From The Director

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Rex Parker, PhD director@princetonastronomers.org

UPDATE: 02/13/2024
Tuesday, February 13th. Due to inclement weather today, this evening’s AAAP meeting will be virtual only. You can join on Zoom or YouTube Live.

Next Meeting Live in Peyton Hall.  After getting knocked back by a major winter storm last month, we will again seek to have a real live meeting in Peyton Hall for our next monthly get-together on Feb 13.  The guest speaker is Prof David John Helfand from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Dept at Columbia University in NYC.  Dr Helfand is a big name in astronomy and physics, having been chair of the department at Columbia for many years and deeply involved with the American Inst. of Physics (AIP) and AIP Publishing.  Please see Victor’s section below for more on the speaker.  Let’s hope the weather is calm on Feb 13 and that we have a great turnout at Peyton Hall for the meeting.  See you there (or on Zoom, if you just cannot make it to campus that night).

So You Want to Be an Amateur Astronomer?  To those of you who recently signed on to become a member of AAAP, I extend special greetings and a warm welcome.  And to members who have re-upped, your participation and support is deeply appreciated by the club.  For all of us, I pose the question:  why amateur astronomy?  

You may read opinions on the topic which describe how astronomy is one of the few scientific areas where amateurs can make a real contribution.  You can take part in data mining from the big telescopes and transient events reported continually by the large sky survey projects such as PAN-STARRS. You can supplement your local club membership by joining the Planetary Society, and the American Astronomical Society — the most prestigious professional astronomy organization in the country and perhaps the world (https://www.aas.org/join/classes-membership-and-affiliation).  By tuning in to the AAS, and NASA and JPL’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS; https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/), you can jump start your participation in cool observing projects using the AAAP’s telescopes or your own equipment.  For example, NASA is currently seeking citizen scientist help in classifying light curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), some of the most energetic explosions in the universe:  https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/amylien/burst-chaser

But there are other good answers to the “why” question, and maybe these are more important. One answer has more to do with giving back to the world.  The education company EF (“Education First”) states that “Individuals who volunteer throughout their lifetime typically live longer and have better psychological well-being. In addition to the health benefits, volunteering gives people a sense of purpose. The fulfillment from giving back and contributing to society is unparalleled.”  This is a very satisfying answer to the “why” question, and here AAAP can really help by providing opportunities to get more involved personally.  We offer outreach participation for members to interact with the public, both young and adult, at AAAP-sponsored events.  Many external requests are fielded by our outreach chair throughout the year, and spring is the prime time for requests from school teachers and scout groups.  In addition, we hold public open house observing events every Friday night from April through October at our Washington Crossing Observatory.  The AAAP Observatory chairs coordinate these activities, and members can enter training to learn the astronomical hardware/software as well as get a better grasp of how to interact with the public on these nights.  Contact us to get more involved (please find the e-mail addresses in the Sidereal Times banner above).

An equally good answer to the “why” question is, because it’s fun and fascinating to observe and especially to interact with fellow enthusiasts and with the modern technological marvels that telescopes, mounts, and imaging equipment have evolved into in recent years.  There has been a major revolution in astro-imaging that makes it possible for any of us to become more able to see the celestial wonders like never before.  AAAP membership is your path to this exciting way of observing the natural world of our skies, despite the light pollution and challenges that come with our New Jersey skies.

This year will present new opportunities in our club. At the organizational level, here are a few areas to enhance member experience and up our game as a science-outreach organization.

  • Increase the participation and contributions by members in real-time at the regular monthly club meetings.
  • Provide learning opportunities for members and public to better understand the night sky and the physics of the cosmos, with increased hands-on astronomy observing and imaging in its many forms.
  • Strengthen our links and interactions with the Princeton Astrophysics Dept faculty, post-docs, staff, and astronomy students, both during the monthly meetings and outreach events.

The “Un-journal Club” Needs You.  AAAP’s monthly meetings feature a guest speaker, usually a professional, followed by highlights of club activities and member conversations.  This year we want to continue the Un-journal Club, a fun term evoking (provoking?) the journal clubs common in science grad school programs.  For AAAP the Unjournal Club is simply brief informal presentations given in the second half of the meeting by members.  These don’t need scholarly journal-like topics, but merely engage members with what you care about in astronomy.  You can use PowerPoint slides, JPEG’s, astro-images, travel pictures (e.g., bring on a USB memory stick), book reviews, whatever you want including simply your voice.  To get onto the schedule for an upcoming meeting, please contact me or program chair Victor Davis.

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From The Program Chair

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Victor Davis, Program Chair

Lecture and Book Signing this Month at Peyton Hall
The February, 2024 meeting of the AAAP will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, February 13th 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. This evening’s guest speaker is David John Helfand, Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University. Prof. Helfand will discuss his recent book “The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom.” Copies of his book will be available for purchase, and Prof. Helfand will be pleased to sign them.

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 club will host a “Meet the Speaker” dinner at Winberie’s Bar and Restaurant, 1 Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ, just across the street from the campus of Princeton University. The reservation is prior to the meeting on February 13th at 5:45 pm. Please contact the Program Chair if you plan to attend.

Here’s the anticipated agenda for February, 2024’s monthly meeting of the AAAP:

(Times are approximate)

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.

Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 7.47.24 PM

Featured Speaker:

David John Helfand
Professor of Astronomy
Columbia University

djh@astro.columbia.edu

“The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom”

By utilizing the basic building blocks of matter as imperturbable little clocks, we are now able to reconstruct in quantitative detail a remarkable range of human and natural events. From detecting art forgeries to dating archeological sites, and from laying out a detailed history of human diet and the Earth’s climate to revealing the events surrounding the origin of life, of the Solar System and of the Universe itself, atoms provide us with a precise chronology from the beginning of time to the moment humans emerge to contemplate such questions.

David John Helfand Prof. Helfand writes that “We all edit our lives into stories. Some are carefully plotted; others follow a meandering path like mine; from a theater major to an astrophysicist, a researcher who found creating a university from scratch an even more fascinating challenge than understanding neutron stars.” Prof. Helfand’s meandering path included undergraduate studies at Amherst College, then MS and PhD degrees in respectively, Physics and Astronomy at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s been on Columbia’s faculty for forty-six years, nearly half that time as Chair of the Department of Astronomy. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and mentored twenty-two PhD students, mostly in high-energy astrophysics, yet most of his pedagogical efforts have been aimed at teaching science to non-science majors. It took 27 years of effort to implement in Columbia’s Core Curriculum the teaching of science to all first-year students. It was the first change to the famed Core Curriculum in fifty years.  His “Frontiers of Science” is not “Rocks for Jocks” or “Physics for Poets,” but a hugely successful effort to share with students what he calls “Scientific Habits of Mind.” Prof. Helfand received Columbia’s 2001 Presidential Teaching Award and the 2002 Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates. In 2005, he became involved in the effort to create Canada’s first independent, non-profit secular university, Quest University Canada, first as Visiting Tutor then as President and Vice Chancellor. For six years in a row, Quest was ranked #1 in North America in the National Survey of Student Engagement. Prof. Helfand served as President of the American Astronomical Society and was named as a Society Legacy Fellow in 2020. He is currently Chair of the Boards of the American Institute of Physics and of AIP Publishing. He’s a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Science Counts, an organization formed to communicate with the public about the importance and impact of publicly funded fundamental research.

Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 8.00.23 PM                       Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 8.00.29 PM

How to Participate (Links)
Zoom 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89107290058?pwd=Lo4xSMdV1vQR9vWgsHfHHMZyuJLA6h.1

YouTube
https://youtube.com/live/7jBYj-3eLoc 

A look ahead at future guest speakers:

DateFeatured SpeakerTopic
March 12 2024Erika Hoffman

Graduate student, University of Maryland
ebhoff@umd.edu		Erika will describe her research using high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy to investigate ionized outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Suggested by Bill Thomas.
April 9
2024		Eclipse Observations
Since this meeting will take place the day after the Total Solar Eclipse of 08 April 2024, and many members will be out of town or returning from their trips, I’m suggesting that we host an online roundup of eclipse observations, with members (and perhaps others) Zooming in to share their experiences.
May 14
2024		Dr. Tea Temim

Research Astronomer, Princeton University Department of Astrophysics		Dr. Temim will describe her research using JWST imagery to study supernova remnants. Suggested by Gene Allen.
temim@astro.princeton.edu
June 11
2024		NJ State Museum planetarium’s Bill Murray, and Jacob Hamer, Assistant Curator

AAAP’s traditional annual pilgrimage to the NJ State Museum planetarium in Trenton, where members will experience a presentation and a preview of the planetarium’s latest sky show.

As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated.
victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomy.org
(908) 581-1780 cell

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Minutes of the January 9, 2024 Meeting

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Gene Allen, Secretary

Due to the governor declaring a state of emergency, the meeting was convened on Zoom by Director Rex Parker at 1930. Following a brief introduction in which he displayed a star chart from The Sky X and introduced an Astro quiz, Program Chair Victor Davis introduced speaker Dr. Lia Medeiros, who gave us a presentation entitled A Sharper Look at the M87 Black Hole with PRIMO. She did an excellent job of keeping the subject matter at a level most of us could follow but also going into greater depth in some areas. Her talk was followed by twenty minutes of questions and a ten minute break. Attending were 45 online.

Some 23 continued with us when we reconvened at 2115 with an Unjournal Presentation by Member Jim Peck about his childhood visit to Meteor Crater in Arizona and the Meteorite Study Kit he bought.

The business meeting opened at 2114 with 23 still attending.

Outreach Chair Bill Murray requested volunteers for:

Monday, January 22 at the Helen L. Beeler Elementary School an hour south at 60 Caldwell Ave in Marlton

Ira will be giving a talk rain or shine and if it is clear they want to add stargazing so we need 3 or 4 folks who can bring their scopes.

Saturday, May 18 at the AAAP Observatory

That is Astronomy Day and Keyholders are needed to open the Observatory for a group driving up after a talk at the NJ State Museum Planetarium.

Observatory Co-Chair Dave Skitt reported that the observatory water system has been shut down and drained. Verizon has repaired a drooping wire. Keyholder Tom Swords assisted in aligning the C14 and the Explore Scientific 5”using cameras so that they can offer two views well centered on the same object. No star test has yet been accomplished on the new focuser installed on the Orion XT12i Dobsonian.

Rex guided discussion about his Astro Quiz and the answers:

  • 6 most abundant elements in solar system?

H, He, O, C, N, Ne

  • Which is larger, a light year or a parsec?

3.26 light years in a parsec

  • What is the approx. diameter of our Galaxy?

~100,000 light years or ~30,000 parsecs

  • How long does it take our solar system to make one revolution around the core of our galaxy?

~250 million years

  • How many times brighter is a 1st magnitude star compared to a 6th mag star?

100 times (each mag step is 5√100=1001/5=2.52)

Rex then presented information about Hidden Hydrogen. It seems that hydrogen gas was dissolved in rock as the planet formed and it has now collected in pockets underground that might be the target for drilling. If there is as much as is anticipated, we may be able to transition from fossil fuels to a fuel cell power economy. Here is the article:

https://www.science.org/content/article/hidden-hydrogen-earth-may-hold-vast-stores-renewable-carbon-free-fuel

Discussion ensued about the changes coming to amateur astronomy in the form of automated camera scopes that internalize even image enhancement and stacking. Many of us expect scopes such as the ZWO Seestar ($500) and the newly released Celestron Origin ($3999) to be the future of our passion. The days of post-processing may slip behind us like film cameras.

The meeting was adjourned at 2203.

Membership currently numbers 208, with 58 having joined in 2023 and 6 so far in 2024. There have been 131 renewals in 2023 and 6 so far in 2024. Only 49 have allowed their membership to expire in 2023, giving us a 73% retention rate. For 2024, none have expired, so we are retaining 100%!

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Book Review

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Michael DiMario

Title: American Eclipse – A Nation’s Epic Race To Catch The Shadow Of The Moon And Win The Glory Of The World

Author: David Baron

Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York, NY

Publication Date: 2017

Total Pages: 352

The upcoming total solar eclipse Monday April 8, 2024 made this book attractive to read and I was not disappointed with the author David Baron, a former NPR science correspondent and an umbraphile (a person who chases eclipses), narrative of the challenges of a young and burgeoning science America to witness and collect scientific data on the total solar eclipse Monday July 29, 1878. Gilded Age America represented rapid economic, industrial, and technological growth becoming the envy of the world. The author elegantly describes how the United States was positioned to establish itself as a major leader in the world’s scientific community with the advent of the total solar eclipse.

The 1878 total solar eclipse followed a path stretching from northwest Montana, through Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and onto the Gulf of Mexico. The rapid industrialization and expansion of the railroads allowed coast to coast transit in less than a week. Rapid travel allowed for eclipse expeditions to move equipment from the east coast to points still considered the “Wild West.” The author describes these expeditions and the primary characters that were to usher the United States to join the world’s scientific community. The author’s story centers on three main characters – Thomas Edison whose primary goal was to test his prototype devise to measure temperature changes in the Sun’s corona introducing the concept of infrared telescopes and his eureka moments that lead to the light bulb; Maria Mitchell whose fame and attributes as a comet discoverer, Navy celestial navigation woman computer, a Vassar College professor, and presiding over the Women’s Congress to promote women in science, and an astronomer James Watson whose goal was to locate the planet Vulcan orbiting between the Sun and Mercury. The author Baron describes as well the Princeton College eclipse expedition, Henry Draper expedition, as well as a myriad of other intriguing characters of the Gilded Age. The story includes the ambitions and personalities of the primary characters with the difficulty of scientific expeditions in the still “Wild West” United States with train robberies, Indian uprisings, and Wild West outlaws and the immediate justice system.

The author depicts the Gilded Age and all its glory and promise dampened by the Wild West and the pressure of scientific and technical advancement using the Eclipse of 1878. The book details the theory of the planet Vulcan and its continuous belief of its existence to be extinguished by Albert Einstein and Thomas Edson’s infrared measurement device and other inventions he was working on at this time. The author David Baron does not disappoint as the book is an enjoyable read with its many facets and weaving stories

Posted in February 2024, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

February 2024 Sidereal Times Astroimaging

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Michael DiMario, Astroimaging Chair

Welcome to the new section of the Sideral Times dedicated to club member’s activities in astrophotography or called astronomical imaging. It is our intent to publish a few of our member’s latest images demonstrating our member’s passion for this hobby and communicate the wonders of the celestial sky. Astroimagery is broad and varied ranging from nightscapes, solar, planetary, lunar, and deep sky objects whereby each requires different techniques and methodologies. Even within a specific imaging topic of deep sky objects, the approach ranges from narrow to medium to wide-field as well as specific spectral wavelengths.

The interest in astroimaging is exploding with the advent of new supporting technologies and standards in affordable cameras, mounts, filters, software for mount and camera controls and image processing. The affordable technologies and interface standards, such as the Astronomy Common Object Model (ASCOM), fuels the burgeoning astroimaging hobby attracting more astroimagers and in turn creates more innovation. Gone are the days of very long duration film astrophotography whereby celestial guiding was manual through an eyepiece reticle whereby the imager made continuous very fine adjustments to keep the target on the reticle over the course of several hours to obtain sufficient film exposure. This imager spent many a night manually guiding with hyper-sensitive 35mm film for several hours for one image. Today, hundreds of digital frames may be taken of multiple objects in a single night and processed the very next day and in many cases processed in real-time.

The AAAP has an astroimaging subgroup with forty-six members, at no additional club fee, whereby club members may share their images, challenges, specific problems, solutions, and a general discussion of astroimaging. The AAAP Astroimaging Group meets online by Zoom the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm. As well as the monthly meeting, images and communications are provided nearly daily via an email group and collaboration platform group.io. The continuity of discussions is retained and members take advantage of lessons learned and images by browsing the postings. If you wish more information or to join the Astroimaging Group, please contact Gene Allen secretary@princetonastronomy.org or Michael DiMario astroimaging@princetonastronomy.org.

Photograph by Rich Sherman

This image is IC342 or known as the Hidden Galaxy located in the constellation Camelopardalis. This spiral galaxy is “hidden” because it lies behind dusty areas of our own galaxy’s equator. This galaxy is estimated to be 7 million to 11 million light years from Earth and is believed to appear very much like our own galaxy the Milky Way. Captured 12/18/2023 with ZWO ASI2600MC camera with the Antlia Triband Filter on a Sky-Watcher Esprit ED APO 100mm f/5.5 refractor; Integration of 52x2min frames at -10 C, Bin 1, at unity gain; Processed with CCD Stack, Topaz DeNoise, and Lightroom.
                                – Rich Sherman

Photograph by Purnendu Gupta

Our nearest star seen against its closest neighbor Mercury during the transit event in November 2019. Mercury appears as a tiny speck a few pixels wide. It is amazing to think that the Earth, from the same perspective, would only be about 2.5 times larger – still just a few pixels wide. If the Sun was the size of a basketball, on a relative scale, Mercury would be a pinhead about 30 feet away.
                             – Purnendu Gupta

Photograph by Joseph Matthews

This image is of IC353, located in the Taurus constellation, taken on or about December 8th, 2023. IC353 was discovered by E.E. Barnard in 1893. IC353 is a vast diffuse reflection nebula that is just north-east of the Pleiades star cluster, and is probably physically connected to the Pleiades nebulosity. It is described in the Index Catalog as “very faint, extremely large,” with a diameter of about 3 degrees.
                              — Joseph Matthews

Photograph by Daniel Mints

This image is of M78 the brightest reflection nebula in the night sky and is referred by many as the Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula. It is located in the constellation Orion at magnitude 8.3 and is approximately 1,600 light years from Earth with an approximate diameter of 10 light years. M78 is lit by a stellar nursery of young stars that illuminate the dust particles reflecting and scattering blue light. This image was taken by a ZWO ASI533MC Pro at gain 101on a Celestron C8 SCT at f/6.3 with a Celestron AVX mount. Integration of 200x120sec stacked images and processed in PixInsight with BlurXTerminator and NoiseXTerminator and post processed in Lightroom.
                              – Daniel Mints

Photograph by Bill Murray

This image of NGC 1499 is known as the California Nebula, discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884, and is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus approximately 1,000 light years from Earth at magnitude 6.0. It is fairly large stretching 2.5 degrees by a half degree wide.
NGC 1499 image was captured using a ZWO ASI183MC Pro camera on a William Optics Redcat 51 with an integration of 5 to 6 hours.
                                 — Bill Murray

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The Sun God Aditya

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti

In Hindu mythology, Aditya is the Sun god, something akin to Ra in Egyptian mythology. Studying the Sun has been occurring for most of human history. In the last few decades done using telescopes – both space based and land based. India launched a spacecraft named Aditya a few months back. In the beginning of the new year 2024, Aditya reached a parking slot called L1 Lagrangian point which is about a million miles from the Earth and towards the Sun on the Earth-Sun axis.

At the L1 Lagrangian point parking slot, the spacecraft just hangs in without spending much fuel. It is a good vantage point as well, being able to see the Sun all the time without any day or night. The picture below, courtesy ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), shows all the 5 Lagrangian points where the gravitational forces are minimal as the forces from the Sun and the Earth cancel each other out. It is like living with very little gravity.

These points came as a solution to a problem called the 3 body problem. The Earth, Sun and the spacecraft forming the 3 bodies. This problem was first solved by the mathematician Leonard Euler who came up with 3 of the points. Joseph Lagrange then completed the solution with all the 5 points. The 3 body problem can exist anywhere in the Universe. It is not specific to the Sun or Earth or our solar system. In fact, a famous Sci-fi novel called “Three body problem” involves a tale woven around 3 Sun like stars orbiting each other and a civilization on a planet having the experience of 3 Suns in the sky. 

The L2 Lagrangian point is very popular for space telescopes like James Webb. L2 is good for spacecraft wanting to see the Universe, away from our Sun. While L1 is very good for observing the Sun. The other 3 Lagrangian points have found no uses so far.  ESA’s (European Space Agency) SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft is there at L1 observing the Sun. NASA’s (National Space and Aeronautics Administration) Parker spacecraft also observes the Sun, but it is not there at L1 instead it is positioned much closer to the Sun. 

While getting to L1 Lagrangian point involves a tedious million mile journey, inserting into a halo orbit and staying there could be a challenge. ESA’s SOHO spacecraft had broken loose from its orbit and had to be maneuvered back to its parking slot orbit. Hope Aditya does not encounter such a situation.  

Aditya’s goal is to image the sun in visible, ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to get more insight into the dynamics of the solar atmosphere. It will also study “space weather” that results from solar storms.  The instruments which are on board to make such observations possible are divided into observing and analyzing ones. Observing ones are the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS), and High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS). These cover the visible, ultraviolet and -ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

The three analyzing instruments sitting inside the spacecraft are the Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX), Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya (PAPA), and Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers. While these instruments present an alphabetic soup of acronyms, each new generation of spacecraft has more sophisticated and complex electronics to make more detailed and precise observations. All the space maneuvering skills are not of much use without these instruments. After all, nowadays, astronomy is all about capturing a series of numbers and interpreting them on the Earth and imbuing them with colors. Thereby enhancing our knowledge of the Cosmos.

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Milky Way From Mauna Kea

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

by Greg Kutch

These are pictures that my niece Allison Zaudke took with her phone on Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii. I had no idea you could see the Milky Way this well without a telescope. It’s astonishing how a simple phone can unveil the awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, turning a casual snapshot into a cosmic revelation.

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Snippets

Posted on February 4, 2024 by ST Editors

compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

-NYT

Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis? It’s come to this. With Earth at its hottest point in recorded history, and humans doing far from enough to stop its overheating, a small but growing number of astronomers and physicists are proposing a potential fix that could have leaped from the pages of science fiction: The equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space…more

-NYT
-NYT

Ingenuity, the NASA Helicopter Flying Over Mars, Ends Its Mission New Ingenuity, the little Mars helicopter that could, can’t anymore. At least one rotor broke during the robotic flying machine’s most recent flight last week, NASA officials announced on Thursday. Ingenuity remains in contact with its companion, the Perseverance rover…more

-space.com

James Webb Space Telescope makes rare detection of 2 exoplanets orbiting dead stars The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already proven itself adept at peering into the past by imaging objects at tremendous distances, but a new breakthrough may have seen the powerful instrument act almost like a scientific crystal ball, staring into the far future of the solar system…more

-NYT

That Famous Black Hole Gets a Second Look At the center of Messier 87, a giant galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth, is a darkness 24 billion miles across and as massive as 6.5 billion suns — a trapdoor to infinity called a black hole. In 2017, a group of astronomers operating the Event Horizon Telescope, a world-spanning network of radio telescopes…more

-NASA

6 Great Space Images in January Sierra Space tested the strain its orbital module can handle. This is what it looks like when an inflatable space station module explodes. Second image shows when Japan’s SLIM spacecraft landed on the moon. It had engine problems and tipped over while landing, resulting in its solar panels initially pointing the wrong way to charge its batteries….more

-space.com

Nuclear power on the moon: NASA wraps up 1st phase of ambitious reactor project NASA is wrapping up the design phase of a project to develop concepts for a small, electricity-generating nuclear fission reactor for use on the moon. The Fission Surface Power Project aims to develop safe, clean and reliable energy sources on the moon, where each nighttime lasts around 14.5 Earth days. Such a system could play a big role in the agency’s Artemis program for lunar exploration…more

-space.com

A monster black hole is throwing a galaxy-size tantrum Astronomers have spotted a supermassive black hole throwing a temper tantrum on a galactic scale as it feeds, figuratively “flipping the table” and cutting off its parent galaxy’s gas supply needed to birth stars. The table-flipping behavior comes in the form of an ultrafast wind emerging from the lightly snacking supermassive black hole, which sits in a…more

-space..com

Which telescope will be 1st to find alien life? Scientists have some ideas A peek into the future of exoplanet science suggests the forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is going to give us our best chance in the next two decades of detecting biosignatures on nearby rocky worlds orbiting other stars. Such is the conclusion of a new study that simulated what it will take to characterize worlds outside…more

-BBC

Surrey scientists to help build zero gravity space fuel system Experts at the University of Surrey are helping to build a revolutionary fuel gauge that will be tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The gauge can accurately measure how full a tank is in zero gravity by using electrical sensors. The Smart Tank for Space…more

Posted in February 2024, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

From The Director

Posted on January 1, 2024 by ST Editors

by Rex Parker, PhD director@princetonastronomers.org

UPDATE: 01/08/2024
Inclement weather is expected tomorrow, Tuesday, January 9th.
AAAP meeting will be on Zoom only.

Denizens of Planet Earth Declare another New Year!  I hope the beginning of 2024 finds you with recharged batteries and a renewed sense of wonder about the universe around us. Sharing that sensibility is part of our role as amateur astronomers.  As you may have realized at family and friend gatherings over the holidays, as a Princeton Amateur Astronomer you will be called upon to interpret the physics behind celestial phenomena.  You’re the go-to person to describe what is seen by telescopes from the Webb to your own backyard setup, to discuss why we should land humans on the moon again and explore Mars and the asteroids, and just how do Lagrange points work anyway? 

The New Year in astronomy for AAAP will begin on Jan 9 (7:30pm) as we convene again on campus.  It would be great to have a big member turnout at Peyton Hall for guest speaker Lia Medeiros, formerly of the IAS and now NASA Hubble Einstein Fellow in Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton.  Thanks to the efforts of Dave and Ira, we plan to continue Zooming live from Peyton Hall for those who cannot attend in person.  For more on the presentation and the Zoom link see Victor’s article below. 

With the start of a new year comes opportunities in our club. Here are a few areas to enhance member experience and up our game as a science-outreach organization.

  • Increase the participation and contributions by members in real-time at the regular monthly club meetings.
  • Provide learning opportunities for members and public to better understand the night sky and the physics of the cosmos, with increased hands-on astronomy observing and imaging in its many forms.
  • Strengthen our links and interactions the Princeton Astrophysics Dept faculty, post-docs, staff, and students, during the meetings and outreach events.

When the Sun Stands Still.  The term solstice refers to the shortest day of the year and is celebrated around the world as a return to light.  From Etymology Online, solstice derives from mid-13th century Old French, taken from Latin solstitium, sol (the sun) + past participle stem of sistere (stand still, take a stand).  Though winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year, this is not the earliest sunset nor latest sunrise.  The disconnect between modern clock time and solar days is best understood through the use of ephemerides software.  One of the best  programs out there is the software developed by the US Naval Observatory, the “Multi-year Interactive Computer Almanac” (MICA, v 2.2.2).  But for a few years MICA was unavailable following the demise of the venerable astronomy publisher Wilmann-Bell.  Now we have good news (from their website): “Sky & Telescope and the American Astronomical Society are thrilled and honored to continue the legacy of Willmann-Bell publishing as an imprint of AAS Sky Publishing, LLC.”  You can now acquire MICA, the one-of-a-kind ephemeris program at modest cost from the website Willmann-Bell, an imprint of AAS Sky Publishing, LLC – ShopAtSky.Com   Using MICA, I found the times of sunrise, sunset, and the length of night for central NJ over one year, and plotted the data in Excel (seeFigure below).  The earliest sunsets come before, and the latest sunrises after, the longest night on solstice Dec 21. 

The “Un-journal Club” Wants You.  AAAP’s monthly meetings feature a guest speaker, usually a professional, followed by highlights of club activities and member conversations.  This year we want to continue the Un-journal Club, a fun term evoking (provoking?) the journal clubs common in science grad school programs.  For AAAP the Unjournal Club is simply brief informal presentations given in the second half of the meeting by members.  These don’t need scholarly journal-like topics, but merely engage members with what you care about in astronomy.  You can use PowerPoint slides, JPEG’s, astro-images, travel pictures (e.g., bring on a USB memory stick), book reviews, whatever you want including simply your voice.  To get onto the schedule for an upcoming meeting, please contact me or program chair Victor Davis.

Pac-Man Nebula, NGC 281 in the Winter Constellation Cassiopeia. The distinct shape of this emission nebula, also termed an SH-II region where new stars form out of a vast cloud of interstellar gas, recalls the “Pac-Man” computer game from the 1980’s.  It was first described by the famed American astronomer Edward Barnard in 1883.  Distance ~9500 light years, about 20×30 arcmin in angular size. 

Astrophoto by Rex Parker taken from NJ.  Telescope: 12.5”AGO Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain reflector;  camera: ZWO ASI2400MC; filter: Antlia RGB Tri-Band filter; image is from 17x10min exposures on Nov 16 2023.

Posted in January 2024, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

From The Program Chair

Posted on January 1, 2024 by ST Editors

by Victor Davis, Program Chair

Welcome to the new year at Peyton Hall
The January, 2024 meeting of the AAAP will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, January 9th 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. This evening’s guest speaker is Lia Medeiros, PhD, a Visitor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). Dr. Medeiros is a computational high-energy astrophysicist interested in using extreme/compact astrophysical objects and phenomena to test fundamental theories of physics. She will discuss her work as a member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC).

Options for Attending the December 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.

Meet the Speaker Dinner
The club will host a “Meet the Speaker” dinner at Winberie’s Bar and Restaurant, 1 Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ, just across the street from the campus of Princeton Universitiy. The reservation is prior to the meeting on Jan. 9 at 5:45 pm. Please contact the Program Chair if you plan to attend.

Here’s the anticipated agenda for January, 2024’s monthly meeting of the AAAP:

(Times are approximate)

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.

Lia_Medeiros

Featured Speaker:

Lia Medeiros, PhD,  
lia@ias.edu

“A Sharper Look at the M87 Black Hole with PRIMO” 

A Sharper Look at the M87 Black Hole with PRIMO  The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a very long baseline interferometer incorporating several radio telescopes spread all over the world. The EHT performed its first observations in early 2017, and the first image of a black hole (at the center of the nearby galaxy M87) were published on April 10th, 2020. The sparse interferometric coverage of the EHT makes reconstruction of black hole images challenging. PRIMO is a new algorithm for image reconstruction that builds principle components from high-fidelity general relativistic, magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of low-luminosity accretion flows. This allows researchers to reconstruct images that are both consistent with the interferometric data and that live in the space spanned by the simulations. PRIMO can efficiently and accurately reconstruct simulated EHT data sets for several simulated images, even when the simulations are significantly different from those in the training set. PRIMO is more specific than fully general reconstruction algorithms, but richer and more flexible than other parametric modeling techniques. Dr. Medeiros will discuss the algorithm itself, its application to synthetic data, and show a new image of M87 published in April 2023.

Lia Medeiros, PhD Dr. Medeiros grew up in Brazil and a few years in Cambridge, UK. She completed her undergraduate education in Physics and Astrophysics from UCAL-Berkeley and her Masters and PhD in Physics at UCAL Santa Barbara. She’s currently an Einstein Fellow in the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program at Princeton University. She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) from 2019-2023 and an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow 2019-2022. After completing her classes in Santa Barbara, Dr. Medeiros took advantage of the flexibility allowed by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and spent three years at the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona and one year at the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard.

She’s lectured to academic and public audiences in both Portuguese and English. She loves horseback riding, practicing aerial silks, salsa dancing, and almost any type of art, especially ceramics and drawing.

How to Participate
Zoom 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85774324328?pwd=eFyEiXB9fpsT7Kh2o8tZxfRpxFEYVh.1

AAAP webcast:  This month’s AAAP meeting, beginning with Rex’s opening remarks and ending at the beginning of the business meeting, will be webcast live on YouTube and recorded for subsequent public access on AAAP’s YouTube channel. Be aware that your interactions during this segment, including questions to our guest speaker, may be recorded for posterity.

Join YouTube Live to listen to the speaker using the link below –

Logo-with-play YouTubeAAAP January 2024 Meeting, 

A look ahead at future guest speakers:

DateFeatured SpeakerTopic
February 13 2024Prof. David John Helfand
Columbia University
djh@astro.columbia.edu



The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom
By utilizing the basic building blocks of matter as imperturbable little clocks, we are now able to reconstruct in quantitative detail a remarkable range of human and natural events. From detecting art forgeries to dating archeological sites, and from laying out a detailed history of human diet and the Earth’s climate to revealing the events surrounding the origin of life, of the Solar System and of the Universe itself, atoms provide us with a precise chronology from the beginning of time to the moment humans emerge to contemplate such questions.

Copies of Prof. Helfand’s book will be for sale and he’ll be available to sign them.
March 12 2024Erika Hoffman

Graduate student, University of Maryland
ebhoff@umd.edu		Erika will describe her research using high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy to investigate ionized outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Suggested by Bill Thomas.
April 9
2024		Eclipse Observations
Since this meeting will take place the day after the Total Solar Eclipse of 08 April 2024, and many members will be out of town or returning from their trips, I’m suggesting that we host an online roundup of eclipse observations, with members (and perhaps others) Zooming in to share their experiences.
May 14
2024		Dr. Tea Temim

Research Astronomer, Princeton University Department of Astrophysics		Dr. Temim will describe her research using JWST imagery to study supernova remnants. Suggested by Gene Allen.
temim@astro.princeton.edu
June 11
2024		NJ State Museum planetarium’s Bill Murray, and Jacob Hamer, Assistant Curator

AAAP’s traditional annual pilgrimage to the NJ State Museum planetarium in Trenton, where members will experience a presentation and a preview of the planetarium’s latest sky show.

As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated.
victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomy.org
(908) 581-1780 cell

Posted in January 2024, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment