Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.aaa.org/EyepieceFiles/aaa/2012_09_September_Eyepiece.pdf Дата изменения: Wed Oct 14 23:21:59 2015 Дата индексирования: Sun Apr 10 03:48:48 2016 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: universe

Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York September 2012
By Dan Harrison
Volume 61 Number 9 ISSN 0146-7662

EYEPIECE

Lynn Darsh, Who Led the AAA for 10 Years, Dies at 61
Lynn Helen Darsh, president of the Amateur Astronomers Association from 1992 to 2002 and a guiding force in the club's deliberations and growth for more than 30 years, died August 23 at St. Luke'sRoosevelt Hospital in Manhattan following a valiant battle with lymphoma. She was 61. Many years ago, while lying on her back on a friend's boat in Long Island Sound, Lynn saw a sky awash in stars, and decided to learn more about astronomy. After joining the club, she was mentored by two of its giants, John Marshall and Fred Hess, and joined the board in 1979. She eventually succeeded Hess as president. A native of Waterbury, CT, Lynn grew up in nearby Watertown. She graduated from Cornell University in 1973 as a College Scholar, a prestigious honor. After four years with the New York City Department of Social Services, Lynn joined Chemical Bank and, after 25 years with major New York banks, closed her career as a vice president in information technology at JP Morgan Chase. In 1989, she juggled her work with receiving a master's in business administration from Columbia University. A major AAA activit y launched during Lynn's presidency, in 1995, was Urban Starfest at the Central Park Sheep Meadow. Each fall, amateurs and professionals gather with a myriad of telescopes t o show the public the night sky. Havi ng successfull y put together four nights of observing in the Sheep Meadow when Shoemaker -Levy whacked Jupiter in 1994, Lynn and other AAA members spearheaded the idea of Starfest, originally a joint effort by four organizations, now run by the AAA and the Urban Park Rangers. It was the first official city large-scale star party to take place in Central Park. As Starfest has demonstrated, if you look up, you can indeed see stars from the heart of the city. And that was a constant subtext to Lynn's activities as president. In a 1999 interview with The New York Times for an article, "Stargazing Despite Bright Lights, Big City," focusing on observing at Floyd Bennett Field in Brookl yn, she said: "When you live in the city, you can be blinded to the stars by all the lights, which is sad because the sky is spectacularly beautiful. When you go to places like Floyd Bennett Field where there are very few lights, you're still in the city, but you can see the stars and get a whole new perspective on the universe.''
Lynn was a Renaissance woman. She was a mirror -and telescope-maker, scuba diver and four -time Himalayas trekker. She was knowledgeable and articulate on any number of subjects, from science to literature, from art and music to politics, from history to psychol ogy, and she enjoyed escaping into the world of sci ence fiction. One of her favorite people was Jane Austen, most of whose novels she read multiple times. In general, Lynn gulped down books at an astounding rate. She loved good food, good conversation and travel. She was devoted to her large, tight-knit family and to her friends. In short, Lynn was a woman of unbounded intelligence and great good cheer. AAA members were excited May 16 when Lynn, despite the battle she was waging, came to the annual meeting, where she was effusivel y greeted by all who knew her. Katherine Avakian's comment was typical of many: "It was wonderful to see her with so much energy, talking animatedly and gesturing with her hands. So it was an especially cruel twist when, a few short months later, that implacable foe, with whom she had been dueling so bravel y and for so long, finally claimed victory over her." "What can't be vanquished, however, are her major efforts over the years to disseminate knowledge about astronom y to the public through the AAA. And what is remembered most by those whose lives she touched are her stellar qualities: her strong character, sense of fairness and generous spirit." Ha yden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson said: "People like Lynn Darsh are rare. She was the sum of so many personal traits, any one of which the rest of us would aspire to reach. She was smart, dedicated and loyal. She was a leader. She was courageous. And she always sought what was best for others. Most importantly, to Lynn, the future was not something to hope for. It was something within our power to create. I'll miss her, but the world may just miss her a bit more." AAA treasurer Tom Haeberle, who knew Darsh for 12 years, said that his "one big regret was not to have known her longer. She was a good friend and my mentor regarding the affairs of club. I was honored that she appointed me to the board after Lee Baltin stepped down as financial secretary. There are many things I will miss about Lynn: times shared at observing sessions and newsletter mailings, or coffee klatsching at some nearby ca fИ. But what I will miss most is her strength and leadership, and most of all her friendship." Eulogizing her sister at a funeral Mass August 28 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Watertown, Doreen Darsh noted
Lynn Darsh-- continued on Page 2 Story on Page 7

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 Commander, Dies at Age 82


EYEPIECE
Lynn Darsh - continued from Page 1

September2012

that "Lynn shared with us the words her friend John Marshall used to comfort her during his last hours. 'It will be harder for you than for me. There are never enough days no matter how many we have.' We all wish we had more days with Lynn, too." In addition to Doreen, of Middlebury, CT, Lynn is survived by her mother, Donna Darsh, of Watertown; three other sisters: Deirdre McDonald of Middlebury, Holl y Casperson of Brookfield, CT, and Lisbeth Darsh of Scotts Valley, CA; and nine nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held Sunday, September 23 at 2 p.m. at All Souls Unitarian Church, Lexington Avenue and 80 Street. Contributions in Lynn's memory can be sent to: the Lymphoma Research Foundation, 115 Broadwa y, Suite 1301, NY, NY 10006; or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at mskcc.org/giving.

Michael O'Gara Remembers His Friend Lynn Darsh

Lynn wasn't a Buddhist, but her approach to life was informed by many ethical traditions of that discipline. Generosit y, patience, understanding and support are attributes that Lynn practiced daily, in her dealings with club members and the public. Lynn was extremely intelligent. I could alwa ys rely on her for the answer to any question, astronomical or otherwise. For some reason I'll never understand, Lynn thought I had the stuff to be a member of the board of directors early on. She, John Marshall and I would have executive planning meetings at John's apartment, and I always felt out of m y league. But Lynn encouraged me to stick with it, and encouraged me to become vice president when she was elected president. Lynn and I were a team for 10 years, and then she convinced me to run for president. She was extremely helpful as I delegated responsibilities and took control over aspects of the club that needed to be vetted. Without her help, I'm sure I would have foundered. Lynn was dedicated: to the public's awareness of our club, to her friends and family, and to simply getting it right. She was smart, articulate, and quick, and she knew her facts when it came to astronomy. She was a telescope maker in the old days of the optics division at the AMNH, and later beca me a telescope-making instructor in that group. Whenever we were called on to bring out scopes, Lynn was there. I'll never forget standing outside the new Rose Center when it was conducting its biggest event, a huge fundraiser with the absolute cream of New York societ y. It was a cold and cloudy night, but Lynn, Bruce Kamiat, and I were there with our scopes, and at one point it started to snow. Lynn and I were howling at how ridiculous it was for us to be out there, but we stayed. Dedication. Lynn respected and enjoyed people who she believed were like her: dedicated to making New York a better, exciting place to live. Maybe that's why then - Parks Commissioner 2

Henry Stern honored Lynn with a Nom du Parc at a ceremony at the Central Park Arsenal a few years ago. Her name will forever be Andromeda. On a personal note Lynn was instrumental in helping me find work at the Food Network. She had mentioned that a person across the hall from her worked there and she handed off my resume to that person. It took a while, but I landed the job and worked there for five plus years. All thanks to Lynn for putting two and two together. For the last year or so, I made soup that I would deliver to her when I felt it might cheer her up. On the day before she died, I dropped off some coconut-corn-ginger soup. I thought it might be an easy palliative for her. When I returned home that night, I had the nicest message from Lynn thanking me. Her voice was almost chirping with delight. I was so happy to hear her in strong, good spirits. She said she would call me "tomorrow." I was a little surprised when she didn't call. But now I know why. And I find it very hard to accept that Lynn's life was taken from her, and she from us, so quickly, and too soon. I will keep her last message in my computer so I'll be able to hear her voice again when this sadness fades awa y. And when I look into the heavens at night, I'll hope she'll somehow be connected to my eyes, so we can observe together again. Lynn Darsh was an avid supporter of Eyepiece, writing numerous articles that can be found on the club website. To honor her memory, we reprint her last article below, written in June, 2011. - Evan B. Schneider, Editor Eyepiece, June 2011 AAA Gets Update on Kepler Search for Earthlike Exoplanets By Lynn Darsh "Is Earth unique?" The Kepler Space Telescope's mission is to find the answer, according to Dr. Andrea K. Dupree, senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. Speaking on "Searching for Exoplanets with Kepler" at the AAA's annual John Marshall Memorial Lecture at the AMNH March 4, Dupree said that she and her colleagues are searching for planets that could have liquid water. "We don't want it to be too hot, we don't want it to be too cold, we want it to be just right, and with a sufficient mass ... so there would be some atmosphere." The .95-meter Kepler telescope, launched in March 2009, searches a 100-square-degree field in Cygnus, between Deneb and Vega, looking along the Orion spur and slightly above the plane of the Milky Wa y for a distance of about 3,000 light years. This field includes older stars that are slightly metal poor. Some have traveled from other birthplaces, but, Dupree said, "The orientation and positioning of the satellite and the CCDs was exquisitely designed to avoid all the very bright stars." A large array of CCD detectors, with 95 megapixels, images 156,000 target stars ever y 30 minutes, and collects
Lynn Darsh: AAA Gets Update - continued on Page 3


EYEPIECE
Lynn Darsh: AAA Gets Update - continued from Page 2

September2012

additional data on a set of 512 additional targets ever y minute. Kepler's instruments are sensitive enough to pick up variations in the light output of a star as small as 80 parts in a million. Kepler does its work in a heliocentric orbit so the Earth cannot block the view. The mission, designed to last for more than three and a half years, released the first 90 days of data last June. On February 1 of this year, the second data release of four months of observations included the discover y of 15 extrasolar planets and more than 1,200 "active planetary candidates." "We have a handful in the habitable zone and this is only from the first four months of Kepler data," Dupree said. "Of the dwarf stars, about 19% of them have planets, with orbital periods less than 125 days. There are more planets around smaller stars than larger stars and this will tell us something about the formation of planets. This is already challenging what we know. Theoretically nothing really works at this point." "The first five planets we have found are close in but they are very, very massive." These are "the easy ones, the big ones." All are hot planets with orbits bet ween 3.2 and 4.9 days. Four are larger than Jupiter, and the fi fth is about four times the mass of Earth. It will take time to find a possible "Goldilocks planet." The Kepler team estimates the geometric probability of a planet being in the correct plane to transit its star from Kepler's vantage point is 0.5%-10%. Many stars must be observed, almost continuousl y, for three years, to discover terrestrial planets in habitable zones or show that terrestrial planets are rare. The size of this habitable zone changes. "When stars are ver y hot, the habitable zone is further out. And simply observing a transit is just the beginning. When one observes a transit, a lot more needs to be done to verify that it is not something else. There could be another star in the field that produces the signal mimicking a transit." Kepler also measures radial velocities of a star to confirm it's moving in a wa y that agrees with the transit. Dupree described the "exciting" Kepler 10 system that has at least two planets. "The transit tells us the size of the planets. Then we measure radial velocit y to determine a planet's mass. With this knowledge, we know the radius and the mass, and it turns out it is a planet which is rocky, just like Earth. It has a period of about .84 da ys. It has a radius about 1.4 times the radius of Earth and a mass 4.6 times Earth's. This rocky planet...is locked into the host star. One side is very hot -1,800 degrees, the temperature of molten lava --and the other is very cold." Kepler 11 is a star with six planets. If the six were placed in our solar system, they'd be within Venus' orbit. "They're bigger and more massive than Earth, and more massive than Kepler 10, which is the rocky planet. So they're probabl y a mixture of things, where they have hydrogen and helium, and maybe some are a little bit rockier than others." The common transiting method of finding exoplanets is far more successful (122 planets found) than the other direct

techniques of imaging and coronagraphy, and the indirect planet finding techniques of astrometry, pulsar timing and gravitational microlensing. Another indirect planet -finding technique, radial velocit y, has found more than 400 extrasolar planets by measuring changes in a star's velocit y caused by the gravitational tug of a planet, and is being used with Earth based telescopes to confirm Kepler's findings. NASA Update: Kepler Space Telescope Mission

Less than a year after identifying the first circumbinary planet, Kepler -16b, NASA's Kepler mission has discovered multiple transiting planets orbiting two suns for the first time in the Kepler -47 system. Known as a circumbinary planetary syst em, it is 4,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The discovery proves that more than one planet can form and persist in the stressful realm of a binary star and demonstrates the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy. Astronomers detected two planets, a pair of orbiting stars eclipsing each other ever y 7.5 days. One star is sized similar to the Sun but only 84% as bright. The second star is only onethird the size of the Sun and less than 1% as bright. "In contrast to a singl e p l an et orbiting a single star, the planet in a c i r c u m bi n a r y system must tran sit a 'moving target.' As a consequence, time intervals between the transits and their durations can vary substantially, sometimes short, other times long," said Jerome Orosz, of San Diego State Universit y and lead author of the paper. "The intervals were the telltale sign these planets are in circumbinary orbits." The inner planet, Kepler -47b, orbits the pair of stars in under 50 days. While not directly viewed, it is thought to be a sweltering world, where the destruction of methane in its super -heated atmosphere might lead to a thick haze that could blanket the planet. At three times the radius of Earth, Kepler-47b is the smallest known transiting circumbinary planet. The outer planet, Kepler -47c, orbits its host pair ever y 303 days, placing it in the so-called "habitable zone," where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet. While not a world hospitable for life, Kepler -47c is thought to be a gaseous giant slightly larger than Neptune, where an atmosphere of thick bright water -vapor clouds might exist. "Unlike our Sun, many stars are part of multiple-star systems where two or more stars orbit one another. The question always has been - do they have planets and planetary system s? This Kepler discover y proves that they do," said William Borucki, Kepler mission principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center. "In our search for habitable planets, we have found more opportunities for life to exist." 3


EYEPIECE

September 2012

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observer's September Guide By Richard Rosenberg

NASA's Spitzer Reveals: Early Universe Burned Hot
The faint, lumpy glow from the ver y first objects in the universe may have been detected with the best precision yet using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The objects could be wildly massive stars or voracious black holes. They are too far awa y to be seen individually, but Spitzer has captured new, convincing evidence of what appears to be the collective pattern of their infrared light. The observations help confirm the first objects were numerous in quantity and furiousl y burned cosmic fuel. "These objects would have been tremendousl y bright," said Alexander "Sasha" Kashlinsky of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., lead author of a new paper appearing in The Astrophysical Journal. "We can't yet directl y rule out m ysterious sources for this light that could be coming from our nearby universe, but it is now becoming increasingl y likely that we are catching a glimpse of an ancient epoch. Spitzer is laying down a roadmap for NASA's upcoming James Webb Telescope, which will tell us exactly what and where these first objects were." Spitzer first caught hints of this remote pattern of light, known as the cosmic infrared background, in 2005, and again with more precision in 2007. Now, Spitzer is in the extended phase of its mission, during which it performs more in -depth studies on specific patches of the sky. Kashlinsky and his colleagues used Spitzer to look at two patches of sky for more than 400 hours each. The team then carefully subtracted all of the known stars and galaxies in the images. Rather than being left with a black, empty patch of sky, they found faint patterns of light with several telltale characteristics of the cosmic infrared background. The lumps in the pattern observed are consistent with the wa y the very distant objects are thought to be clustered together.

September's Evening Planets : There's not too much of
interest in the evening sky star Spica form a grouping Saturn and Spica are lost movement to the east keeps this month. Saturn, low in the west early by midmonth, while it in view for a while Mars and the in the month. Mars's quick longer.

September's Evening Stars: The Summer Triangle dominates the stellar sky. From a dark-sky location track the Milky Wa y from Cygnus the Swan through Aquila the Eagle on to Sagittarius the Archer. Look for the autumn constellations Pegasus, Andromeda and Perseus.

September's Morning Planets: As the month begins Jupiter rises about midnight. Look for it close to the Moon on Sept 8. By the end of the month Jupiter will rise at 10 p.m., and will continue to appear earlier in the upcoming months. On the other hand, brilliant Venus rises earlier, from 3 a.m. on the first of the month, but falls back towards the Sun and by the end of September sets at 4 a.m. Late in the month Venus enters the constellation Leo.

September's Morning Stars: Orion is now well up by 2
a.m. Surrounding him are Taurus the Bull (above and right), Auriga the Charioteer (above), Gemini the Twins (above a nd left), Canis Major the Large Dog (bel ow left) and Canis Minor the Small Dog (left).

September's "Skylights"
September 8 Jupiter is 1.5 degrees above right of the Moon Last Quarter Moon at 9:15 a.m. (EDT)

Nebula of the Month: Dumbbell (M27)
n 1794, while compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets, Charles Messier inadvertently discovered the first hint of what will become of our Sun. The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) is a planetary nebula, the type our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core, some 4 -5 billion years from now. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae in the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox ( V u l p e cu l a ) w i t h binoculars. It takes light about 1360 years to reach us, so train your binoculars and scopes skyward to see this beautiful hourglass shape in t h e c on s t e l l a t i on Vulpecula, the Fox.
Above Photo by Bill Snyder, Bill Snyder

I

September 12 Venus is 4.7 degrees east of the Moon September 15 New Moon at 10:11 p.m. (EDT) September 17 Spica is 4.4 degrees north of the Moon Saturn is 5.0 degrees north of the Moon September 19 Mars is 1.2 degrees upper right of the Moon September 22 Autumnal Equinox at 10:49 a.m. (EDT) First Quarter Moon at 3:41 p.m. (EDT) September 29 Uranus is at opposition, closest to the Earth and up all night. Full Moon at 11:19 p.m. (EDT)

For additional information visit: www.aaa.org/month1209 4


EYEPIECE

September2012

WHY WE EXPLORE

NASA Mission: Our Human Desire to Explore By Amy Wagner

"To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown, so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind." The NASA Vision

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 established NASA as an aerospace research and development agency that sponsors and conducts flight missions to obtain data in furtherance of its objectives. But what are those objectives? NASA's current Strategic Goals for Space Exploration are stated in three directives:
Extend and sustain human activities across the solar system Expand scientific understanding of the Earth and the universe in which we live Create the innovative new space technologies for our exploration, science, and economic future Popular focus on NASA tends to revolve around manned space flight. In fact, its current Agency Priority Goals include human exploration and operations, along with the ISS, Mars Science Laboratory, and development of space technology. With the dismantling of NASA's space shuttle program, many enthusiasts feel that US space initiatives have stalled. But a manned space program cannot exist without thriving and productive unmanned space exploration. In his 2007 article "Why Explore Space?" former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin noted: "The Pilgrims were only a few thousand miles from home, and they were accomplished farmers and artisans. And yet, when they came to an unfamiliar land, they didn't know how to survive in its harsh environment... If we are to become a space-faring nation, the next generation of explorers is going to have to learn how to survive in other forbidding, faraway places across the vastness of space." We must be daring, but also be prepared. So, how do we prepare for a frontier with mysteries as infinite as its expanse? We do what we have alwa ys done: we ask questions. Beyond claims of space superiority or fulfilling a primal urge to blaze trails and chart new lands, space exploration taps into our more profound and essential human desire to answer questions about ourselves and our universe. NASA embraces curiosit y and preparedness through its Science Mission Directorate, which oversees four main areas of scientific research in space exploration: Earth Science, Planetary Science, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics. The Astrophysics division focuses on perhaps the largest questions of all: How does the universe work, and what are its origin and destiny? NuSTAR is a NASA mission that seeks to answer these profound scientific questions, feeding our curiosity far into the new frontier. Launched June 13 as part of the Astrophysics Explorer program, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) will conduct a census of black holes for NASA's Physics of the Cosmos program and study the birth of elements for the Cosmic Origins program. Utilizing wide-field surveys of extragalactic fields and the Milky Wa y's galactic center, it will map radioactive material in young supernova remnants. It will also observe relativistic jets found in the

most extreme active galaxies and study the origin of cosmic rays and extreme physics around collapsed stars. Now fully operational, NuStar is the first focusing hard X-ray telescope t o orbit Earth. It will allow asNuSTAR launched from a Pegasus XL tronomers to study rocket carried by the L- 1011 " Star gaz er" the universe in the plane. Five seconds before launch, the rocket dropped, ignited, and pr opelled NuS- high energy X-ray TAR into space. Plane- assisted launches (6-79 keV) region are less expensive than ground launches, of the electromagbecause less fuel is needed to boost cargo netic spectrum. away from the pull of Earth's gr avity. Orbiting telescopes like the Chandra X-ray Observator y and ESA's XMM-Newton observe the X-ray universe at low energy levels. ESA's satellite INTEGRAL does provide high energy X-ray images, but does not employ true focusing optics. Instead, coded apertures with intrinsically high backgrounds and limited sensitivity are employed. From the first relayed images, NuSTAR's performance clearly exceeds that of other observatories operating at Xray and gamma-ray energies. Its first images were taken on June 28 of Cygnus X-1, a black hole in our Milky Wa y galaxy, about 6,000 light-years from Earth. Cygnus X-1 is siphoning off gas from a giant-star companion while emitting high energy X-rays. This particular black hole was chosen as a first target because its brightness in X-rays allows the mission team to easily see where the telescope's focused X-rays fall on the detectors. NuSTAR will help answer several fundamental questions about the universe including: How are black holes distributed through the cosmos? How were heavy elements forged in the explosions of massive stars? What powers the most extreme active galaxies? Why We Explore- continued on Page 6

Nuclear Spectr oscopic Telescope Array Astrophysics Explor er Launched June 13, 2012

5


EYEPIECE
Why We Explore - continued from Page 5

September 2012

Unlike visible light that easily bounces off surfaces, X-rays tend to be absorbed. However, if an incoming X -ra y grazes a surface at a very small, glancing angle, it will be reflected. By nesting mirrors of different sizes and angles, more X-rays can be reflected and focused onto the same spot. NuSTAR's, mirror optics help it see high -energy X-ray light in greater detail than ever before. The two onboard optical units each consist of 133 fingernail-thin nested cylindrical mirror shells. Conceived of 15 years ago by principal investigator Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology, NuSTAR's ability t o focus higher energy X-rays is a major advance in that spectral region. "It's like putting on a new pair of glasses and seeing aspects of the world around us clearly for the first time," Harrison explained. Knowing how the laws of physics behave at the extremes of space and time, near a black hole or a neutron star, is an important key to understanding how the universe is constructed. Although NuSTAR is a Small Explorer Mission, it will contribute to answering large questions about the behavior of matter, energy, space, and time in diverse conditions of the cosmos, and about the origin and evolution of the universe to produce the galaxies, stars, and planets we see toda y.

"I have pretty good intuition for what the likely composition of a planet is based on its size, but the app allows anyone to explore the properties of many different planets ver y quickly," UCSC astrophysicist Jonathan Fortney, who works on the Kepler mission and helped develop Kepler Explorer, said in a statement. The $600 million Kepler observator y launched in March 2009 to hunt for Earth -size alien planets in the habitable zone of their parent stars, where liquid water, and perhaps even life as we know it, might be able to exist. Kepler detects alien planets using what's called the "transit method." It searches for tiny, telltale dips in a star's brightness caused when a planet transits - or crosses in front of - the star from Earth's perspective, blocking a fraction of the star's light. So far, the Kepler mission has discovered 61 confirmed alien planets, along with roughly 2,300 exoplanet "candidates" that await vetting by follow-up studies. Kepler scientists say the vast majority of these candidates - 80 percent or more - should end up being the real deal. Automatic updates for the Kepler Explorer app will add new planet candidates as they are discovered, researchers said. Eyepiece Staff - September Issue
Editor Evan B. Schneider
Writing Staff: R ichard Brounstein, Joseph Fedric k, Stan Honda, Amy Wagner Special Sections: Marcelo C abrera, Joshua Erich, Edward Fox, Richar d Rosenberg

Apple Shares Kepler's Journey

A new app brings thousands of alien worlds to the fingertips of iPhone and iPad users. The app, called Kepler Explorer, provides interactive displays of the 2,300 alien planet candidates that NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has detected thus far. It's available for free at the iTunes App Store and runs on Apple's iPhone and iPad. It was developed by astronomers, artists and designers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Kepler Explorer starts with drop-down menus listing the nearly 1,800 Kepler-discovered planetary systems, plus our own solar system, researchers said. Users can select a system, which is then displayed in a view that shows the planet or planets in orbit around their host star. Users can zoom in and move around the system, and tapping on an individual planet brings it up for further exploration. Another view shows the relative sizes of the planets compared to their host star, researchers said. Armchair astronomers can also manipulate the composition of the alien planets and their atmospheres, seeing which mixtures of components fit best with Kepler's observations.

AAA Members - Eyepiece Staff Openings
Interested in joining our growing team of AAA Eyepiece staff members? Enjoy researching, writing and editing? If so, we would like to hear from you. September's issue marks the 12th edition published by our new and innovative staff. We have expanded coverage, added color to our online Eyepiece, and created fascinating monthly columns to stimulate our club members' imaginations and inform all on the latest astronomical news. Come be a part of something out of this world... Evan B. Schneider, Editor Email me at: editor@aaa.org

Kleegor's Universe
By Joshua M. Eric h, www.pixelatedparchm ent.com

6


EYEPIECE

September 2012

A Message from AAA President Marcelo Cabrera
Hello members: We note the sad passing of one of AAA's strongest supporters and former president, Lynn Darsh, whose dedication and intellect helped AAA to evolve into what it is today. She will truly be missed by us all. Last month NASA landed another fully equipped robotic roving laboratory on Mars. Curiosity had the most difficult landing sequence in history and NASA engineers executed it without any problems. I expect many new discoveries to come from Curiosity in the next few months. Summer is not over yet; we still have two more trips to North-South Lake scheduled, and many other observing sessions around the city. Check out our full calendar at: http://www.aaa.org/calendar Urban Starfest, our most popular stargazing event, is scheduled for October 20, with a rain date of October 21. The event will be held at Central Park's Sheep Meadow. It is organized in conjunction with the NYC Urban Park Rangers and this year's honored guests include David Eicher (editor in chief) and Richard Talcott (senior editor) from Astronomy magazine, and Tele Vue founder and chief optical designer, Al Nagler. Joining the event as well will be Michael Peoples from Adorama Camera, a longtime friend and supporter of AAA. For more details, please visit http://www.aaa.org/ starfest.

Sincer ely, Contacting AAA Marcelo Cabrera President, AAA
Membership: members@aaa.org Eyepiece: editor@aaa.org General Club Matters and Observing: president@aaa.org

Telephone: 212-535-2922

Website: www.aaa.org

Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 Commander, Dies at Age 82
eil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 astronaut who died Aug 25 at 82, said he did not want to live his life as an icon, remembered only for that electric night in 1969 when he and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. But when you have done what he did -- stepped out, alone, onto another world while half a billion Earthlings watched your television transmission -- the world recalls. Armstrong's moonwalk as one of those events that brought the world together. Most people who are old enough to have seen it can tell you exactl y where they were when it happened. "His one small step will inspire generations to come," said space shuttle astronaut Nicole Stott on Twitter. She quoted Armstrong from a 1994 speech: "There are places to go beyond belief." "No other act of human exploration ever laid a plaque sa ying, 'We came in peace for all mankind," tweeted Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist. President Obama -- whom Armstrong criticized two years ago for cutting NASA's exploration plans -- was nevertheless effusi ve: "Neil's spirit of discover y lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown -- including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space. That legacy will endure -sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step." Armstrong would doubtless have been uncomfortable with all the tributes. People who knew him said he was not a recluse, but he was a private man who quickly deflected credit to others. He described himself, more than once, as a "nerdy

N

engineer." He often protested that while he and Aldrin made the first lunar landing, they merely piloted a mission made possibl e by thousands of others. In his later years, Armstrong publicly complained about Washington politics. He said the space program had become a "shuttlecock" in the budget battles between the White House and Congress, which could not agree on its direction or how much America could afford to spend on it. "NASA has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve," said Armstrong in an interview in Australia this spring. "It's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people. And that's a major concern to me." His family, in their statement announcing that he had died, asked people to dispense with words: "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request," they said. "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modest y, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink." 7


EYEPIECE

September 2012

WHAT IF??? E

Asteroids: Islands of the Solar System By Richard Brounstein
tivel y expensive. But there is a better way: build a mobile colon y on a near-Earth asteroid to establish a permanent presence in space. Consider private venture firm Planetary Resources, Inc. The y plan to send probes to mine nearby asteroids for rare Earth metals. Launching equipment into space and landing on an asteroid are not daunting tasks like landing on Mars. It's similar to docking with another spacecraft. What if, in addition to drilling for materials, they carved out a sizeable human habitat? The size can be increased just by continued excavation with solar -powered, remote controlled equipment, negating the need to launch heavy modules into space. The habitat would be protected from solar radiation and menacing meteorites by the asteroid's rocky exterior. When humans arrive, they only need to bring water recycling equipment, grow food, and maintain the habitat's oxygen atmosphere. Solar panels would provide renewable energy. Hopefull y, some water ice reservoir would be discovered that can be used to create rocket fuel. Now we're on our wa y. The next problem is creating gravity. This would be challenging, but possible. If an asteroid is at least 3,000 ft. long, then we need to rotate it so the centrifugal force creates gravity. This requires harnessing sufficient energy to force the rotation. What a great day it will be when humans have learned to leverage the materials in space, allowing us to move forward into the cosmos. Many scientific and engineering challenges must be addressed before an asteroid can be occupied. We don't know if suffi cient materials exist to be profitabl y mined or harnessed - the economics of private space ventures must work to achieve these goals. We must learn more about the availabilit y of water ice, and develop a design to force its rotation. We need a methodology t o put large automated drilling machines into space, and a way to extract materials for energy consumption. Hydroponic farming needs further devel opment, and creating water and oxygen from water deposits is still a concept. Established human colonies will one day become a great resource, advancing scientific research and becoming the space refueling stations needed to colonize our solar system. Consider the advantage of launching a space probe or manned vehicle. The first stop could be an asteroid colony where stores of fuel are waiting to send astronauts or probes further on their journey. An added benefit to controlling an asteroid is to finally devel op technology to move a future body from its destructive path with Earth. Our planetary defense system would be enhanced. There are so many benefits to exploring these unknowns. Once one or two colonies are established on local asteroids, it could become common throughout the inner solar system. Would we then start building colonies on comets in the outer solar system or in the Kuiper Belt? This might be the wa y humanity finally leaves Earth to become a great spacefaring civilization. Asteroids and comets might really be the islands of our solar system.
Richard Brouns tein's m onthly colum n, "WHAT I F," explores what today seem s im probable or impossible. Stay tuned for m ore fascinating concepts.

uropeans established their first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. Brave explorers carved out a life in harsh conditions, using local resources. They brought tools and weapons to fashion the land and protect their interests. They could not bring materials to build homes or wood to fuel their fires. They learned to grow food in a new environment, make clothing, and hunt in what was for them, an alien land. In many wa ys, humans today have the same challenges as we look to establish the first permanent colony awa y from Earth. Building a self-sufficient space colon y requires a source of energy, fuel for space propulsion, a hydroponic farm, potable water, sufficient gravity, and building materials for an oxygen-filled habitat. There are other needs, but let's focus on these pivotal requirements first. To date, space stations have been impressive. Without access to raw materials, they are routinely re-supplied from Earth. We have not yet built a space station that provides artificial gravity. Without it, human muscles and bones rapidl y deteriorate in space, limiting astronauts' tours to only a few months. In theory, mankind could build a rotating space station as depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, this large spinning wheel must be over 3,000 ft. in diameter (10 football fields or 10 times the size of the current ISS) to be effective. Considering the enormous cost to supply materials to the ISS, creating a permanent colon y in space utilizing Earth material is just too expensive. Could we build colonies on the Moon or Mars? We have a similar problem there as well. Launching large habitats and safel y landing them on a remote world is cost prohibitive. Consider the energy and equipment required to land the 2,000 lb. Mars Curiosity rover. A human habitat would be significantly heavier. There is no current technology other than enormous amounts of rocket fuel to do the job, which again is a logistical improbability. We need to learn from the historic lessons of Jamestown, to build habitats using local materials. Could humans construct remote living environments underground? Possibl y, but we still have to resolve the constraints of limited gravity. Lunar or Martian gravity is too low to keep humans healthy. Also, the engineering problems still remain. Landin g m ul t i pl e cr a ft s lar ge enough to support humans is again prohibiDigit alSpace conceptual draw ing - NEO asteroid docking

8


EYEPIECE

September 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
Driving Miss Curiosity
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity spent its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. The rover's "brain transplant," installed a new version of soft ware on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded t o the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth. "We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the soft ware as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy, NASA/JPL chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. "The flight soft ware version Curiosity originally used was really focused on landing the vehicle. It included many capabilities we just don't need any more. It gives us basic capabilities for operating the rover on the surface, but we planned all along to switch over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for surface operations." A key capability in the new version is image processing to check for obstacles. This allows for longer drives by giving the rover more autonomy to identify and avoid potential hazards and drive along a safe path the rover identifies for itself. Other new capabilities facilitate use of the tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop, which are located at the end of its robotic arm, to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments. To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site at 4.59 degrees south, 137.44 degrees east, places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history. more than ten times wider than other comparabl y sensitive amplifiers, can amplify strong signals without distortion, and introduces nearly the lowest amount of unavoidable noise. In principle, the researchers say, design improvements should be able to reduce that noise to the absolute minimum. The team recently described the new instrument in the journal Nature Physics. One of the key features is that it incorporates superconductors - materials that allow an electric current to flow with zero resistance when lowered to certain temperatures. For their amplifier, the researchers use titanium nitride and niobium titanium nitride, which have just the right properties to amplify the weak signal. The team says that the instrument can directly amplify radio signals from faint sources like distant

New H.E.S.S. II obser vatory poised for discoveries

Curiosity sets off on its first quarter mile trek acr oss the surface

New Eye Sweeps the Gamma Sky

The four 12 meter-telescopes of the H.E.S.S. observatory (High Energy Stereoscopic System), dedicated to investigating cosmic gamma-rays in Namibia, received reinforcement: The new telescope H.E.S.S. II has a 28-meter-sized mir-

galaxies, black holes, or other exotic cosmic objects. Boosting signals in millimeter to submillimeter wavelengths (between radio and infrared) will allow astronomers to study the cosmic microwa ve background and to peer behind the dusty clouds of galaxies to study the births of stars, or probe primeval galaxies. The team has already begun working to produce such devices for Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observator y (OVRO) near Bishop, California. These amplifiers could be incorporated into telescope arrays like the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter -wave Astronomy at OVRO, of which Caltech is a consortium member, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile. Instead of directly amplifying an astronomical signal, the instrument can be used to boost the electronic signal from a light detector in an optical, ultraviolet, or even x-ray telescope, making it easier for astronomers to tease out faint objects. Because the instrument is so sensitive and introduces minimal noise, it can also be used to explore the quantum world. For example, Keith Schwab, a professor of applied physics at Caltech, is planning to use the amplifier to measure the behavior of tiny mechanical devices that operate at the boundary between classical physics and the strange world of quantum mechanics. The amplifier could also be used in the development quantum computers - which are still beyond our technological reach but should be able to solve some of science's hardest problems much more quickly than any regular computer. 9


EYEPIECE

September 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
Twinkle, Twinkle Little...Boom!

Type Ia supernovae are violent stellar explosions. Observations of their brightness are used t o determine distances in the universe and reveal that the cosmos is expanding at an accelerating rate. But there is still too little known about how these supernovae form. New research, led by Stella Kafka of the Carnegie Institution for Science, has identified a star system, prior to explosion, which will possibl y become a t ype Ia supernova. The widel y accepted theory is that type Ia supernovae are thermonuclear explosions of a white dwarf star that's part of a binary system. The white dwarf has mass graduall y donated to it by its companion. When the white dwarf mass reaches 1.4 solar masses, it explodes to produce a t ype Ia supernova. The crucial questions are: What is the nature of the donor star and how does this white dwarf increase its mass. Also, how would that process affect the properties of the explosion? Scientists have been searching for candidate systems that could become t ype Ia supernovae. There are thousands of possibilities, none of which have yet been observed to produce an explosion. Using data from the DuPont telescope of the Las Campanas observator y in Chile, Kafka and her team looked at these gas signatures and identified a binary star called QU Carinae as a possible supernova progenitor. It contains a white dwarf, which is accumulating mass from a giant star, and sodium has been detected around the system. "We are really excited to have identified such a system," Kafka said. "Understanding these systems, the nature of the two stars, the manner in which mass is exchanged, and their long-term evolution will give us a comprehensive picture on how binaries can create one of the most important explosions in the universe."
Slip Sliding Away - on Iapetus

is debate a bout their causes. Now, images from the Cassini space mission suggest that heating of icy surfaces helps the landslides keep going. On Earth, landslides typicall y travel a horizontal distance that is less than twice the distance that the material has fallen. Long-runout landslides, by contrast, can travel as much as 30 times the vertical falling distance. Now, Kelsi Singer of Washington University and colleagues report that the geography of Iapetus is a unique setting to test these theories. According to Singer, "They give us examples of giant landslides in ice, instead of rock, with a different gravity, and no atmosphere. So any theory of long-runout landslides on Earth must also work for avalanches on Iapetus." The icy satellite has more giant landslides than any solar system body other than Mars. The reason, says Prof William McKinnon, also from Washington University, is Iapetus' spectacular topography. "Not only is the moon out -of-round, but the giant impact basins are ver y deep, and there's this great mountain ridge that's 12 miles high, far higher than Mount Everest," he explained. "So there's a lot of topography and it's just sitting around, and then, from time to time, it gives wa y." It appears that this faster-moving ice seen on Iapetus has a lower friction coefficient than that of slow-moving ice measured in Earth bound laboratories. The team suggests that the tiny contact points between bits of ice debris in such a landslide may heat up considerably, melting it and forming a more fluid - and thus less friction-limited - mass of material.

Phoenix Cluster is Hot Stuff
Astronomers have found an extraordinary galaxy cluster, one of the largest objects in the universe, that is breaking cosmic records. Observations of the Phoenix cluster with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope, and eight other worldclass observatories may force astronomers to rethink how these structures and the galaxies that inhabit them evol ve. Stars are forming in Phoenix at the highest rate ever observed for the middle of a galaxy cluster. It is also is the most massive and powerful producer of X-rays of any known cluster. The data also suggest the rate of hot gas cooling in the central regions is the largest ever observed. Phoenix is located about 5.7 billion light years from Earth. It is named not only for the constellation in which it is located, but also for its remarkable properties. "While galaxies at the center of most clusters ma y have been dormant for billions of years, the central galaxy in this cluster seems to have come back to life with a new burst of star formation," said Michael McDonald, a Hubble Fellow at MIT and the lead author of an Aug 16 paper that appeared in the journal Nature. "The mythology of the Phoenix, a bird rising from the dead, is a great wa y to describe this revived object." Astronomers think the supermassive black hole in the central galaxy cluster pumps energy into the system, preventing cooling of gas from causing a burst of star formation. "This spectacular star burst is a very significant discover y because it suggests we have to rethink how the massive galaxies in the centers of clusters grow," said Martin Rees of Cambridge University, a world-renowned expert on cosmology who was not involved with the study. "The cooling of hot gas might be a much more important source of stars than previousl y thought."

Saturn's moon Iapetus frequently plays host to a huge type of landslide or avalanche that is rare elsewhere in the solar system, scientists report. Sturzstroms or "long-runout landslides" move faster and farther than geological models predict they should. They have been seen on Earth and Mars, but there

A giant landslide reaches halfw ay across a 75- mile impact crater
(Credit: N AS A/JPL Space Scie nce Institute)

10


EYEPIECE

September 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
NASA Straps on a Radiation Belt Mirror, Mirror, on the Webb

NASA has just launched two Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) designed to study the harsh environment of our planet's Van Allen Radiation Belts. The probes will help scientists understand the Sun's influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying radiation belts on various scales of spa ce and time. The instruments on the RBSP mission will provide the measurements needed to characterize and quantify plasma processes that produce very energetic ions and relativistic electrons. The mission is part of the broader NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) program, conceived t o explore fundamental processes that operate throughout the solar system and in particular those that generate hazardous space weather effects in the vicinity of Earth and phenomena that could impact solar system exploration. RBSP instruments will measure the properties of charged particles that comprise the Earth's radiation belts, the plasma waves that interact with them, the large-scale electric fields that transport them, and the particle-guiding magnetic field. The two RBSP spacecraft will have nearl y identical eccentric orbits. The orbits cover the entire radiation belt region and the two spacecraft lap each other several times over the course of the mission. The RBSP measurements dis-

One of the most challenging parts of NASA's huge new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the building of its ultra sophisticated mirror system, is now finished, and the mirrors are ready for deliver y. Send-off ceremonies held on Aug. 15 saluted the completion of 18 ber yllium primary mirror segments and billed Webb as the successor to NASA's venerable Hubble Space Telescope. Ball Aerospace, the principal subcontractor to manufacturer Northrop Grumman for the JWST, is also responsible for JWST's secondary and tertiary mirrors, a fine steering mirror assembly and several engineering development units. Ball's optical technology and lightweight mirror system at the heart of the telescope - an astronomical project that is now pegged to cost roughly $8.7 billion and to be l ofted in the fall of 2018.
Round, Round, Get Around

Artist 's rendering shows the two Radiation Belt Storm Pro bes that w ill study the Van Allen Radiation B elts in the Earth's magnetospher e and the sun's effects on Earth. C harged par ticles can be hazardous to bot h spacecr aft and astronauts.
(Credit: J. Hopk ins Univers ity Applie d Phys ics L ab)

criminate between spatial and temporal effects, and compare the effects of various proposed mechanisms for charged particle acceleration and loss. The spacecraft are designed to fl y and operate in the heart of the most hazardous regions of near Earth space to collect crucial data. The data will help researchers develop an understanding of the Van Allen radiation belts, two rings of ver y high energy electrons and protons that can pose hazards to human and robotic explorers. "We will turn our attention from planet Mars to planet Earth, both immersed in the atmosphere of our Sun," said Barbara Giles, director of NASA's Helioph ysics Division. "RBSP will further explore the connection of solar variability and its impacts on Earth's radiation belts."

The Sun is nearly the roundest object ever measured. If scaled to the size of a beach ball, it would be so round that the difference bet ween the widest and narrow diameters would be much less than the width of a human hair. The Sun rotates ever y 28 days, and because it doesn't have a solid surface, it should be slightly flattened. This tiny flattening has been studied with many instruments for almost 50 years to learn about the Sun's rotation, especially the rotation below its surface, which we can't see directly. Now Jeff Kuhn and Isabelle Scholl from the University of Hawaii, Rock Bush from Stanford University, and Marcelo Emilio from the State Universit y of Ponta Grossa in Brazil have used the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite to obtain what they believe is the definitive - and baffling - answer. Because there is no atmosphere in space to distort the solar image, they were able t o use HMI's exquisite image sensitivity to measure the solar shape with unprecedented accuracy. The results indicate that if the Sun were shrunk to a ball one meter in diameter, its equatorial diameter would be onl y 17 millionths of a meter larger than the diameter through its north-south pole, which is its rotation axis. The y also found that the solar flattening is remarkably constant over time and too small to agree with that predicted from its surface rotation. This suggests that other subsurface forces, like solar magnetism or turbulence, may be a more powerful influence than expected. Kuhn, the team leader, said, "For years we've believed our fluctuating measurements were telling us that the Sun varies, but these new results sa y something different. While just about ever ything else in the Sun changes along with its 11-year sunspot cycle, the shape doesn't."

Sun image taken by the Solar Dynamics O bservator y
(Credit: N AS A)

11


EYEPIECE

September 2012

FOCUS ON THE UNIVERSE Night Skies Over Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
By Stan Honda
ight pollution is the scourge of astronomers worldwide. As night photos of the Earth show, cit y lights make it difficult to see truly dark skies. We happen to live in one of the brightest metropolitan areas on the planet. For photographers shooting night landscapes, artificial light is especially challenging. Long exposures needed for night photography allow the camera to record any and all types of light - even faint light you can't see. Driving 50 miles from NYC isn't enough to get awa y from the glow of these artificial lights, so the AAA spring/ summer class headed to Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester County for a night of observing in mid-August. The night was unusually clear, with a few high clouds in the west dissipating after sunset. Though the Sun set at 7:55 p.m., it was well after 9 p.m. before light faded completel y from the sky. A distinct glow on the southwest horizon, the lights from Westchester and NYC, could be seen. Because moisture scatters light, the high humidity produced a steady brightness above. Added to that was a glaring light at the entrance to the park, seemingly shining directly at our location. A faint Milky Wa y could be seen - a huge improvement from the city view. Through the telescopes, Saturn, looked magnificent, and members of the group were able to find various star clusters, galaxies and nebulae. But for night sky photography, it was still not quite dark enough. Airplanes constantly fl ying overhead created yet another distraction. But even with the interference, it's always worth a try t o see what you can capture in different situations. Sometimes you get unexpected results. I decided t o set up a camera with a wide-angle lens to capture our group and the sky from north to east. I had a 14 24mm zoom set at 14mm on my Nikon D700. The camera was set at f 2.8, 30-second exposures at ISO 1600. I took a few test pictures around 9 p.m. The sky seemed a little bright, but I assumed that over the course of an hour it would darken. My goal was a long exposure showing the star trails and the activity of AAA members observing. I used a second camera to take single shots of the sky and observers, but didn't get very good results because the sky was too bright. The intervalometer trigger was set to take 120 photos - one hour's worth (30-second exposures X 120 frames = 60 minutes). This generally allows some leewa y in assembling the final photo. If some pictures at the beginning or end aren't good, I would still have 45-50 minutes worth of photos. I cringed when a car drove into the parking lot midwa y through the hour, hoping the headlights wouldn't wash out the scene. At home, I began to combine each frame to show the star trails. I was amazed at how well it came out. The camera was pointed almost directly at Cassiopeia and that part of the rising Milky Wa y, so a large number of stars could be seen in the center of the photo. The red flashlights of the club members lit up each telescope and tripod and created wavy lines as people walked around. Airplanes were ver y noticeable, mainl y 12

L

crossing the eastern sky. A particularly bright plane shows up as a vertical line on the left side. I also noticed streaks that were probabl y satellites, though they appear only faintly in the final photo. The ghostly figures of people also can be seen. I ended up combining 100 frames for a 50-minute exposure of our session. Stars rotate around Polaris and a few wispy cl ouds can be seen on the horizon. I darkened the sky just a bit for more contrast with the stars. The sky is not the real black you would see in a more remote place, but it wasn't bad. With all that's happening in the frame, the photo can be described as psychedelic, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Stan's ghostly image of the AAA observers (Westchest er, 2012)

Many national parks are becoming more aware of artificial lighting and its effect on the night sky. I was at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in May t o do some night photography and observe the annular eclipse. The skies there are stunning, with incredible blackness between the stars. One night I photographed the Milky Wa y over Fajada Butte, a sacred site for the ancient Chacoan people. From one angle, I could see the galaxy arch over the sky in amazing detail despite the glaring visitor center lights. They pointed west, mostly lighting up the vast desert expanse. I shot a wide-angle photo of the visitor center with the Milky Wa y above, and oddl y enough, the lights didn't have much effect on the sky. I sent the photo to Jim Von Haden, the natural resources program manager at Chaco, who helped me photograph over several nights. He has been on a mission to dim or eliminate the visitor center lights, which aren't really necessary. Jim asked to use the photo in his presentations as he attempts to dim work with the park administration to gain dark sky status for Chaco. It's a small contribution, but I think each of us can help in the effort to preserve our night sky.
Stan Ho nda is an accomplished professional contributing writer. In this continui ng series of art extensive knowledge of photographic equipment and Please visit www.stanhonda.com or submit questions to stanhonda@gmail.com. photographer and icles, he shares his techniques. your photography


EYEPIECE

September 2012

Hark! Hark! Sark is Dark! The Little Island that Could By Dan Harrison
s my plane took off in early May for an 18-day vacation to the English countryside and the Channel Islands, I had no idea the trip would yield a story for Eyepiece. That changed in a nanosecond near the end of the trip, when I picked up a paperback called A Year in Sark. Covering October 2010 to October 2011, it had a piece for January 2011 titled called "The World's First Dark Sky Island." Sark is a tiny channel island: four -and-a-half square miles, 600 year -round residents, and no paved roads, cars or streetlights. I bought the book on Guernsey, one of the two main channel islands (Jersey is the other), and decided to take a day trip to Sark, which turned out to be a perfect combination of ferry, horse-drawn wagon and very friendly people. Back in New York, I got to work. I learned that Sark's path to dark-sky designation began in 2010, when local stargazer Felicity Belfield heard Gallowa y Forest Park in Scotland had been singled out by the International Dark-sky Association (IDA) for the quality of its night sky. She and others felt Sark deserved the same honor, so they contacted the IDA, beginning a year of assessment and community consultation. The award followed a long process that included assessment of sky darkness and an audit of all external lights on Sark. A comprehensive lighting-management plan was created by Jim Patterson of the Institute of Lighting Engineers. Many local residents and businesses altered their lighting to become more dark-sky friendly, ensuring as little light as possi ble spills upwards. Annie Dachinger is "starfleet commander" of the fledgling Sark Astronomical Societ y (SAstroS), which got off the ground in the wake of the dark-sky designation and now has 36 members. There were starfests in October 2011 and March of this year, with a third planned for this month. "It was agreed in this first celebratory year to have a starfest in October 2011 with a guest speaker, an astronomer in-residence and to hire a mobile planetarium, plus music and performers, including a belly dancer we dubbed the Heavenl y Body!" she recalled. "Our speaker was Prof. Andrew Coates from the Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory at the Universit y of Central London, who spoke about his work, especially exploring the solar system's planets and moons. Steve (darkskyman) Owens was astronomer -in-residence and took parties on guided star walks." The March event was a mini starfest to close the winter stargazing season, with Dr. Marek Kukula, public astronomer from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Star walks and talks were featured. Kukula returns for this month's starfest and will speak about "Black Holes: Do They Reall y Exist? He'll also talk about the exhibit Sark is hosting: winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition cosponsored by BBC Sky at Night and Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Karen Brown, a Sark tourist official, observes that "Since gaining dark-sky status, Sark is better able to promote itself as a winter tourist destination. Until now, Sark has been

A

Sark `s Dark Skies Abound

mainly seen as a summer destination, and our season for vi sitors traditionally runs from Easter till October. However, we now have hotels and guest-houses which [are staying] open year round, and there is a small but steady increase in out -ofseason visitors who want to come and look at our amazing skies." Fundraising is proceeding apace. Sark held its first masked ball in June. Locals raise funds to cover the cost of bringing speakers to Sark. "We hope eventually t o have enough money to invest in a small observatory, a further encouragement for professi onals to visit and enjoy the exceptional quality of the clear sky here," Dachinger said. As for the woman who started it all, Belfield is 90 years young and has lived on Sark for 30 years. In addition to being an amateur astronomer, she's an artist and an amateur geologist who this year wrote a book about Sark rocks. Another area in the United Kingdom that recently received dark-sky certification is Exmoor National Park in southwest England. Its designation was sought because the park authority values tranquility as a key asset, and a dark sky is part of that mission. There's also an opportunity for Exmoor to extend its tourist season through winter, using dark skies to attract astrotourism, as is being done by Sark and Gallowa y. Exmoor's designation means the UK is the onl y country that has the full spectrum of IDA designations. It has a dark-sky park (Gallowa y), a dark-sky community (Sark) and a dark-sky reserve (Exmoor). Dark-sky park designation is intended for parks with little or no population, the model being U. S. national parks. Dark-sky community status is aimed at towns, cities, or islands that want to preserve their night sky. Dark-sky reserve status, while also meant for large parks, allows communities to exist within the reserve, surrounding a dark-sky core, which is strictly protected, while public engagement and awareness of light-pollution issues spread from that core to the surrounding reserve.
Hark! Hark! Sark - continued on Page 14

13


EYEPIECE

September 2012

Hark! Hark! Sark - continued from Page 13

As Sark revels in its dark-sky status, there's a potential cloud on the horizon. Belfield told me Sark's exceptionally dark skies "are in danger of sabotage all the time. Almost all Sark people are in favor of keeping [them], but sadly there's one multimillionaire family, based in Monaco, who want to own Sark, purely for tax avoidance, and who long to develop it, upgrading hotels, etc., and introducing streetlights. This family has bought up much of the island, and although we've managed to keep them out of our democratically elected parliament, it's an ongoing battle. "What's so good about Sark, and unusual, is that you can come and stay here in a first-rate hotel, and eat a fabulous dinner, and then simply walk outside to survey the heavens without having to go in search of a clear view."

"Saturn on Steroids" Exoplanet Found

An enigmatic object detected five years ago in space may be a ringed alien world comparable to our own gas giant Saturn, the first such world discovered outside our solar system, scientists now say. The finding, announced in January at the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Societ y, came from studying an unsteady eclipse of light from a star near the mysterious body. "After we ruled out the eclipse being due to a spherical star or a circumstellar disk passing in front of the star, I realized that the only plausible explanation was some sort of dust ring system orbiting a smaller companion - basically a Saturn on steroids," said study co-author Eric Mamajek at Cerro Tololo Inter -American Observatory in Chile. The find occurred as astrophysicists investigated the Scorpius-Centaurus association, the nearest region of recent massive star formation to the Sun, using the international SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) and All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) projects. Speci fically, the researchers analyzed how light from sunlike stars in Scorpius-Centaurus varied over time. One star in particular showed dramatic changes in the intensity of its light during a 54-day period in early 2007, suggesting it was getting eclipsed by an orbiting body. The star in question is technically known as 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6. It has a mass similar to the Sun but, at about 16 million years of age, is much younger, just 1/300th as old as the Sun. It lies about 420 light-years away. Whatever is eclipsing it is relativel y close to the star, 1.7 times or so the distance from the Earth to the Sun. If a simple spherical object had passed in front of the star, the intensity of the star's light would have steadil y dimmed and reached a low point before gradually increasing. Instead, scientists saw a long, complex eclipse with significant on-and-off dimming. At the deepest parts of the eclipse, at least 95% of light from the star was getting blocked by dust. The nature of these shifts in light - the "light curve" - was ver y similar to that of EE Cephei, a hot, giant star occasionall y eclipsed by a companion star that is surrounded by a thick 14

protoplanetary disk. However, instead of just one dip in light as one would expect of a single disk, Mamajek and Universit y of Rochester graduate student Mark Pecaut saw several dips. The eclipsing body seems to be an object "with an orbiting disk that has multiple rings of dust debris," Mamajek said. This would be the first system of discrete, thin dust rings detected around a very low-mass object outside our solar system, he noted. So far the research team has discovered one dense inner disk and three tenuous outer disks, respectivel y named Rochester, Sutherland, Campanas and Tololo, after the sites where the eclipsed star was first detected and analyzed. The outermost ring stretches up to 37 million miles from the body it encircles. If the rings are similar to Saturn's, their com bined mass is probabl y as much as eight times that of Earth's moon. "Each of these rings is probabl y made of thousands and thousands of rings," Mamajek said. "Amateur astronomers can really look at this star with a backyard telescope and help us learn more about this system through monitoring it for more eclipses from the ring system."

Artist's concept of the massive ring system exoplanet

Many questions remain about the nature of the ringed body - whether it is a planet, a very low-mass star, or a brown dwarf. If less than 13 times the mass of Jupiter, it would likel y be a planet similar to Saturn. If 13-75 times Jupiter's mass, it would be a brown dwarf. If larger still, it would have enough mass to sustain nuclear fusion, making it a star. Future telescope observations can determine how much of a gravitational tug this object exerts on its star, and thus reveal its mass. Just as interesting as the rings are the gaps between the gaps, signs that massive bodies are sculpting the ring edges. If this object is a planet, moons could be carving the rings; if a star, newborn planets may be responsible. "One might imagine rings around the smallest stars like rings one sees around Saturn," Mamajek said. "Our inner solar system could've looked like this long ago in its first tens of millions of years." "I think these rings are how we're going to study moon forming disks around gas giants," Mamajek said.


EYEPIECE

September 2012

AAA Events on the Horizon
September 2012
Tuesdays, September 4,11,18,25 8:30 - 10:30 p.m., P, T, C Observing on the High Line, Manhattan/Enter at 14th Street Next dates: Tuesdays in October Thursdays, September 6,13,20,27 7:30 - 9:30 p.m., P,T,C Observing at Brooklyn Bridge Park/ Pier 1, Brooklyn Waterfront Next dates: Thursdays in October Wednesday, September 12 6:30 - 9 p.m., Board Only AAA Board Meeting Cicatelli Center, 505 Eighth Avenue, 20th fl Saturday, September 15 7:30 - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Great Kills Gateway National Park, Staten Island Next date: October 20 Saturday, Sept 15 (8 p.m.) - Sunday, Sept 15 (1:30 a.m. ), P,T,C Observing at North-South Lake, Haines Falls, NY Wednesday, September 19 7:30 - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Brooklyn Heights Promenade/ At Montague Street Next date: TBD Friday, September 21 7:30 - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn/ 50 Aviator Road Next date: October 19 Friday, September 28 7:00 - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing in Carl Schurz Park, Manhattan/ East End Ave & 86th Next date: October 26 Saturday, September 29 10:00 a.m. - noon, P, T, C Solar observing in Central Park, At the Conservatory Water Next date: October 27
Legend for Events: M: Members; T: Bring te lescopes, binoculars, etc. P: Ope n to t he public C: Cancelled if cloudy For the latest information about all AAA events, visit www.aaa.org

Sunspot Activity Surges in Early August
By Joe Fedrick

AAA 2012/2013 Lecture Series Calendar
Oct 16 Nov 9 Dec 7 Jan 4 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 5 Apr 26 Michael Paul--The Google Lunar X Prize - The Launch of Private Exploration of the Solar System Timothy Creamer - NASA Astronaut Corps. David Sobel - A More Perfect Heaven Jerry Bonnell - NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day David Hogg - The Sloan Atlas of Galaxies Shane Larson - Topic TBA Andrew Kessler - Author of Martian Summer Special event to be announced

I pointed my 60mm f/15 achromatic refractor at the Sun at 6PM EDT on August 2, and projected the image onto an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper using an old 20mm eyepiece. The projected image displayed numerous sunspots in two parallel bands, one band on either side of the solar equator. One sunspot was almost as large as the disk of Venus as it transited the Sun nearly t wo months earlier. This spot displayed a dark umbral center and fairly well defined penumbral zone surrounding the umbra. I then used my jury-rigged solar scope consisting of an old pair of 10x50 binoculars with one objective completely blocked off and covered, and the other objective having one lens (actually a dense filter) of an Astronom y magazine eclipse glasses taped in front of it. A rather dim, dusky gray- orange image of the Sun was visible through this apparatus along with several sunspots, including the large round spot almost as large as the disk of Venus. However, this large sunspot was nowhere nearly as dark as the India ink, jet black disk of Venus I saw suspended in front of the Sun on June 5. I noticed the observed sunspot activity was also rather intense in early Jul y, but a fter a solar flare was noted by t he news media, images of the Sun on the internet showed the intense source of the flare rotating away toward the solar far side and a relatively spot-free zone was rotating into view. Perhaps what I am seeing is persistent activity on only one side of the Sun that rotates into view early in the month (29 days) rather than actual spiking of solar activity at the beginning of each month. In any case, sunspot activity is weaker than it was one year ago. The sunspot cycle is supposed to peak next year, so we ma y yet see if this cycle is weaker than the last one or just delayed. NEXT MONTH IN EYEPIECE
Our Look Ahead to October: Updates on Mars Rover Curiosity as it blazes new trails on the Martian surface; Am y Wagner's continued new journey: "Why We Explore;" Stan Honda teaches us photography in his "Focus on the Universe" series; Richard Brounstein presents: "Robot Scientists" in his "What If" column; Ed Fox reviews "The 4% Universe;" Alan Rude brings us "Gravity Waves and LIGO:" "Kleegor's Universe" explores the funny side of astronomy; Ed Fox's AAA Briefs in Astronomy bring the universe to us; Rich Rosenberg's "What's Up in the Sky" points our scopes in the right direction, plus Nebula of the Month, Astronomical Fact of the Month....and more!!!

International Observe the Moon Night Coming September 22, 2012

Want to look at the Moon? Go outside at night and look up. It's easy. You don't need super advanced technology to gaze up at the wonder that is Earth's natural satellite. Watch this month for events surrounding this yearly tribute to our neighbor in the sky. The event is sponsored by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that just returned images of the flag planted by the Apollo missions!

AAA Presents: A new and exciting wide selection of logo merchandise for our members to purchase online

AAA ONLINE STORE IS NOW OPEN

"Shop the Stars" www.aaa.org/store
15