by John Church
Here is one of the best-framed and most evocative eclipse photos I’ve ever seen. This was taken by a college friend (Meganne Skoug) of my granddaughter Nora. They were in Monroeville, Indiana, not far from the edge of the shadow.
I’ve informally titled it “Life and the Universe.” To me, the finely-etched leafless tree symbolizes the infinite branches of life here on Earth, and maybe elsewhere. The spectacle is being viewed by a silent anonymous human.
by Michael DiMario, AAAP Astroimaging Chair
We begin a new astroimaging season with this edition of the Sidereal Times. The image below by AAAP astroimager Daniel Mints accessed a remote observatory, Starfront https://starfront.space with his own systems. The relatively inexpensive access to remote astroimaging observatories is becoming more attractive especially if we are surrounded by bad weather and the lack of space for our own observatories.
Daniel Mints – Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas
Lagoon Nebula (in the middle of the image) or known as M8 or NGC 6523 is an emission nebula in the constellation Sagittarius. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 ly away from Earth and its dimensions are about 100 ly by 50 ly.
The Trifid Nebula (upper right of the Lagoon Nebula) also known as M20 or NGC 6514 is an H II region in Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way’s Scutum–Centaurus Arm located about 4200 ly from Earth and is 42 ly in diameter. Its name means “three-lobe.” The object is a combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a blue reflection nebula, and a dark nebula comprising the gaps in the nebula that cause the three lobes.
This image of M8 and M20 was taken under Bortle 1 skies remotely at Starfront Observatory located near Brady, TX. This image has blended Ha data into the RGB data to create an image with bright reds/pinks representing the hydrogen gas throughout the area. Image is comprised of 5 hours of integration of:
Red – 10×600
Green – 10×600
Blue -10×600
Hydrogen Alpha – 12×600
Calibrated with Master Flat/dark/bias frames
Imaging system used is a Samyang 135mm + 183MM Pro on a Celestron AVX Mount.
compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan
Mining for Neutrinos, and for Cosmic Answers Every morning, two dozen miners and engineers pack into a cage-like elevator for an 11-minute descent into the bowels of South Dakota’s Black Hills. At the bottom, a mile beneath the surface, the cage door lifts and the workers file down a rocky, twisting corridor. At its end lies the result of three years of labor: two empty caverns…more
The Moon’s Most Shadowy Places Can’t Hide From NASA’s New Camera. How is it possible to take a picture of a place where the sun never shines?Hint: A giant electronic flash is not practical.These new views are the fruits of ShadowCam, an instrument that NASA provided for Danuri, a South Korean orbiter that arrived at the moon in December….more
Scientists Seeking Life on Mars Heard a Signal That Hinted at the Future At sunset on a late summer weekend in 1924, crowds flocked to curbside telescopes to behold the advanced alien civilization they believed to be present on the surface of Mars. “See the wonders of Mars!” an uptown sidewalk astronomer shouted in New York City on Saturday, Aug. 23….more
A ‘Speedy Little Star’ May Be on Course to Escape Our Galaxy In his spare time, Tom Bickle, an astronomy student in Southampton, England, likes to blast heavy metal while combing through time-lapses of the night sky, hunting for traces of a hypothesized ninth planet and other hidden objects lurking in the outskirts of our solar system. It was on one such occasion that…more
Key missing link in black hole evolution could lie within the Omega Centauri star cluster, Hubble data shows The bright, huge globular star cluster Omega Centauri may have a black hole within it, according to a study made using the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers looked at over 500 Hubble images of the globular cluster and detected seven stars that are moving incredibly fast within the innermost region…..more
Unusual Origin Found for Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Scientists have discovered new evidence that the rock that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, abruptly ending the age of dinosaurs, was a bit of an oddball. The nature of this apocalyptic object, known as the Chicxulub impactor, has inspired intense debates, including a long-running dispute over whether it was a comet or…more
Satellites are making the night sky brighter — as a launch site, New Zealand has a duty to combat light pollution New Zealand’s rapidly growing space industry, driven by private ventures, faces challenges with light pollution affecting Indigenous astronomy. Balancing economic growth and environmental protection is crucial….more
Astronomers discover oldest known eclipse reference in 6,000-year-old Hindu text When astronomers combed through an ancient Hindu text known as the Rig Veda, they discovered that it referenced a total solar eclipse that occurred roughly 6,000 years ago — making it the oldest known mention of an eclipse. The Rig Veda, a collection of sayings and hymns from various religious and philosophical schools…more
Heaviest antimatter particle ever discovered could hold secrets to our universe’s origins Scientists have spotted the heaviest antimatter nucleus ever detected lurking in a particle accelerator. The antimatter heavyweight, called antihyperhydrogen-4, is made up of an antiproton, two antineutrons and one antihyperon (a baryon that contains a strange quark). Physicists found traces of this antimatter among particle tracks from 6 billion collisions …more
Astronomers see star devoured by black hole, surviving and coming back for seconds. And there’s a twist…A star that almost had a lucky escape after an encounter with a black hole has become the cosmic behemoth’s second course. What’s more, the team are using their observations to predict when the black hole will feast again. The study concerns a supermassive black hole 50 million times more massive than the Sun at the centre of a galaxy 860…more
Climate change is slowing Earth’s spin and making its days longer, NASA-funded study shows Earth’s days are getting longer as the planet’s spin slows down, and the melting of ice by human-caused climate change is partly to blame, say researchers. A NASA-funded study used over 120 years of data to show how melting glaciers and ice sheets, dwindling groundwater and rising seas are affecting Earth’s spin axis and lengthening its days….more
by Rex Parker, PhD director@princetonastronomers.org
2024 Mid-Summer Edition of Sidereal Times. I hope you’re enjoying your summer and getting a chance to do some astronomy on the occasional clear night here in central Jersey. Our summer hiatus for meetings continues until Sept 10 when we’ll resume meetings at Peyton Hall, home of the Princeton University Astrophysics Dept.
Despite plenty of clouds this summer, so far we have not had the problem of forest fire smoke in the northeast US atmosphere as we did last year. So, I hope to see you for some deep sky observing at the AAAP Observatory at Washington Crossing State Park (see Observatory tab on the website for directions). We have some incredibly fine telescopes and video astronomy equipment all tuned up for members use, and to bring the stars to the public on Friday nights. For observatory opening status on those Friday nights (weather dependency) consult the AAAP website or social media sites on Friday afternoons. Lately we’ve had quite a few members participating on Friday nights with many different telescopes on the field for comparison.
The Cometary Origins of the Perseid Meteor Shower. This year’s Perseids meteor shower might provide a good show if weather cooperates, as the first-quarter moon will set before midnight on the peak dates around Aug 10-12. Perseid counts usually increase late in the night before twilight, and as many as 50-70 per hour are predicted for darker sky locations this year.
But what exactly are the Perseid meteors?
A few years ago, I returned from the NEAF conference in April with a small meteorite specimen. Many of us have marveled at the US’s largest meteor (the Willamette meteorite, found near Portland OR) weighing in at 16 tons, on display at the Hayden Planetarium in NYC. My 50 gram NEAF specimen is a fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite (Meteor Crater AZ), whose ~30 tons explosively dispersed over a ~10 km radius upon impact thousands of years ago. Both of these examples are composed mostly of iron with ~5-10% nickel and 0.5% cobalt. The origin of the iron-nickel class of meteorites can be traced to the cores of large asteroids, similar in composition to earth’s core.
In contrast, meteor showers like the Perseids originate from cometary orbital material which is quite unlike the iron nickel composition of the large meteorites. Spectroscopic analysis suggests carbonaceous chondrites found on earth are similar to comets in composition, and some specimens may be from meteor showers. Of course, only the rare larger meteors ever make it to the ground, and most are only a few grams in mass or even less. Despite their low mass during entry into the atmosphere, their very high kinetic energies derive from velocities on the order of 100,000 mph, producing a brilliant transient incandescence if we are lucky enough to see them. Meteor showers result from earth crossing the orbital path of periodic comets, which over time have “leaked” small particles of dust and debris from the nucleus along the entire orbit. The Perseid meteor shower of August is associated with the periodic comet 109P/Swift Tuttle. This is a large comet with nucleus ~16 miles across, and a 133-year elliptical orbit which intersects our plane of the ecliptic at a sharp angle of ~113 degrees.. The comet crossed the earth’s orbital plane most recently most recently in 1992 (see Figure below, which I made using TheSkyX software). According to information from the American Meteor Society, most of the Perseid particles have been part of the Perseid meteor cloud for at least a thousand years.
The Perseid meteors originate from the orbit of comet 109P/Swift Tuttle which crosses the plane of earth’s orbit closest to us on ~August 10-13. Earth is moving to the right in this orbital diagram. Image by RAP made using TheSkyX software.
Observing Challenge Update – T CrB Nova. The challenge for AAAP members is to observe and record the light curve of the impending nova of the faint star T CrB (in the constellation Corona Borealis). The star is now in pre-nova stage, and the outburst event could happen any day through September. The star is recorded in some stellar databases and programs as HIP 78322 (Hipparcos Catalog). This famous recurring nova has an 80-year cycle, and is one of only five recurring novae known in our galaxy. Its magnitude, currently around ~10, will increase suddenly in brightness to magnitude ~2. The goal is to observe the T CrB nova event in a telescope, and especially to record its light curve with an astro camera, being sure to get baseline data before the nova outburst. Once it peaks, it should be visible to the unaided eye for several days and with binoculars for a week before dimming for another 80 years.
by Victor Davis, Program Chair
September Meeting
The September, 2024 meeting of the AAAP will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, September 10th at 7:30 PM. As usual, the meeting is open to AAAP members and the public. Participants can join the meeting in-person at Peyton Hall or log in to the Zoom session as early as 7:00 pm to chat informally before the meeting begins. The evening’s guest speaker is Neta Bahcall, Eugene Higgins Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University.
Options for Attending the Meeting
You may choose to attend the meeting in person or participate via Zoom or YouTube as we’ve been doing for the past few years. (See How to Participate below for details). Due to security concerns, if you log in before the host has set up internet connectivity in Peyton Hall, you may need to wait in the Waiting Room for a few minutes until the host is prepared to admit you into the meeting. You’ll need to unmute yourself to make comments or ask questions. It’s polite, though not required, for you to enable your camera so other participants can see you. A week or so after the meeting, the video of the lecture and Q&A will be posted on AAAP’s public YouTube channel.
Meet the Speaker Dinner
The status of the club’s traditional “Meet the Speaker” dinner is undetermined at this time. Please contact the Program Chair closer to the meeting date if you’d like to attend.
Getting to Peyton Hall
The parking lots across the street (Ivy Lane) from Peyton Hall are now construction sites, unavailable for parking. We’ve been advised by the administration of the astrophysics department that we should park in the new enclosed parking garage off Fitzrandolph street and walk around the stadium and athletic fields. Here’s a map of the campus and walking routes from the parking garage to Peyton Hall. The map shows the recently completed East Garage. Not shown is an access road Sweet Gum that connects from Faculty Road to an entrance at the lower left corner of the garage. Stadium Road connects from Fitzrandolph Road to another entrance at the opposite corner (and higher level) of the garage. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the parking garage to Peyton Hall.
neta@astro.princeton.edu
“Lighting Up the Dark: Where is the Dark Matter?”
Lighting Up the Dark: Where is the Dark Matter?
Gravitational lensing and other phenomena help to show the distribution of mass within galaxies and throughout the universe, revealing the connection between the dark and bright sides of the Universe. We’ve discovered that – at galactic scales – the observed mass distribution extends considerably beyond the dimensions we observe in luminous objects. This trend changes dramatically at scales larger than a few hundred kiloparsecs, where mass, light, and stars trace each other remarkably well. Contrary to earlier expectations, it seems that most of the dark matter in the universe may be located in large halos (~300 Kpc in extent) enveloping and surrounding galaxies as opposed to being found on larger scales throughout galaxy groups, clusters, and other large-scale structures.
How can stars, which represent only about one percent of the total mass of the universe, follow the total mass so well? Where are the rest of the baryons? How is dark matter distributed in the universe, and how does it relate to the underlying distribution of light, stars, and baryons? Prof. Bahcall will discuss the connection between baryons, stars, and mass at large scales, and the implications for galaxy formation, the mass-density of the universe, and cosmology.
Neta Bahcall
Neta A. Bahcall is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University. She is Director of the Undergraduate Program in Astrophysics, and past Director of the Council on Science and Technology of Princeton University.
Prof. Bahcall was born in Israel. She earned her PhD from Tel-Aviv University, working in Nuclear Astrophysics under the direction of Prof. William A. Fowler of Caltech. She was the first Head of the Science Program Selection Office and Chief of the General Observer Branch at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore. Prof. Bahcall is a Distinguished Lecturer at various universities and has served on editorial boards of many organizations. She’s an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, and past-chair of its astronomy section. She has won prestigious awards for her distinguished career in astronomical research. Prof. Bahcall married renowned astrophysicist John N. Bahcall in 1966, and has three children.
Prof. Bahcall’s research work focuses on questions such as: What is the large-scale structure of the universe? How did structure form and evolve? How much dark matter exists in the universe and how is it distributed? What is the nature of dark energy? What is the ultimate fate of our universe? Prof. Bahcall and colleagues’ determination of properties such as the cluster correlation function, the cluster mass function and its evolution, the mass-to-light function from galaxies to superclusters, the geometrical shapes of clusters and of large-scale structure have provided powerful constraints on cosmology, including one of the first determinations of the mass-density of the universe and the amplitude of mass fluctuations. Prof. Bahcall works closely with students and postdoctoral fellows; their work is summarized in more than 300 scientific publications.
How to Participate (Links)
Zoom and YouTube links will be provided soon
As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated.
victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomers
(908) 581-1780 cell
Observatory Chair 2010 – 2016
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
In his retirement years, Gene Ramsey pursued his passion for astronomy, serving as a diligent caretaker of this observatory and mentor to members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton who continue to use this facility for our own observing projects and for educating the public. Gene’s special joy was explaining the wonders of the universe to children. His knowledge of sky lore and enthusiasm for public outreach inspire the club’s “keyholders” and the observatory’s many visitors to share Gene’s sense of the transcendence of the human experience.
by Michael DiMario
Title: The Allure of the Multiverse
Author: Paul Halpern
Publisher: Basic Books, New York
Publication Date: January 2024
Total Pages: 320
In The Allure of the Multiverse, the author physicist Paul Halpern begins to describe the early ideas of the infinite cosmos with Giordano Bruno’s 1584 treatise On the Infinite Universe and Worlds. The author brings the reader through the history and controversies of not only our singular universe but of multiple universes before the Big Bang and of parallel universes. Time travel is discussed and the testing of time dilation brings the reader through an expanding topical discussion showing the interconnections of time, gravity, space, black holes, and a potential multiverse. Wormholes and time tunnels are discussed thoroughly as well as a description of our own Princeton J Richard Gott’s time loop.
This reader found the first half of the book a slow read delving into the history and controversies of the origins of the current multiverse theories. However, the read picked up in the latter half of the book as the reader is taken through time travel, worm holes, and the basis of the popular shows and movies of Interstellar, Star Trek, and faster than light tachyons. This is a great source to more fully understand the subject and origins of the concept of multiple universes.
by Michael DiMario, AAAP Astroimaging Chair
The summer thus far in eastern PA and NJ has been self-evident in poor weather from clouds, humidity, storms, and extreme heat making astroimaging difficult to say the least. However, a few tremendous images were taken by AAAP members concentrating on the northern constellation Cygnus. Cygnus is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn sky, and it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross (in contrast to the Southern Cross) with the brightest star in Cygnus and first-magnitude Deneb, a blue supergiant, forming at the head of the Northern Cross. Deneb also forms an additional asterism known as the Summer Triangle. The constellation is home to Cygnus X-1, a distant X-ray binary containing a supergiant and unseen massive companion that was the first object widely held to be a black hole. There are 97-star systems in Cygnus that have known planets as a result of the Kepler Mission.
Clear skies,
Michael DiMario, PhD
AAAP Astroimaging Chair
David Wilton – Cygnus Wall
The Cygnus Wall, part of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), photons were collected multi-nights of 15–27 June 2024. Total integration time of 13 hours, 18 minutes using a Televue 127 refractor and ZWO ASI2600 monochrome camera on a Paramount MYT mount. Post processing with PixInsight. The nebula is in the “Hubble palette,” that is using narrowband sulfur II, hydrogen-alpha, and oxygen III filters in the red, green, and blue channels; the stars were imaged with red, green, and blue filters.
David Wilton – Witch’s Broom
Witch’s Broom (NGC 6960), part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cygnus. Image was captured 7–8 June 2024 with 7 hours, 56 minutes integration time, using a Televue 127 refractor and ZWO ASI2600 monochrome camera on a Paramount MYT mount. Post processing with PixInsight. The nebula is imaged with narrowband hydrogen-alpha and oxygen III filters (HOO palette); the stars were imaged with red, green, and blue filters.
Rex Parker – Bat Nebula (NGC 6995)
NGC 6995 or known as the Bat Nebula is part of the eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus. The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant from an event about 5000 years ago. Image was captured using a AGO 12.5” Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain scope, ASI2400MC Pro camera with an Antlia Triband filter. Integration of 41×10 min subs, gain 140 (unity). Processed in Astrometric Stacking Program (ASTAP) and minimally in Photoshop (PS).
Oleg Shargorodsky – Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888)
The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 ly from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The Crescent Nebula image was captured using a ASKAR 108mm FRA600 Quintuplet scope, an ASKAR 0.7x f/3.9 Full Frame Reducer on an iOptron CEM40 mount using a ZWO ASl2600mc pro camera, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini guider, and an Antlia ALP-T Dual Narrowband OIII (5nm) and H-a (5nm) Filter. Image processing using PixInsight and Lightroom.
compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan
Moon craters with NASA’s Shadowcam When a NASA spacecraft passes over Shackleton Crater on the moon and peers in, it sees this: a sea of blackness and nothing more. This 13-mile-wide crater lies close to the moon’s south pole. Here, the sun never rises high above the horizon, and the rim of Shackleton blocks the sun’s rays from ever shining directly onto the crater floor…more
NASA Did Not Say It Found Life on Mars. But It’s Very Excited About This Rock. The rock, studied by NASA’s Perseverance rover, has been closely analyzed by scientists on Earth who say that nonmicrobial processes could also explain its features. The rover has drilled and stashed a piece of the rock, which scientists hope can be brought back to Earth…more
NASA’s Curiosity rover discovers a surprise in a Martian rock Scientists were stunned on May 30 when a rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove over cracked open to reveal something never seen before on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals. While people associate sulfur with the odor from rotten eggs (the result of hydrogen sulfide gas), elemental sulfur is odorless…more
The Higgs particle could have ended the universe by now—here’s why we’re still here Although our universe may seem stable, having existed for a whopping 13.7 billion years, several experiments suggest that it is at risk—walking on the edge of a very dangerous cliff. And it’s all down to the instability of a single fundamental particle: the Higgs boson…more
LAMOST J2354 binary hosts an unseen massive white dwarf, study suggests Astronomers from the Ohio State University (OSU) and University of Hawai’i have performed spectroscopic observations of a recently-discovered binary system known as LAMOST J2354, which contains a dark companion star. Results of the observational campaign, presented July 26 on the pre-print server arXiv, suggest that the unseen object is a massive white dwarf…more
Cosmic microwave background experiments could probe connection between cosmic inflation, particle physics Various large-scale astrophysical research projects are set to take place over the next decade, several of which are so-called cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. These are large-scale scientific efforts aimed at detecting and studying…more
NASA Science, Cargo Launch on 21st Northrop Grumman Mission to Station Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft for the company’s 21st commercial resupply services mission for NASA launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. New scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station…more
NASA Invites Media, Public to Attend Deep Space Food Challenge Finale NASA invites the media and public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16. In 2019, NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) started the Deep Space Food Challenge, a multi-year international effort…more
Astronomers discover new supergiant-rich stellar cluster Astronomers report the discovery of a new galactic stellar cluster located some 24,000 light years away. The newfound cluster, which received the designation Barbá 2, turns out to host at least several supergiant stars. In general, star clusters are groups of stars sharing a common origin and gravitationally bound…more
Earth’s ‘evil twin’ Venus may have mirrored our planet more than expected New research may have brought Earth and its inhospitable, “evil twin” even closer together. Today, Venus seems to lack the tectonic activity seen on Earth, but surface features like faults, folds and volcanoes indicate the hellish planet — with intense temperatures hot enough to melt lead and fearsome surface pressures — was once tectonically active…more
Watch These Supernovas Explode Across Time “The past is never dead,” William Faulkner once wrote. “It’s not even past.” Nobody knows this better than astronomers. Everything that has ever happened in the history of the universe has left a mark on the sky; with the right technology, much of it is now decipherable…more
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton 