Snippets

Posted on March 2, 2025 by ST Editors

compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

Dailygalaxy

Astronomers Have Discovered a New Hidden Galaxy Near Andromeda—And It’s Unlike Anything Seen Before A previously unknown dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy, adding to the growing list of mysterious satellite galaxies lurking in our cosmic neighborhood. Named Pegasus VII, this newly identified low-luminosity galaxy is one of the faintest Andromeda satellites ever detected…more

-mashable
-cnn.com

China’s Mars rover makes stunning discovery in search for evidence of ancient water Mars may have once hosted an ocean with waves that lapped against sandy beaches 3.6 billion years ago, according to new research. China’s Zhurong rover and its ground-penetrating radar detected the ancient shorelines when it operated from May 2021 to May 2022…more

-sky,news

Our Solar System Crossed ‘Radcliffe Wave’ during Miocene Epoch, Astronomers Say As our Solar System orbits the Milky Way, it encounters various environments, including dense regions of the interstellar medium. These encounters can expose parts of the Solar System to the interstellar medium, while also increasing the flow of interstellar dust into the Solar System and Earth’s atmosphere. The discovery of new Galactic structures,…more

-sciencealert.com

Black Hole The Size of 36 Billion Suns Could Lie at The Heart of Cosmic Horseshoe In 2007, astronomers discovered the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitationally lensed system of galaxies about five-and-a-half billion light-years away. The foreground galaxy’s mass magnifies and distorts the image of a distant background galaxy whose light has travelled for billions of years before reaching us…more

-NYT

A Dark Scottish Isle Where Starlight Reigns Supreme Rum, a diamond-shaped island off the western coast of Scotland, is home to 40 people. Most of the island — 40 square miles of mountains, peatland and heath — is a national nature reserve, with residents mainly nestled around Kinloch Bay to the east. What the Isle of Rum lacks is artificial illumination…more

-NYT

Will That Asteroid Strike Earth? Risk Level Rises to Highest Ever Recorded. Astronomers on Tuesday said that the asteroid designated 2024 YR4 had become the most likely sizable space rock ever forecast to impact planet Earth. The object, first detected in December, is 130 to 300 feet long and expected to make a very close pass of the planet in 2032. Its odds of impacting Earth on Dec. 22 of that year currently…more

-scitechdaily.com

First Direct Image of the Cosmic Web Reveals the Universe’s Hidden Highways A cosmic filament, 3 million light-years long, has been directly imaged for the first time — offering a new glimpse into the hidden framework of the Universe! Matter in intergalactic space is arranged in a vast network of interconnected filaments, known as the cosmic web…more

-skytechdaily.com

New Discovery Reveals the True Composition of Jupiter’s Clouds A backyard astronomer helped uncover a planetary mystery — Jupiter’s famous clouds aren’t ammonia ice but a murky mix of chemicals, sitting lower in the atmosphere than expected. For years, astronomers believed that Jupiter’s upper clouds — responsible for its iconic pale brown belts — were made of frozen ammonia…more

-NYT

‘Moon Dust on Our Boots’: Texas Company’s Blue Ghost Lands on Lunar Surface A robotic spacecraft from an American startup gently set down on a lava plain on the moon’s near side early Sunday morning. The Blue Ghost lander, built by Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, touched down at 3:34 a.m. Eastern time. “You all stuck the landing,” Will Coogan, the Blue Ghost chief engineer…more

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From The Director

Posted on February 3, 2025 by ST Editors

by Rex Parker, PhD
director@princetonastronomy.org

Meeting Feb 11 at Peyton Hall and Zoom.  Looking forward to next week’s meeting, which will bring to the fore the latest research on gravity waves and the LIGO project.  A rare glimpse of the inside structure and technology behind the LIGO instrumentation will be provided.  We hope you’ll join us in person at Peyton Hall on campus, but if not please join in via Zoom.  Please see Victor’s article below for more information including the Zoom link (which can also be found under the guest speaker section on our website).

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a collaboration spanning over 3 decades with perhaps a thousand researchers from around the world.  In 2017 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the early leaders Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss, along with Barry Barish who brought the project to completion. 

I had the privilege of attending Kip Thorne’s presentation at Princeton University Physics Dept in April 2017, shortly after the Nobel Prize announcement.  It was held at McDonnell Hall which links the Physics and Math Departments, right up the walkway from Peyton Hall where AAAP meets.  Dr Thorne got his PhD in physics at Princeton (1965) where he was inspired by the renowned physicist John Wheeler.  He spent much of his career working on gravitational waves at Cal Tech in Pasadena, where he became convinced that gravity waves were detectable despite the immense technical challenges.  Recall that Einstein predicted them but was convinced that detection was not possible.  I remember that, in his address to Princeton, Kip Thorne said that one of the most important things he had learned is the importance of human inspiration in scientific discovery and innovation.  Interesting how that is exactly the core of what AAAP is all about.

Seeking a couple of members to step up.  After many years of guiding our treasury and providing excellent financial management, Treasurer Michael Mitrano is stepping down from the role.  I cannot thank Michael enough for his service and dedication to the club for 18 years, it has been truly exemplary. 

If you are interested in stepping up to the Treasurer role, a Board level position, please contact me or any board member. Experience in Quick Books software and some accounting background would be real benefits.  We hope to identify a candidate to stand for election in May. 

We are also seeking a member who would like to take on the role of telescope loaner program coordinator.  AAAP continues to build a nice collection of telescopes and related hardware which we aim to loan out for member use at no cost.  We need someone to help develop that part of our observatory efforts.

Unjournal Club.  If you’d like an opportunity to speak with fellow members about your interests in astronomy, please read on. At each month’s meeting we reserve a slot after the intermission for the Unjournal Club, in which a member has the floor (and screen) for 10-15 min to discuss recent astro-related magazine articles, books, or other personal astronomy experiences and projects to share with the membership. In November, for example, we had a very cool presentation by member David Ackerman about his progress programming and using a spectroheliograph to image the sun in astonishing detail. In order to get on the schedule for an unjournal club presentation, please send an email to me or the Program Chair. Remember that if you want to share astro images or other slides live in the auditorium, experience has shown that it’s better for connecting with the Peyton Hall projector and Zoom input to bring the file on a USB drive to insert into the laptop already connected up front during the meeting. Your brief presentation can also be done via Zoom if you aren’t in Peyton Hall. 

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From The Program Chair

Posted on February 2, 2025 by ST Editors

by Victor Davis, Program Chair

A Meeting with Gravitas
The February, 2025 meeting of the AAAP will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, February 11th 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 Kimberly Burtnyk, the LIGO Technical Editor and web content developer. She’ll offer a virtual tour of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and explain what they do there and how and why they do it.

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.

Speaking Virtually
Kimberly will participate via Zoom. There will be no “meet the speaker” dinner this month.

Here’s the anticipated agenda for February, 2025’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.

Featured Speaker:

Kimberly Burtnyk

kburtnyk@caltech.edu

LIGO Laboratory Technical Editor

and web content developer

“A Virtual Tour of LIGO”

A Virtual Tour of LIGO
Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his General Theory of Relativity, circa 1915. He said that the collision of massive objects in space would cause minute ripples in spacetime that could in principle be detected. Detecting them in practice turned into one of the most massively expensive and “ridiculous” collaborations in the history of science. How does one measure the changing distances between two objects four kilometers apart to a tolerance of one-thousandth of the diameter of an atom’s nucleus? It’s done with mirrors, and represents the most accurate measurement humans have ever achieved. A century after Einstein’s prediction, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, LIGO for short, made the first detection of gravity waves. It was a huge intellectual and financial gamble. The Nobel Prize in Physics, often awarded to researchers decades after their epochal discoveries, was shared by LIGO’s leaders two years later. Our guest speaker, Kimberly Burtnyk, will take us inside one of this nation’s two LIGO facilities in Hanford, Washington. The event will begin with a presentation explaining what LIGO is and does and reviewing some of LIGO’s most fascinating discoveries involving black holes and neutron stars. We will then connect with a live view of the LHO control room, where you will meet one of LIGO’s Operators, who will share what it’s like to monitor one of the world’s largest and most sensitive measuring devices.

Kimberly Burtnyk
Kimberly Burtnyk is the LIGO Laboratory Technical Editor and Writer. Kim is also a lifelong amateur astronomer who studied astrophysics at the University of Toronto. In graduate school, she conducted a first-of-its-kind study of the impact of observatory visitor centers on the public, researching exhibit design, learning outcomes and, more interestingly (to Kim), changing attitudes toward and interest in astronomy following a visit to a working observatory. Kim and her husband (who also works at LIGO) own a collection of telescopes, their favorite being a 22” AstroSystems Dobsonian, which they occasionally set up at LIGO for some extraordinary visual observing, including, during the winter months, mind-blowing views of the Orion Nebula (though the Horsehead still eludes them!).

How to Participate (Links)
Zoom & YouTube Live
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: February 2025 AAAP Meeting-Kimberly Burtnyk, Cal Tech, LIGO
Time: Feb 11, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 867 9413 9584
Passcode: 570296

Meeting link Meeting link
Click the above icons for Zoom and YouTube


Date Featured SpeakerTopic
March 11, 2025J. Richard Gott III
Emeritus Professor of Astrophysical Sciences
Princeton University
jrg@astro.princeton.edu
The title of Prof. Gott’s talk in March will be “A Voyage to the Cosmic Web and Back to Earth.”
Prof. Gott will participate via Zoom.
April 8, 2025Eliot Quataert
Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and the Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy
Princeton University
quataert@princeton.edu
TBA
May 13, 2025James Stone
Emeritus Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and Emeritus Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics
Princeton University
jstone@astro.princeton.edu
TBA
June 10, 2025Jacob Hamer
Assistant Curator
NJ State Museum Planetarium
Jacob.Hamer@sos.nj.gov
Dr. Hamer has expressed his intention to continue AAAP’s tradition to host the June meeting at the planetarium of the NJ State Museum in Trenton. The meeting will feature a presentation of the planetarium’s current sky show, a live planetarium tour of the night sky, and a guest speaker presentation.
July-AugustNo monthly meetings
Sept. 9, 2025Edwin L. Turner
Emeritus Professor of Astrophysical Sciences
Princeton University
elt@astro.princeton.edu
TBA
Oct. 14, 2025Becka Phillipson
Assistant Professor in Physics
Villanova University
rebecca.phillipson@villanova.edu
TBA
Thanks to Bill Thomas for suggesting this speaker.
Nov. 11,
2025		Romain Teyssier
Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and Applied and Computational Mathematics
Princeton University
teyssier@princeton.edu
TBA

As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated. Thanks to Ira Polans and Dave Skitt for setting up the online links and connecting the meeting to the world outside Peyton Hall.

victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomers.org
(908) 581-1780 cell

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Stay Warm in Style with AAAP Logo Apparel!

Posted on February 2, 2025 by ST Editors

by  Rich Sherman, Merchandise Chair

Been cold enough for you?”  Well, that’s no problem for AAAP members with
cold weather club hoodies, hats, and gear.  Lots of options are available
for our members.  Visit:
https://www.princetonastronomy.org/merchandise.html and click on the “AAAP
Apparels.”  The password, as always, is SiderealTimes.

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Minutes of the January 14, 2025 Meeting

Posted on February 2, 2025 by ST Editors

by Gene Allen, Secretary

Assistant Director Bob Vanderbei opened the meeting in Peyton Hall and on Zoom at 1930. There were 34 attending in person, 39 watching on YouTube, and 39 participating on Zoom.

After a few words of welcome, Bob introduced Program Chair Victor Davis who, in turn, introduced science journalist and author Rebecca Boyle. Her talk, “Our Moon, Ourselves,” was based on her book, Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are. She explored how pervasive the Moon has been in all facets of life over human history.

Questions and a break followed her talk.

The meeting reconvened at 2104 with an Unjournal Presentation by Director Rex Parker describing the Vera C. Rubin Observatory expected to be complete this summer. It will use a 28 foot primary mirror and the largest camera ever built to do a 10 year synoptic survey of the universe from Cerro Pachon in Chile. It is funded by the NSF and DOE and private donations.

Rex segwayed into David Wiltshire’s concept of Timescape, which proposes that uneven time dilation due to the lumpiness of the universe looks like the acceleration of expansion that has been attributed to dark energy in the predominant Lambda Cold Dark Matter model.

That discussion led into Bob Vanderbei’s somewhat playful conjecture that instead of dark energy pushing the visible galaxies apart there are unseen, gravitationally repulsive antimatter galaxies doing the pushing. The concept has generally been dismissed, but throughout history many ideas once considered outlandish have later been validated.

The business meeting proceeded at 2124 with members sharing images and videos of the occultation of Mars by the Moon.

Member Tom Swords captured an impressive image of Jupiter by taking a video in ASIcap and dropping it into ASIstack to select the best frames out of thousands.

Victor Davis requests comments on a mockup of the Gene Ramsey Memorial Plaque that was published in Sidereal Times. Merchandise Shop Lead Facilitator and professional photographer Rich Sherman offered to sharpen the image and Observatory Co-Chair Dave Skitt will send Rich the original copy of that image. Rich will also video the dedication ceremony.

There was interest in arranging another field trip. Suggestions included the Udvar-Hazy extension of the Air & Space Museum at Dulles, the Horn at Holmdel, and Hayden Planetarium in NYC.

Outreach Chair Bill Murray told us the original date of January 6 was clouded out so an event is now scheduled for February 3 for a Girl Scout Troop at Montgomery High School. Volunteers with telescopes are needed.

A Board of Directors meeting has been proposed for February 4.

The meeting was adjourned at 2201.

As of January 12, we have 215 active members. For all of CY2024, renewals numbered 131 and expirations numbered 53, giving us a 71% retention rate. We added 72 new members.

Submitted by Secretary Gene Allen
January 26, 2024

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Docking in space

Posted on February 2, 2025 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti

Humankind’s venture into space is an expansion of the exploration of our Universe. It has been via unmanned spacecraft, space telescopes or even manned missions to the near earth orbits and the moon. But space is not easy. To both get to and to live in. Nor are the rockets which are the means of getting there. Rocket science is a very difficult science indeed. 

The name of the game in dealing with rocket science is to divide and conquer. By dividing the rocket into several stages, with each stage giving some push and falling off. Also, to send individual components into space and make them assemble there like the lego blocks. Assembly of individual components in space is achieved using a concept called “docking”. 

The challenge with docking is to bring two components travelling at speeds of 17,000 miles per hour around the earth, and yet make them gently stick to each other. Once stuck or docked, they operate as one single unit. Enabling movement of materials between the two and sharing of power and electronics etc. Such high speeds are important for the orbiting spacecraft because otherwise they will fall back to the earth. The centrifugal force resulting from such high speeds counteracts the gravitational force of the earth. Docking is indeed a very complex technology and needs to be mastered for any kind of space mission.          

India achieved a successful docking recently between two satellites SDX01 and SX02. Thus becoming the fourth country to do so. After the US, Russia and China. Of these, only the US sent men to the moon about five decades back. And their docking experiment in the 1960s was in the form of the Gemini missions. After the success of Gemini spacecraft docking in space with each other, Apollo missions carried the astronauts to the moon.     

These two Indian spacecraft, built by the private sector, were launched on the government owned PSLV-C60 (Polaris Space Launch Vehicle). A good story of public-private partnership. The docking came after a couple of postponements due to last minute issues. It gave more time to hone the skills for  precise maneuvers required for the docking. The docking occurred over an altitude of 475 km (about 295 miles).   

The immediate use for the docking technology is to put astronauts into space via the Gaganyaan missions. Followed by lunar sample return mission and  construction of a space station called the “Bharatiya Antariksh Station” (Indian Space Station).

Another use of docking is a spacecraft called MEV (Mission Extension Vehicle) which can dock to an existing spacecraft and extend its life by servicing it. After the service time, the MEV can undock and move on to the next spacecraft to be serviced. This reduces the space junk and extract more value from existing spacecraft. 

There will be more lunar sample return missions and space stations in the future. From different countries. Some of them will be executed at least in part by the private sector. Space technology is maturing with private sector participation and government funding of only the basics.  An example is the recent successful New Glenn rocket launch by Jeff Bezos. It gives the US a second private option after SpaceX for space launches. 

Docking has matured as a technology and is now being deployed for multiple uses.

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