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Journal of the Amateur Astrono mers Association of New York Nove mber 2011 Volume 59 Number 11 ISSN 0146-7662

EYEPIECE
By Leo Genn
live in low temperatures, in near -vacuum conditions, they could spread to places like the Aster oid Belt and from ther e spread throughout the universe. Indeed, he said that by such mea ns, the entire universe might already be crawling with life forms. Dyson speculated that such life for ms would be easy to find because they might grow massive and reflect a significant amount of light that we could see with Earth and space telescopes. Dyson said that the radio telescope array at SETI was a gr eat way to look for life because, following Moore's Law, continuing exponential improvements in computer processing speed and memor y ma ke radio astronomy mor e powerful over time. Dyson said that optical SETI searching for laser emissions, now being perfor med jointly by Princeton and Harvard, might prove even mor e effective than radio astronomy in finding intelligent life. Advanced civilizations could alr eady be transmitting na nosecond broadband optical pulses that would contain far mor e data than radio waves. Dyson praised the important scientific results we are getting from the Cassini and Kepler missions, the Wilkinson Microwa ve Anisotropy Probe and Japanese and Canadian neutrino detectors. He argued that the important results of these projects didn't get worldwide attention proportional to their scientific mer it. Instead, media attention generally flowed to bigger budget projects perfor med by richer countries. Dyson explained that infrared telescopes ha d once seemed like they could be gr eat for finding civilizations throwing off heat. It turned out that so many planets give out heat for geological and other reasons that infrared telescopes wer e ineffective in the hunt for life, but that other wise, they rema in valuable astronomic tools. The next AAA lectur e will be held Friday, November 4 at 6:15 p.m. in the Kaufma nn Auditorium of the Amer ica n Museum of Natural History. Dr. Fred Chromey, professor of astronomy at Vassar College will present The Mystery of Beta Lyrae: Astronomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs."

DR. FREEMAN J. DYSON OPENS AAA LECTURE SERIES
Addr essing a large audience at the Kaufma nn Auditorium at the AMNH, Dr. Freema n J. Dyson revealed that ther e are new places to search for life forms in the universe. The r enowned physicist deliver ed the first 2011-12 AAA lecture of the season on Friday, October 21. His focus was to discuss wher e we should be looking for life beyond the current search for rocky planets in the goldilocks zone. Dyson stated that the first rule of astronomy should be to search for what is detectable, not what is probable. Thus, we would be relying on our investigative tools, which we understand much better tha n we understand nature itself. Since nature loves surprises, we should be looking for life not wher e we expect it, but wher e we can detect it. One of the r ecurring themes throughout the evening was Dyson's disinter est in definitions and his battle against science based on pr econceptions. Answer ing a question on what is life, Dyson said he didn't like definitions because they are for lawyers. Since we ha ve no idea what life beyond Earth would look like, our search for life shouldn't be based on finding life that is highly similar to life on Earth. Dyson was clear in stating that elsewher e, life might not require anything close to the warmth of Earth's temperature, or oxygen, carbon, carbon dioxide or even an atmospher e. In response to a n audience member's question, he said ther e was no way to rule out the possibility that somewher e, life for ms could alr eady be running on their own internal nuclear energy. Instead of searching for life on planets in the goldilocks zone, Dr. Dyson believes that our search for life should focus on icy solar or interstellar objects, including, in particular, Jupiter's moon, Europa. Dyson speculated that on Europa or a similar icy body, kelp-like life might for m in oceans under surface ice and then emerge from cracks in the ice, evolve parabolic mirrors or lenses to focus sunlight and heat up the r eproductive organs of warm blooded plants. Such plants might look like sunflowers. If such life for ms could evolve to


EYEPIECE

November 2011

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observer's Guide for November 2011

AAA LECTURE SERIES TO PRESENT ASTRONOMICAL SPECTROSCOPY By Dan Harrison
Dr. Frederick R. Chromey Jr., Matthew Vassar Jr. professor of astronomy and director of the observator y at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., will address the AAA Friday, November 4 on The Myst ery of Beta Lyrae: Astronomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs. The free public lecture begins at 6:15 p.m. in the Kaufmann Theater of the American Museum of Natural History. Chromey will discuss two ideas. First, I want to promote the idea of amateur astronomers making practical spectroscopic observations. Second, I want to describe the very special object Beta Lyrae, and some spectroscopic observations of it that my students and I are making. This bright, relatively nearby double star is one of the rare cases in which the effects of stellar evolution can be seen on the timescale of a human life. It also presents an opportunity to closel y examine the behavior of an accretion disk. Understanding Beta Lyrae can improve our understanding of accretion-disk behavior in other astrophysical processes, such as the formation of planets and the generation of energy in quasars and in active galactic nuclei. Chromey, who holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University, was assistant professor of physics at Brookl yn College before joining Vassar in 1981. He became director of the observator y in 1990, and oversaw construction of the Class of 1951 observatory building, which began operations in 1998. Although Chromey teaches all parts of the astronomy curriculum, he particularly enjoys teaching non -scientists, as well as teaching observational techniques, planetary physi cs and observational cosmol ogy. Chromey worked briefl y at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and has held visiting positions at Kitt Peak National Observatory and a number of other astronomy centers. His current research concerns the behavior and spectroscopic monitoring of bright stars. In 2010, he published To Measure the Sky, an undergraduate text in observational astronomy. Future AAA 2011-12 Lecture Series Dates December 2: Michael Shara, American Museum of Natural Histor y, How Novae and Supernovae are Connected January 6: Robert Nemiroff, Michigan Technological University and NASA, Best Short Astronom y Videos February 10: Glennys Farrar, NYU, Getting Photos of Supermassive Black Holes Tearing Stars Apart March 2: Charles Keeton, Rutgers, A Ray of Light in a Sea of Dark (Matter) April 6: Debra Fischer, Yale,Searching for Earthlike Worlds May 4: Alex Wolszczan, Penn State, The Astronomical Future of Man.
For more information, go to: www.aaa.org/lectures1112

By Richard Rosenberg November's Evening Planets: It's getting busy in the
evening sky. Jupiter has just passed opposition and is up virtually all night. Check out its moons and belts. Brilliant Venus is now visible in the southwest. In the first half of the month, use it to find Mercury. The bright star Antares in Scorpius makes it a threesome on Nov 9 and Nov 10.

November's Evening Stars: The Summer Triangle of
Vega, Deneb and Altair is now low in the west. The winged horse Pegasus now dominates the south. In the east the magnificent winter stars make their entry ­ Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Gemini, Orion and Canis Major and Minor.

November's Morning Planets: Mars rises about 1:15
a.m. (Daylight Time) on Nov 1 and 11:30 Time) at month's end. It passes within 1° of brightest star, on Nov 11. Meanwhile, Saturn (EDT) on Nov 1 and 5 a.m. (EST) on Nov 30. within 4° of Spica, Virgo's bright star. p.m. (Standard Regulus, Leo's rises at 6 a.m. It slowl y cl oses

November's Morning Stars: The Summer Triangle is
now low in the west, and center stage is taken by the winter stars. Before sunrise let Mars point you to the star Regulus in Leo, and Saturn to Spica in Virgo. Around Nov 17 look for the Leonid meteor shower.

November Day-by-Day
(times are EDT until Nov 6, then EST) November 2 ­ Mercury and Venus are only 2° apart and remain close for the first two weeks of Novem ber November 2 ­ First Quarter Moon at 12:38 p.m. November 6 ­ At 2 a.m., Daylight Saving Time ends November 9 ­ Jupiter is below the Moon and Venus is near Antares this evening November 9 ­ Neptune is stationary, resuming direct motion with respect to the stars November 9 ­ Mars is near the star Regulus in Leo November 10 ­ As the sky darkens this evening, Antares joins Mercury. Venus is nearby November 10 ­ Full Moon at 3:16 p.m. November 14 ­ Mercury is at greatest elongation (23°) from the Sun November 17 ­ The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight November 18 ­ Last Quarter Moon at 10:09 a.m. November 19 ­ Mars is well north of the Moon tonight. November 22 ­ Saturn is well north of the Moon tonight November 25 ­ New Moon at 1:10 a.m. November 25 ­ Partial solar eclipse occurs in New Zealand, South Africa, Tasmania and Antarctica November 26 ­ Mercury is just south of the Moon at dusk November 27 ­ Venus is below the Moon
For more information, go to: www.aaa.org/month1111

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EYEPIECE

November 2011

A Message from AAA President Richard Rosenberg
Hello Members: Although it's getting cold, ther e's a whole lot of astronomy going on. The club's class in astronomy begins on November 2 and continues until December 14 (there is no meeting on November 23). Each class runs from 6:30 p. m. to 9 p. m. The location is 505 Eighth Avenue (corner of 35th Street), on the 20th Floor. Laird Whitehill will teach the course, which will cover "Evolution of the Solar System". The fee is $45 for members and $80 for non-members (who become club members). More infor mation about the course is at http:// www.aaa.org/currentclasses. The first monthly pr esentation in our AAA Lecture Series at the Museum of Natural History was just given on October 21. If you missed it, our next lecture is set for November 4. Astrophysics professor Fred Chromey of Vassar College will speak on "The Mystery of Beta Lyrae: Astronomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs". Please visit our website for all lecture infor mation. Our seminar resumes at New York University, wher e AAA members and students in NYU's astronomy club interact. On November 10, Louis Pataki of NYU will spea k. Professor Pataki's areas of inter est include planeta ry astrophysics and the history and teaching of astronomy. The time and location is not definite at this time -- if you're interested, check the Seminar page of our website, which will be updated shortly, or give me a call. We have observing sessions throughout the year. In fact, we have a few new ones - Gatewa y Park in Far Rockaway on Nov 5 (rain date Nov 6), Fort Greene Park on Nov 12 and the Avenue U Salt Marsh on Dec 3(ver y dark!). Our veteran locations include Solar Observing in Central Park (Nov 19), Great Kills (Nov 19), Floyd Bennett Field (Nov 4) and Inwood Hill Park (Nov 11 and 18). We hope to see ma ny of you at a AAA event soon. Sincer ely,

Rich Rosenberg, AAA President, president@aaa.org (718) 522-5014 AMATEURS DISCOVER ASTEROID
teur astronomer and computer scientist Matthias Busch from an amateur observator y in Germany. Busch's software fla gs potential space rocks, but the finds must be confirmed by human eyes. Since starting their SSA-sponsored survey work in January 2010, the TOTAS amateur astronomers have identified nearly 400 candidate asteroids, 20 of which have been confirmed and named.

By Dan Harrison
A team of amateur astronomers has discovered a previousl y unknown asteroid in orbit that brings it near the Earth, highlighting the contribution amateurs can make to planetary defense. The sky watchers spotted the asteroid, 2011 SF108, in September using a telescope in the Canary Islands. While 2011 SF108's orbit appears to bring it no closer to Earth than about 18 million miles, it still qualifies as a near -Earth object, the class of space rocks that could pose a danger. The team took advantage of an observation slot sponsored by the ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program to make the find. Asteroid 2011 SF108 was discovered by the Teide Observator y Tenerife Asteroid Survey (TOTAS) team, a group of 20 sky watching volunteers. They used the 1 meter telescope at the ESA's Optical Ground Station on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. After examining telescope images from three separate nights, the TOTAS team was able t o determine 2011 SF108's orbit well enough to declare it a near-Earth object. Specifics on the asteroid's estimated size were not detailed in the ESA announcement. The telescope observed for four nights, running automated asteroid surveys using soft ware developed by ama-

CALL FOR EYEPIECE WRITERS
Those members who enjoy reading Eyepiece ma y want to learn more about astronomy by participating as a writer. For the past two years and now as current editor, I am constantly exploring leading-edge astronomical events through research for my articles and attending lectures and presentations as an Eyepiece representative. I encourage anyone focused on learning more about science and astronomy to join us and write about your passion for astronomy. Please contact me directly to discuss working together.

Evan B. Schneider Editor, Eyepiece
Email: editor@aaa.org Tel: 212-986-4225 3


EYEPIECE

November 2011

AAA URBAN STARFEST BRINGS THE COSMOS TO CENTRAL PARK By Joe Fedrick and Evan Schneider
The afternoon of Saturday, October 22 was mostly cloudy and not promising for night time observing, but by evening the clouds had disappeared and the sky was cr ystal clear. As twilight descended upon the city, bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair began to appear overhead signaling the official beginning of this year's AAA Urban Starfest in Central Park's Sheep Meadow. Greeted at the front gate by board members Dan Harrison and Jocel yn Wilkes, each guest received a copy of the wonderfull y informative and updated AAA brochure with the hope that new members will join our growing club. Thus began each visitor's journey into the evening's event. The 10 AAA scopes set up on the grass ranged from a 6mm f/15 refractor through a 9mm Makarov to 10 and 12 inch reflectors. Around 7 p.m. massive Jupiter, 500 million miles from Earth, rose above the northeast horizon and into the eyepieces of our scopes. The planet displayed two parallel brownish equatorial belts and parallel faint gray belts on its otherwise pale ivory white oblate disk. The Galilean moons were all present for viewing as well. Three moons, Callisto, the third largest moon in our solar system, Io with its 400 active volcanoes and Europa with its icy surface, were visible in a triangular pattern on one side of the planet. On the opposite side of Jupiter was Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system (and larger than even Mercury) comprised of silicate rock and water ice. Refractors initially showed the three moons at the three o'clock position and the one moon at the eleven o'clock position, as images are reversed in these scopes. The moons gradually pivoted around Jupiter in a clockwise rotation and past each other as the evening progressed. AAA members and visitors to the event were amazed at the clarity of the images. Our members used the opportunit y to talk about the sky and about the many exciting and informative events available through membership. As the evening sky progressed, visitors of every age came to Sheep Meadow. Over one hundred people in all viewed the sky, moving about in the dark from scope to scope, sometimes taking pictures of each other and talking with members about the experience. Families with young children brought stepladders for the smaller ones to view the sky. Some even brought their own scopes and asked AAA members for guidance. Several older participants walked up to scopes, some for the first time in their lives, and marveled at seeing the sky in real time instead of in a photograph. As alwa ys, it was fulfilling as members to share our universe with others. But Jupiter and our solar system is so close and easy to observe. Our members also brought the capability to see far out into the night sky. Several of our telescopes were pointed 4 at deep sky objects beyond the solar system that were visible from our city location. These included the M13 globular star cluster which was a blotch of numerous pinpoints of light, some showing a distinct reddish color through a 12 inch scope at 60X power, the M31 Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda (only the central fuzzy nucleus of the galaxy was visible given its 2.2 million light year distance) and also its companion M32 Galaxy, a dwarf elliptical galaxy 2.65 million light years away. The double open star cluster in Perseus (two patches of sparkling stardust and some brighter stars like diamonds in the sky) was also a successful night observing target. The bright col orful double star Alberio in Cygnus the Swan displaced its stunning contrasting bright star of topaz yellow and sapphire blue in one of the larger scopes. Long lines of observers cued up at each scope waiting in the dark for their turn to view the images. All good things must come to an end, though. Our hosts, the Central Park rangers, gave ever yone a half hour closing notice at 9 p.m. Over the last half hour scopes were disassembled and packed. Visitors and members alike headed for home, knowing that the universe is an amazing place and that AAA had brought it all down to Earth and into an eyepiece for their viewing pleasure.

NEXT IN SCOPE: VENUS REAPPEARS
After an absence of just over a year, the "evening star" is about to reappear. Venus passed behind the sun, as seen from Earth, back on August 18 in what's known as superior conjunction. Since then, it has been invisible, mired deep in the brilliant glare of the sun. With each passing day it has been moving on a slow course toward the east and pulling slowl y awa y from the sun's general vicinity. Finally, during the week of Oct ober 24, the planet emerged as an evening "star" very low in the western twilight. Continuing to swing east of the sun during November, Venus will soon become plainly visible in the west southwest evening sky, even to the most casual of observers. Appearing as a brilliant white star -like object of magnitude ­3.9, our sister planet will set at least an hour after the sun by Nov. 3. It slowl y rises higher each evening to adorn the western evening sky all during the upcoming winter and early spring. By New Year's Day, it will set as late as 2 1/2 hours after the sun. It is brightest in mid-spring as it heads back down toward the sun, reaching its greatest brilliancy for this apparition on April 30, 2012 at magnitude ­4.5.


EYEPIECE

November 2011

"BOLD SCIENCE..." in the Year 2000

THIS MONTH'S BOOK REVIEW

By Leo Genn
Ten years ago "Bold Science, Seven Scientists Who Are Changing Our World," (W.H. Freeman and Company 2000) was presented to readers by award winning science writer Ted Anton. Although the book highlighted various professionals in the scientific community, this two part article will focus on documenting the work of astronomers Geoff Marcy and Saul Permutter first in the context of the scientific community in the year 2000 and later in the present. Anton's analysis of their work lays a solid foundation for some of the most exciting developments in astronomy toda y that include confirming the increasing speed of the expansion of the universe, classification of 96 percent of the universe dedicated to dark energy and dark matter, and the intrepid search for and discover y of over a thousand planets outside of our solar system, including 50 planets where liquid water and possibl y life could form. In 1982, postdoctoral candidate Geoff Marcy was frustrated with his stalled research on the chaotic magnetic fields of stars. Anton quotes Marcy sa ying, I thought I just didn't have what it takes. Uninspired by his work, Marc y changed course and decided to search for planets outside of our solar system. Finding such planets is difficult because, as our Sun outshines its planets by one billion times in visible light and one million times in the infrared spectrum, so do the suns of other solar systems. There was no hope of seeing an extrasolar planet unless it was at least five times larger than Jupiter. The success of Marcy's research was considered so unlikely to succeed that he wrote his research grant applications proposing to search for brown dwarf stars, a more attainable target. Following the lead of Canadian astronomers, Marcy's team found a way to use iodine in a spectroscope to filter out certain wavelengths and leave a telltale grid of black lines behind. Combined with an intricate computer program to predict other variables, this methodology revealed evidence of planet induced wobble in a flicker equivalent to 1/1000 of one pixel among 2,000 pixels. At a distance of 100 million light years, Jupiter-sized exoplanets would pull a typical star towards them at the speed of a bicycle. Although Marcy was clearly on his way to success, in October 1985 Swiss astronomer Michel Mayor announced the discover y of the first extrasolar planet, five times the size of Jupiter. This gas giant planet was approximately 700,000 miles in diameter (roughly 90 times larger than Earth) and completed one orbit every 98 hours. Though massive in size, it orbited Pegasi 51 at 299,000 miles per hour, four times faster than Earth orbits our sun. Although Mayor found the first extrasolar planet, less than a year later Marcy announced the discovery of the next seven extrasolar planets followed by 60 more of the first 100 extrasolar planets. This secured his place in the scientific community as a planet hunter. Saul Perlmutter's lifetime mission began with the search to find one of two numbers: the speed of the acceleration or deceleration of the universe. In the 1950's, fellow astronomer

Stirling Colgate suggested measuring light emanating from supernovae, the brief and massive explosion of dying stars. Colgate theorized that the mammoth explosion caused by the demise of a star might produce a uniform quantity of light sufficient to perform Perlmutter's calculations. Until the 20th century, astronomers witnessed one supernova every few centuries. In the 1950's, one of the greatest amateur astronomers in history, Australian Methodist minister Robert Evans began using his telescope to search for supernovae. In 1968, he upgraded his search using a ten -inch Newtonian telescope. Finally, in 1981, Evans found his first supernova immediately followed by the discover y of nine more. As computer technology developed, Perlmutter began to apply the use of high -speed computers to record newl y present or newl y absent traces of light. In September 1997, team member physicist Gerson Goldhaber plotted the data from 38 Type 1a supernovae, all of which were located in a tight pattern at a great distance indicating that the light originated a long time ago. Where astronomer Edwin Hubble's 1929 data set showed the universe expanding but decelerating, Anton deftl y explains how Perlmutter's data plots of type 1a supernovae showed that approximately 7 billion years after the big bang, the plotted supernovae started to accelerate awa y from each other at greater speeds than in the first 7 billion years after the Big Bang. Since that discover y and as of the year 2000 publishing of Bold Science, scientists had postulated that from 70 to 96 percent of the universe is not made of conventional matter or energy. Our follow-up article next month will take this work up to the present, and the concepts of an accelerating universe, dark matter and dark energy will be explored in greater depth.

DR. SAUL PERLMUTTER SHARES 2011 NOBEL PRIZE
This year's Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to US and Australian pioneers of astrophysics for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae and the effects of dark energy. Dr. Saul Perlmutter from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded half of this year's prize for his work on the Supernova Cosmology Project, with the other half awarded to Brian P. Schmidt from the Australian National University and Adam G. Riess from the Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, for their work on the High z Supernova Search Team. These discoveries led to the realization that empty space exerts a pressure that pushes the galaxies apart ­ something that demands new physics and a new understanding of space-time, explained Oxford University professor Roger Davies, President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Dr. Perlmutter's interview will appear next month in December's Eyepiece along with Geoff Marcy's interview. 5


EYEPIECE

November 2011

CUSTER INSTITUTE'S 33rd ANNUAL JAMBOREE A SUCCESS By Maya Kushner
September marked the Custer Institute's 33rd Annual Astronomy Jamboree. This year participants had the opportunity to hear presentations on several important astronomical topics. From the keynote address by best-selling author Ms. Dava Sobel ("A More Perfect Heaven," Bloomsbury Publishing 2011, $15.19) on how Nicolaus Copernicus revolutionized astronomy by introducing a heliocentric solar system, to the latest from Planet Hunter science team member Tony Hoffman, a broad spectrum of speakers presented their individual works and perspectives. The event was carefully crafted to take the audiences through a progression of astronomical topics. Astrophysi cs professor Dr. Mike Inglis began by presenting a review of the past 50 years in astronomy. With discoveries detecting planets orbiting distant stars, evidence of ancient oceans on Mars, the discover y of water in lunar soil, and the intriguing possibilit y that our universe may be just one of an infinite number of universes, Dr. Inglis discussed the origin of black holes, the search and discover y of other solar systems, and even queried the ultimate fate of the universe But knowing that other worlds possibl y like our own exist in far away galaxies is only one step in appreciating the magnitude of the universe we see through our telescopes. How far is far? Would You Reall y Want to Walk There was the topic of the second speaker, amateur astronomer and Custer board member Mal Speer. By explaining stellar measurements and distance calculations such as parallax (a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and measured by the angle of inclination between those two lines), parsecs, arc seconds, etc., Mr. Speer helped answer the important questions of How do you tell the distance to objects? and How do astronomers here on earth actually figure out how far away stars, galaxies, nebulae, and quasars are? This helped to bring into perspective the great distances that separate our solar syst em and the Milky Wa y Galaxy from others. Having established an appreciation for the great distance challenges in space, AAA board member Tony Hoffman, a ke y participant on the Planet Hunter science team supporting NASA's Kepler telescope initiative, presented the history, science, and progress of the mission. An avid amateur astronomer, Tony has discovered 117 comets in images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observator y (SOHO), and has codiscovered one near-Earth asteroid as a volunteer reviewer for the Spacewatch FMO project. He has also had an asteroid named after him: 112900 Tonyhoffman. The Kepler spacecraft is tasked with identifying the periodicity of planets. Planet hunters observe the light curves to determine possible candidates. So far Kepler has only been able to detect short -period planets transiting their stars in days, weeks or months. It has however, revolutionized the study of variable stars by allowi ng a much narrower range of variability to be observed. How we look at the universe depends upon the kind of 6 equipment available to observe phenomena. NASA's flagship X-ray telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, is part of NASA's fleet of "Great Observatories." It is specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the universe. Astrophysicist Dr. Kevin Manning discussed how Chandra looks at the hotter regions of gas and dust reaching millions of degrees and finds phenomena emitting light in the x-ray portion of the light spectrum. . One method of x-ray detection is by observing photons interacting with the magnetic field -lines of stars that cause increases in temperatures. These conditions are visible in the x-rays spectroscopy. Chandra has also looked into the ejecta field at the center of a black hole which is also visible in x-ray. Sobel, is known for her successes as a best -selling author of "Longitude" and "Gallileo's Daughter". She had wanted to write about Nicolaus Copernicus since 1973 during his quincentenial anniversary celebration after learning about his heliocentric theory claiming the existence of circular orbits of planets and 48 epicycles (although Copernicus used this term for his heliocentric model, ironically Ptolem y employed the word epicycl e to describe other planets' orbits around Earth). Sobel's new book addresses the events surrounding Copernicus' life. By 1514 he had an outline of this theory and through two decades of tedious observations he compiled his manuscript--truly a mathematical treatise. When Copernicus was visited by a young German mathematician Georg Rheticus in 1543, he persuaded Copernicus to have his manuscript published (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,). Written in Latin, extremely expensive to publish and intensel y mathematical, those who bought the book were very serious about understanding its concepts. Later astronomers such as Galileo would advocate Copernican doctrine in advancing scientific understanding. Established in 1927 (the same year as AAA), The Custer Institute and Observatory is Long Island's oldest public observator y.

Coming to Custer: Saturday, Nov. 12, 7:00 -9:00 p.m.
"HOW TO BUY AND USE A TELESCOPE" Do you have a telescope but don't know how to use it? Are you looking to purchase new equipment? This lecture/ workshop will teach you about telescopes and provide practical information to get set up and observing. After the lecture, receive hands-on help from the instructor and Custer's Observatory staff. Bring your equipment with you. Instructor Jeff Norwood is a veteran amateur astronomer, telescope mechanic, & owner of Camera Concepts in Patchogue. Suggested Donation: $10 Custer Members; $15 Non -Members; $5 Fulltime Students. Admission includes stargazing after the event.


EYEPIECE

November 2011

BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY By Dan Harrison An Astronomical First--Planet with Two Suns
A planet with two suns has been confirmed for the first time. Kepler captured details of a giant planet in orbit around the stars in the Kepler -16 system, 200 light-years away. Kepler -16(AB)-b passes in front of both stars, regularly dimming their light. Each star also eclipses its companion as they orbit each other. All motions allow scientists to calculate the mass, radii and trajector y of all three bodies. The planet's distance from its stars is nearly three-quarters of the distance