerken@yahoo.com   website:  www.kenkremer.com
http://www.universetoday.com/author/ken-kremer/

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Sidereal Times Blog: 2011 in Review

Posted on January 1, 2012 by ST Editors

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 40 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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From the Director

Posted on December 7, 2011 by ST Editors

by Ludovico D’Angelo, Director AAAP

I hope you are all noticing that there is no snow on the ground, and the weather has been very mild for November and so far in December. Enjoy it. Get outside. Breathe the fresh night air. Look at Orion rising, Jupiter high in the sky and Venus with the setting Sun.

StarQuest, for those who attended, was a great success.

Starquest Site

Hope Center, Starquest site. Photo credit: Michael Wright

The night of Friday, November 18th was very clear, and many deep sky objects were seen. Bill Murray had his large Dob there and was picking objects out of the sky for all to see. Newcomer, Chandra, struggled with his first-time set up in the dark, but we got him on track. Gene Ramsey set up his homemade personal observing tent and was very comfortable. Michael Wright and his wife Lynn enjoyed the night sky through his modified ETX 90. John Masters, Henry Kugel, John Giles, Saul Moroz were also in attendance.

It was cold (down to the mid 20’s), but the lodge kept us warm. The coffee and hot chocolate was flowing. The Milky Way was present; not bad for New Jersey. Unfortunately, the next night was not so good and everyone left after dinner since there was no sky to see, unless you could see through the clouds. But before everyone left Saturday evening, there was the day. During the day there was Solar observing, a trip to Jenny Jump, a great astrophotography talk given by Robert Vanderbei, and great food and conversation.

I read today that the Voyager spacecraft are still going strong, which is a huge human achievement when you think about it. Launched in the late 1970’s, they continue their journey into interstellar space. See http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/index.html for more information. It is fascinating.

Our next meeting is December 13th at 8 p.m. The speaker will be Dr. Gaspar Bakos. He will present a talk entitled ‘Hunting for Transiting Extrasolar Planets’

See you all on the 13th at 8PM in Peyton Hall!

Posted in December 2011, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

From the Program Chair

Posted on December 7, 2011 by ST Editors

by Ken Levy, Program Chair

Many thanks to AAAP’s Dr. Ken Kremer for last month’s lecture ‘What’s Beyond for NASA”. Ken attended the launch of The Mars Science Laboratory (aka Curiosity) at the Kennedy Space Center on November 26th. The 2,000 pound rover is scheduled to land on Mars in August 2012.

Dr. Ken Kremer. Photo credit: Ken Levy

Dr. Ken Kremer. Photo credit: Ken Levy

On Tuesday December 10th we’re proud to present Princeton’s Dr. Gaspar Bakos, speaking on ‘Hunting for Transiting Extrasolar Planets’. Dr. Bakos is Assistant Professor in the Princeton Astrophysical Sciences Department and has just returned from work in Chile.

Dr. Bakos is the Principal Investigator for the Hungarian Automated Telescope Network (HATNet), six 110-mm diameter, wide-field, fully-automated telescopes designed to detect and characterize extrasolar planets, and to find and study bright variable stars. The network is maintained by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics with primary stations at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Sub-millimeter Array site atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Dr. Bakos is also the PI for the related HAT-South network of telescopes installed in Chile, Australia and Namibia, the first truly global network of identical telescopes allowing for round-the-clock monitoring of the sky.

Dr. Gaspar Bakos. Source: National Geographic Hungary, 2009 July

Dr. Gaspar Bakos. Source: National Geographic Hungary, 2009 July

Data from HATNet have enabled the discovery of roughly a quarter of the more than 100 known exoplanets which transit their parent stars. Observations of transiting exoplanets yield precise measures of the mass and radius of the planet, placing important constraints on the planet’s internal structure. The HATNet planets have masses ranging from the mass of Neptune (only 5% of the mass of Jupiter) to roughly seven times the mass of Jupiter. Several HATNet planets are the first of their kind, including two of the first four transiting Neptune-mass planets and the first multi-planet systems with a transiting inner planet.

Dr. Bakos was awarded the 2011 Newton Lacy Pierce prize of the American Astronomical Society “for outstanding achievement, over the past five years, in observational astronomical research based on measurements of radiation from an astronomical object.” This prize is given to a distinguished astronomer younger than 36 years of age in the year designated for the award.

Dr. Bakos obtained his MSc in 2000 at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. After receiving his PhD from ELTE in 2004, he was a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow until 2007 and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow until 2010.

There will be a “Meet the Speaker” dinner, 6:00 pm before the meeting at the Triumph Brewery. To insure a place at the table, please email me at kenetics@me.com by Friday, Dec. 9th for a reservation. We look forward to seeing you in December!

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From the Outreach Chair

Posted on December 7, 2011 by ST Editors

by David Letcher, Outreach Chair

Many thanks go out to Jeff Bernardis and Mike Moreken and yours truly for giving a lively star party at the Newell Elementary School in Allentown, NJ on Friday evening, November 18th. Although it was a chilly night, the sky was reasonably clear but somewhat full of airplanes waiting to land somewhere. We were able to show many children and their parents the sights of Jupiter, the Pleaides, and the Great Nebula in Orion. We also received a donation from the school parents organization.

I’ll keep you all posted when our next few star parties get scheduled. In the meantime, I wish you all a pleasant holiday season!

Clear Skies!

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November 8, 2011 AAAP Meeting

Posted on December 7, 2011 by ST Editors

by Larry Kane, Secretary

The meeting was called to order by Director Ludy D’Angelo

  • Observatory Report: During the last storm, a power surge caused some damage to the circuit breaker box in the observatory. Director D’Angelo suggested that we wait until the power company can check their lines and determine where the problem is, and inform us when power can be returned to the observatory. A suggestion was made to get the approval of the membership to hire an electrician to replace the box and any other damaged parts, once the power can be restored. The Director recommended that we have at least two quotes from electricians. Treasurer Mitrano raised the issue that the State must treat the well that supplies water to the observatory. A discussion was held on gaining access to a compressor that could be used to blow out and clean the lines that supply the water. It was also pointed out that we would need a power supply for the compressor, depending on its type. According to the UACNJ, our observatory at Jenny Jump will require insurance coverage up to the limits set by the State, as of January 1. It was thought that any additional coverage would not cost that much
  • Web Site: The website was updated a week ago.
  • Secretary: One new membership application was received but the new member’s information was not on the member roster. Secretary Kane announced that he sent the updated roster with the new member’s information to the webmaster. Secretary Kane also stated that he sent another message to the membership requesting those who have not paid their current dues, to do so.
  • Sidereal Times: Co-editor Michael Wright announced the continued help provided by co-editor Surabhi Agarwal in getting out the last issue. The next deadline for submittals is December 2nd.
  • Outreach Report: The group has been invited to do a star party in Allentown on November 18th.
  • StarQuest: There is a thousand dollars in prizes to be given away. It appears that people are waiting for the weather forecast before committing to attend. The meeting was adjourned by Director D’Angelo.
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Treasurer’s Report

Posted on December 7, 2011 by ST Editors

by Michael Mitrano, Treasurer

Membership has increased by 10 to 64 since my last report, as past members renew and new ones join. Setting aside StarQuest, we currently have a year-to-date surplus of about $2,200. The upcoming insurance payment (about $1,200) and needed electrical repairs to the observatory will reduce that, but I am confident that we will remain in the black for the fiscal year as membership continues to grow.

If all participant payments and event expenses are in, then StarQuest 2011 in its second attempt will have a surplus of exactly $3. The rescheduled event had total revenue from registrations plus the raffle of about $1,100 versus $1,700-$1,900 in recent years. Expenses this year were down about 10% from those earlier years. In my opinion, the AAAP’s financial strength at this point does not require StarQuest to produce a surplus.

Our cumulative surplus is about $23,000.

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