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Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York January 2012 Volume 60 Number 1 ISSN 0146-7662

EYEPIECE
By Tony Hoffman
ets found in SOHO's images have been first identified by amateurs scouring the images on their home computers. Comet Lovejoy was detected by the twin STEREO spacecraft and then, on December 14, it entered the field of view of SOHO's wide-field LASCO C3 telescope, appearing directly below the Sun with a narrow, straight tail. Over the next two days, the comet brightened as it arced towards the Sun, eventually entering the narrow-field (C2) telescope's field of view, then disappearing behind each scope's occulting disk as it prepared to pass 50,000 km from the Sun. Most comet experts believed it to be an estimated 200 meters across and didn't think it would survive this encounter. Clearly the comet had other ideas. When animations arrived from the extreme ultraviolet camera of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a spacecraft that takes hi-res images of the Sun, they showed a streak emerging from behind the solar limb and speeding off into space. When new images from SOHO's LASCO telescopes were posted the next day, they showed the comet shining with renewed brilliance. If comets are like cats, Lovejoy looked decidedly Manx-like as it re-emerged from its encounter with our star, having becoming detached from its tail--which lingered for a while on the other side of the Sun--in the comet's hairpin arc around our star. At its brightest, the comet must have rivaled Venus at around magnitude -4, but was so close to the Sun that very few daylight sightings have been reported. I've only come across one report by two NASA scientists who watched it telescopically the day after perihelion. Terry Lovejoy himself photographed the comet in daylight but was unable to visually observe it. Comet Lovejoy quickly developed a new tail, which within a few days became visible to Southern Hemisphere observers, pointing up out of the predawn twilight like a beacon. Obvious as the tail was, the comet lacked a discernable nucleus, bringing to mind descriptions of another Kreutz comet, the Great Southern Comet of 1887, also known as the "Headless Wonder." Some observers worried that the lack of a bright head meant that the nucleus might be disintegrating, but as the comet moved away from the Sun and became visible in a dark sky, it became all the more impressive, even as it began its slow fade. Kreutz comets travel in orbits that strongly favor SouthComet Lovejoy continues on page 3

Comet Lovejoy's December 16 Resilient Ride to Greatness
For all that astronomers now know about comets, their behavior still often defies prediction. Their enigmatic nature once prompted comet discoverer David H. Levy to say "Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want." Most comet experts thought that Comet Lovejoy would be destroyed on its extremely close approach to the Sun in mid-November, but the comet emerged phoenixlike from this encounter to put on a fine showing for observers in the Southern Hemisphere, displaying a long tail in the predawn sky. Soon after Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy's November 27 discovery of the comet in an automated search program using a telescope equipped with a CCD detector, it became clear that Lovejoy would be a notable object. It belonged to the Kreutz group of sungrazing comets, so called because members of this family all travel in similar orbits pass extremely close to the Sun. The brightest Kreutz comets appeared in 1106, 1843, 1882, and 1965. They were among the most spectacular on record, each becoming visible in the daylight sky to the unaided eye when approaching the Sun. The Kreutz group is believed to be the remnants of what was once a single, larger comet that has progressively fragmented over several thousand years. Although Lovejoy's discovery--now officially known as C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)--wasn't expected to rival the greatest comets, it was the first sungrazer to be found by a ground based observer in over 40 years. Nearly 1,500 tiny Kreutz sungrazers have been identified in images from space borne observatories monitoring the Sun, but they were all within a day or two of their closest approach (aka perihelion) at the time of discovery, and invariably vanished, vaporized by the extreme heat. Lovejoy found his comet 3 weeks before perihelion, and although it was still relatively faint (about magnitude 13), it had much more "lead time" to brighten as it approached the Sun. This is Lovejoy's third official comet discovery. In 2007 he became the first amateur astronomer to find a new comet using a digital SLR (Canon Digital Rebel with a telephoto lens), His second find was also with a DSLR. Prior to this discovery, in 1999, he became the first amateur to find a small (10 meter) Kreutz sungrazer comet in images from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) soon after that satellite started posting its images online. Since then, most of the com-


EYEPIECE

January 2012

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observer's Guide for January 2012 By Richard Rosenberg

ON THE BIG SCREEN AAA LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS ASTRONOMY VIDEOS on JAN 6

January's Evening Planets: Venus, though low, is now
easy to spot in the southwest in the early evening. Higher up is Jupiter. Watch them move toward each other during the month.

By Dan Harrison
Robert Nemiroff, professor of physics at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich., will address the AAA on "Best Short Astronomy Videos" on Friday, January 6. The free public lecture will begin at 6:15p.m. at the Kaufmann Theater of the American Museum of Natural History. Nemiroff or Jerry T. Bonnell, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who co-founded and run the popular Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website, have given a presentation to the club each year on the best astronomy pictures from the previous year. But this year, it's videos. "I decided to try something different, and there have been some really cool short videos on APOD," Nemiroff says. Last year, APOD, which was founded in 1995, hit the 1 million hits per day. The APOD archive is one of the largest collections of annotated astronomical images on the Internet. It is disseminated in 16 languages. Nemiroff's research areas include gamma-ray bursts, gravitational lensing, cosmology and sky monitoring. He's placed video lectures for his classes "Introductory Astronomy" and "Extraordinary Concepts in Physics" on iTunes and the Internet for free. Future AAA 2012 Lecture Series Dates
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

January's Evening Stars: Orion and its retinue of constellations dominate the sky. Besides Orion, the winter constellations Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major and Canis Minor are all easy to see (every one of the above constellations has at least one first-magnitude star). The autumn stars (Andromeda, Pegasus, Perseus) can still be seen. The best objects to spot with binoculars include the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, the Alpha Persei cluster, and M37 in Auriga.

January's Morning Planets: Mars rises after 10 PM on
the start of January, and 8:30 PM at month's end. Watch it grow in brightness as it heads toward opposition in March. Saturn rises at 1:30 AM when the month begins, 11:30 PM at the end of January.

January's Morning Stars: Look for seventh-magnitude
Comet Garradd, still in Hercules. (A star chart is available on our website http://www.aaa.org/month1201) The spring constellations take center stage. Though they're not as bright as the winter stars they have their own attractions. Look for Spica, the bright star in Virgo, near Saturn all month. To their upper right is Mars, straddling the Leo -Virgo border. With binoculars find the Beehive Cluster in Coma Berenices.

January Day-by-Day
January 1 January 2 January 4 January 4 January 4 January January January January January January January January 9 14 16 16 19 22 24 26
First Quarter Moon at 1:15 a.m. Jupiter is 4НА below the Moon this evening The Moon is 4А below right of the Pleiades star cluster The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks at 2 a.m. Earth is at perihelion, its nearest distance to the Sun this year Full Moon at 2:30 a.m. Mars is well above the Moon this morning Last Quarter Moon at 4:08 a.m. The Moon passes only 2А to 3А below Spica this morning and 7НА below right of Saturn The Moon is 3А to 4А upper left of Antares New Moon at 2:39 a.m. Mars is stationary, begin retrograde motion At dusk a waxing crescent Moon is 7А above Venus The Moon is 9А upper right of Jupiter The Moon is 6НА upper left of Jupiter First Quarter Moon at 11:10 a.m.

FIRST HABITABLE ZONE PLANET FOUND
On December 5, NASA's Kepler mission confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Ten of Kepler's candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery i s a s t ep c lo s er to f i n d i n g E ar t h - l i k e p lan e t s . Previous research hinted at the existence of near -Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars.

January 29 January 30 January 31

For more information go to: http://www.aaa.org/month1201

2


EYEPIECE

January 2012

A Message from AAA President Richard Rosenberg
Hello Members: Sometimes it seems as if AAA goes into hibernation when winter arrives, but the reality is that we continue to plan both indoor and outdoor events to enrich membership experience. To celebrate the holiday season, on Wednesday, January 4, we will hold our annual gathering to toast the New Year. All club members are invited. I urge you to bring a friend for us to meet and talk about the benefits of joining AAA. We'll be at the Brass Monkey at 55 Little West 12 Street from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The High Line is nearby and will be open until 7 p.m.. Cash ba r and a dinner menu are available for all. The last few years we have had a January gathering at the Charles Dana Discovery Center, with a computer presentation followed by observing. This year we will meet on Jan 12 from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. (we may actually stay a little later). The entrance is on Central Park North, between Fifth and Lenox Avenues. If it is cloudy we will still have the indoor presentation. The film "The City Dark", focusing on the loss of night sky and increased light pollution, will premiere at Manhattan's IFC Center on January 18. The producers have invited AAA members to bring telescopes to the event, setting up on the sidewalk at West 4th Street and Sixth Avenue. Participants will receive free tickets to the movie. Let me know if you're interested in coming. Good news for fans and observers of Mars. The Red Planet is now dramatically brightening in the evening sky. On January 24, as seen from Earth, it changes direction with respect to the stars, an indication that Earth is getting ready to pass Mar s. On March 3 Mars will be opposite the Sun at its closest and brightest to Earth. Comet Garradd is seventh-magnitude, making it visible in the morning sky with telescopes and large binoculars. It continues to move slowly through Hercules. On January 25 it will be only 8Н arc minutes from the magnitude 4.5 star Rho Herculis. A sta r chart for the comet is on our website at www.aaa.org/month1201. The seminar we hold at New York University is on hiatus this month, but will return in February. We hope to see many of you at a AAA event soon.

Sincerely,

Rich Rosenberg, AAA President Email: president@aaa.org ; Telephone: (718) 522-5014
Comet Lovejoy continued from page 1

ern Hemisphere observation. This has been particularly true of Comet Lovejoy's mid-winter apparition, with the Sun already at its southernmost position. The comet is receding into the deep southern sky, not to return for over 400 years. As the International Space Station passed over Tasmania around December 21, speeding toward the dawn, the station's commander, Dan Burbank, happened to spy the comet's tail as a "long, green, glowing arc" and later took a series of photos of it, which he turned into a movie. He described the comet as "...the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space." Australian comet discoverer David Seargent--author of The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars, saw the comet on December 23 and described it in a post to the Yahoo Comets Mailing List, as "glorious." He went on to say "There is no doubt that this comet is included amongst the great comets of history. Not the `greatest of the greats' like Ikeya-Seki, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp and McNaught, but certainly high on the list of the runners up. ________________________ POWERFUL DETECTORS ON HAWAIIAN SCOPE The world's largest submillimeter camera -- based on superconducting technology designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) -- is now ready to scan the universe, including faint and faraway parts never seen before. Mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on

Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the NIST technology will help accelerate studies of the origins of stars, planets and galaxies. The new 4.5-ton SCUBA-2 camera, containing more than 10,000 of NIST's superconducting sensors, is far more sensitive than its predecessor SCUBA (Submillimeter CommonUse Bolometer Array), and will enable astronomers to map the sky hundreds of times faster and with a much larger field of view. SCUBA-2 will produce better images, sky maps, image new targets, and support deeper and broader surveys. "The submillimeter is the last frontier in astronomical imaging," says NIST physicist Gene Hilton, who developed the fabrication method for the NIST instrument. "It's been very difficult to develop cameras that work at this wavelength, so the submillimeter is largely unexplored. We're excited to see what SCUBA-2 will reveal." The NIST sensors precisely measure submillimeter radiated power using a superconducting metal, molybdenumcopper, that changes resistance in response to heat from radiation. Each tiny but powerful sensor functions as a single pixel in the camera. In sheer numbers of pixels, the NIST instrument is the largest superconducting camera ever made, although its physical size is only about 30 square inches divided into two areas targeting different wavelengths. SCUBA-2 is a collaboration of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland; NIST; four British and Canadian universities; and the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hawaii, which operates the telescope. 3


EYEPIECE

January 2012

AN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER'S GRAND AND PETRIFIED EXPERIENCE
By Stan Honda
In late October and early November, I spent three weeks as an Artist-in-Residence at the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest national parks photographing the dark sky above and the landscapes below. The National Park Service has a invites artists to work inside the parks fo of time, interpreting the natural resources location and sharing the experience with proposed photographing the night sky to source to be protected along with the land unique program that r an extended period associated with each the general public. I show that it is a rebelow. solitude much of the time, I did meet Rush Dudley, an amateur astronomer from New Mexico. He had come to the Grand Canyon hoping for a night of stargazing under the dark skies of a national park and was not disappointed. Rush would also appear at the Petrified Forest later in my journey as we shared the night sky together. At the end of the week I participated in the park's slate of evening programs, presenting a slide show of my photographic work to an appreciative audience and discussing the importance of preserving the night sky. With my first week of residency completed, I set out for the Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona, a 3Н hour drive from the Grand Canyon. Driving through the park I experienced the incredible landscapes and multicolored hills of the Painted Desert. Although not the focus of my shoot, I could not help but to appreciate this rare and natural beauty. Throughout the forest were vast areas of petrified tree logs strewn about as if some ancient lumberjack had sawed them and left the pieces wherever they fell. Photographing these dark objects at night was going to be a challenge. During the day I looked for areas of the park that could make good compositions and then set up my camera after sunset - and waited. The rest of the night was spent with headlamp on, tripod and camera in hand, searching for interesting formations. As the moon grew towards first quarter, I had more time and light to compose better photographs. Although the Petrified Forest is closed to visitors between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the fall, park rangers gave me a key to the gate. Each night, after telling the rangers where I would be working, I was alone in the vast park - an odd but exhilarating feeling. My two weeks at the Petrified Forest went by quickly, and I headed back to New York to edit and process all of the images I had shot in the field. It's always great to come home, but this time I missed the solitude of being alone in those two great parks. It was a moving, personal experience. Spending three weeks observing the rising and setting of stars, planets, the Moon and the Milky Way gave me a new appreciation of how our Earth travels through the cosmos. Capturing it in photographs gave me the ability to share my experience with others. _______________________ To view breathtaking images from these two photographic shoots, visit www.stanhonda.com and click on the National Parks tab. A personal blog with more detailed information about Stan's experiences during his two residencies can be found under the News section of the site.

It is an awe-inspiring experience to sit alone under the bowl of stars in the night sky and to see the Milky Way arch directly overhead. One evening Jupiter was rising in the east while Cygnus and Cassiopeia floated high above. At that latitude the Big Dipper would slowly dip below the horizon over the course of a few hours. It's quiet at night in the parks, and working becomes extremely meditative. My goal was to use the moonlight to illuminate the landscape while not washing out the stars. Before I left for my trip, I made a chart with the times of sunset, moonrise and moonset for the three weeks I would be gone. I projected that moonrise and moonset would be the best times to photograph, conditions similar to late afternoon or early morning sunlight. I also learned that there would be a flyover of the International Space Station every day I was at the Grand Canyon. Opportunities abounded. On October 15 I headed to Arizona with my wife who joined me for my first few days at the Grand Canyon. The residency included a place to live, but artists provided their own food, equipment and transportation. We stopped for provisions in Flagstaff and then continued north to the park. Matching the correct equipment to a particular assignment is critical to the success of every shoot. I packed a Nikon D3S and D700 accompanied by specific lenses to capture the images - a 20mm, a 14-24mm zoom, and a 16mm fisheye. Two tripods and an Astro-Trac mount (for tracking stars) completed the list. . To create a clear field of view, I photographed from rocky outcrops that extended into the canyon without protective railings. These outcrops are intimidating during daylight hours. Extra caution was required when navigating the same terrain in almost total darkness. To set up a star trail picture, I would walk carefully toward the edge of the canyon with my headlamp and an extra flashlight illuminating my path. Once the camera was set and the aperture opened, any artificial light would ruin the exposures. My walk back to safe ground in the dark was therefore slow and measured. Although I worked in 4


EYEPIECE

January 2012

AAA SOLAR SYSTEM CLASS A SUCCESS
On November 2, Dr. Laird Whitehill took the podium in the new AAA lecture room at 505 Eighth Avenue. His class, "Evolution of the Solar System/Birth and Death in the Solar System" was prepared to take forty "students" on a six session detailed tour of the evolution of stars, planets and the history of the universe. Whitehill's informal teaching style immediately put the class at ease. This was to be an up close and personal experience told through the instructor's eyes. The material covered a vast database across the internet and into the well prepared documents that demonstrated how the universe evolved and our solar system was formed. Our Sun was born in a stellar nursery. As the rst object to form before a solar system can develop, it's success and size dictated the characteristics of its planets and the number of planets that ultimately populated our solar system. Thus began the journey that took us to understanding the complexities of asteroids, protoplanetary disks, galaxy classi cations, dark matter ("the glue holding galaxies together"), dwarf planets, pulsars, the Oort cloud, transiting exoplanets and the intricacies of the Kepler scope and its hunt for Earthlike planets. The nal class took us on a visual journey across the Martian landscape, giving everyone an appreciation of the depth of current technology and the integration of NASA and other space based probes' data. We look forward to future AAA classes, and thank Laird for his dedication and for sharing his broad ased knowledge. -b ________________________

Astronomical Facts of the Month

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Stars twinkle because their scattered light passes through various levels of our atmosphere. As the air moves at di erent levels or layers, the light is bent, which looks like "twinkling" to us on Earth. If you were aboard the International Space Station, none of the stars would twinkle. The light from our planets also travel through Earth's atmosphere, but we see their light as constant. Light from the wider disks of the planets is not as disturbed and the changes between atmospheric levels cancel each other out. ________________________ If Stars Twinkle, Why is Space Black? The answer is simple. In space, starlight or any kind of light does not have anything from which to bounce o . Normally, we see color because light is selectively re ected back into our eyes. Re ect back all the colors of the spectrum at once and we see white. Light travels in a straight path so, if it does not re ect o of an object it is absorbed by space. In doing so, our eyes cannot see any color, and that leaves the blackness of space. The night sky on Earth has molecules in the atmosphere to re ect light and reveal stars. On the Moon, day or night, the sky is black due to lack of re ective matter. CALL FOR EYEPIECE WRITERS Those members who enjoy reading Eyepiece may 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 leadingedge astronomical events through research for my articles and attending lectures and presentations as an Eyepiece representative. I encourage anyone focused on learning more about the science of astronomy and the exciting missions at NASA, ESA and other sources in the eld to join our team of dedicated writers. Please contact me directly to discuss working together.

"THE CITY DARK" ENLIGHTENS US ALL
On January 18, the IFC Center in New York will premiere "The City Dark," a feature documentary about light pollution and the disappearing night sky. The independent lm rst premiered in competition at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Score/Music. After moving to light-polluted New York City from rural Maine, lmmaker Ian Cheney asks: "Do we need the dark?" Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights -- including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, philosophers, historians, and lighting designers, "The City Dark" is the de nitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars. Join AMNH's Neil deGrasse Tyson, ISS astronaut Don Pettit, "Cosmos" co-writer Ann Druyan, astrophotographer Jack Newton, and many other esteemed professionals as they discuss this important trend and its impact on society and our environment. Visit www.ifccenter.com and www.thecitydark.comfor more information.

Evan B. Schneider, Editor
Email: editor@aaa.org Tel: 212 -986-4225 Contacting AAA: Website - www.aaa.org; General Club Matters and Observing : president@aaa.org; Membership Business : members@aaa.org; Classes : classes@aaa.org; Seminars : seminar@aaa.org; Eyepiece : editor@aaa.org Telephone (voicemail): 212 -535-2922 5


EYEPIECE

January 2012

FIRST AMATEUR ASTRONOMER TO CAPTURE SOLAR SYSTEM IN DEVELOPMENT
A New Zealand man has become the first amateur astronomer to take a direct photograph of a solar system in the first stages of development. Rolf Olsen's image shows Beta Pictoris, a bright young star in the southern hemisphere, surrounded by a circumstellar disk--a huge, flat cloud of swirling debris kicked up by a flurry of comet, asteroid and minor-body collisions near the new star. Olsen captured the image of the Beta Pictoris solar system, 63 light-years away, using a 10-inch homemade telescope. After posting the photo to his blog and the Australian Amateur Astronomy forum IceInSpace, it quickly shot around the Web and into the field of view of professional astronomers, who called the achievement "amazing," "bold," and "impressive." One said, "I'm not aware of any other amateur photograph of the disk of another solar system." Said another, "This is the first image of a planetary disk made by an amateur astronomer which I am aware of." In fact, professional astronomers only managed to capture an image of a disk--that of Beta Pictoris--for the first time in 1984. "That an amateur can achieve this with a 10 -inch telescope, even more than 25 years later, is nonetheless impressive," said a professional. Astronomers have studied the Beta Pictoris system extensively, because it appears demonstrate the first stages of planet formation. The 12-million-year-old star is undergoing the same process by which our solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago. Photographing circumstellar disks is difficult because light from the central star normally swamps the faint glow of the material around it. Powerful telescopes and new data filtering techniques have allowed astronomers to subtract the flood of distant starlight, revealing light from the objects near it, but most amateurs don't attempt such procedures. Olsen achieved the feat by carefully following steps outlined in an academic article about Beta Pictoris, he said. That paper described a method of imaging the Beta Pictoris system by taking a photo of a similar reference star under the same conditions, then subtracting an equal amount of light, pixel for pixel, from his Beta Pictoris image. "For this purpose, I used Alpha Pictoris," Olsen said. "This star is of nearly the same spectral type...and is close enough to Beta in the sky so that the slight change in telescope orientation shouldn't affect the diffraction pattern." Olsen adjusted the exposure time of his photos of the stars to equalize their brightness. He then used simple software to subtract the image of Alpha from his image of Beta, producing a clear picture of the Beta Pictoris solar system with a shadowy spot in place of its central star, and the circumstellar disk radiating out from it. "I was very excited when I saw I had a faint signal from the disk itself. I lined up my image and checked it against the professional images, and I was happy to see that the orientation of what looked like the dust disk in my image coincided perfectly with what I could see in the professional images," Olsen told space.com. 6 The techniques Olsen applied, and similar techniques astronomers have used for other sorts of work, can be applied to many other stars in the sky. There certainly could be a lot of interesting things that professional astronomers have missed, that amateur astronomers could clue them in on. In particular, amateurs can help scientists by surveying the transits of exoplanets around nearby stars. Olsen offers advice for fellow space enthusiasts: "I'd like to encourage other amateurs to go off the beaten path every now and then and try to photograph some of the more unusual things. There are so many exotic targets like quasars, gravitational lenses, distant galaxy clusters, etc., which are imaged a lot less often than the more traditional nebulae and bright Messier objects. And these often have a very interesting story to tell."

SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF SOLAR WINDS Following an extended quiet period, the Sun is ramping up for an era of intense activity. Researchers are prepping to prevent solar storms from disrupting life on Earth. For the first time, it's possible to predict how solar storms will hit us. This allows power grids to adjust for electrical fluctuations and airlines to switch communication systems. Yet this forecasting is nascent, and still leaves many gaps to fill when it comes to space weather. The Sun varies from phases of relative peace to eras rocked by magnetic solar storms over an eleven year cycle. Lately, it's been its quietest in two centuries. But now, sunspots are back up, and the Sun is entering another period of solar maximum, set to peak in 2013. Another study says the relatively quiet stretch of the Sun in recent years doesn't necessarily herald impending low solar activity of historic proportions. The dry spell from 2005 to 2010 lasted twice as long as usual, prompting some scientists to predict a grand minimum of solar activity, which hasn't been seen in 300 years, could be on the way. But the opposite could as easily be true. After looking at data of past solar activity, scientists noted it's just as likely the Sun will go into a grand maximum as into a grand minimum. However, neither will likely happen within the next 30 years or so. Most probable is that the Sun will continue a moderate level of activity, as displayed at present. NEBULA OF THE MONTH--TARANTULA No one likes spiders, but everyone will like studying the Tarantula Nebula. Situated 180,000 light years away and 1,000 light years across, this star forming region is located in the 30 Doradus region within the nearby galaxy, the large Magellanic Cloud. Surrounding NGC 2070, a star cluster containing some of the brightest, most massive stars know, the hydrogen gas and dust from this nebula are illuminated by the immense light output. Gas in the nebula is expanding outward to 78,000mph.


EYEPIECE

January 2012

BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
GIANTS MAY HARBOR LIFE Eighteen alien planets, Jupiter-size gas giants circling stars bigger than our Sun, have been discovered. This increases the number of known planets orbiting massive stars by 50% and comes a few months after discovery of 50 alien worlds, including one rocky planet that could be a good candidate for life. Researchers surveyed about 300 stars, focusing on retired A-type stars at least 1.5 times more massive than our Sun. just beyond the main stage of life, they are expanding to become subgiants. The team scrutinized these stars, looking for slight wobbles caused by the gravitational tug of planets. All 18 orbit their sun at a minimum of 0.7AU. KEPLER CONTINUES TO IMPRESS The new haul of potential alien planets raked in by the Kepler space telescope won't be the instrument's last big batch of discoveries, researchers say. On December 5, scientists announced Kepler had detected 1,094 new exoplanet candidates, bringing the telescope's tally to 2,326 possible alien worlds. Scientists are continually improving analysis software, and recently made an upgrade that should increase their ability to spot small planets in the deluge of Kepler data. UNDER THE SEA - ON EUROPA Europa meets not one but two of the requirements for life, scientists say. For decades, experts have known about its underground ocean. Now a study shows the ocean regularly receives influxes of energy required for life via chaotic processes near the surface. A team studied ice shelves and underground volcanoes on Earth to model formation of odd features called chaos terrains that appear throughout Europa. Researchers determined heat rising from Europa's subterranean ocean and melting ice near the surface, creating briny lakes inside the moon's thick ice shell, may have caused the collapse of these roughly circular structures above. These lakes, which melt and refreeze over hundreds of thousands or millions of years, lie beneath as much as half of Europa's surface. A large amount of stored energy exists in Europa's mineral -rich crust, but it's separated from the liquid ocean by at six miles of ice. If connected, energy can flow from the surface material to the ocean. BREAKING UP ISN'T HARD TO DO Most runaway stars may be fleeing the breakup of cosmic threesomes. The origin of these stars has puzzled astronomers. Some suspect they were once partners of stars that exploded as supernovas. Others speculate they were slung through space by the pull of other stars' gravity. Now, researchers find most runaways may arise from encounters with binary systems within the centers of clusters of stars. The runaways get slung outward after strong gravitational interactions with the binaries. To reach this finding, scientists developed computer simulations of star-cluster behavior. They found models involving star clusters 5,000-10,000 times the mass of the Sun compared well with actual observations of the more than 100 runaway stars detected around young clusters in our galaxy, less than 1 million years old. MILKY WAY RUNNING ON EMPTY The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are transitioning from young star-forming regions into older, stagnant ones, a transition revealed by their color, new research reveals. Generally, such change comes after galaxies collide. Both galaxies aren't typical blue or red, but green. Astronomers can't figure out the Milky Way's color easily by examining it from the inside, because of the position of the Sun within the galaxy. To peek inside, astronomers studied mass of stars, star -formation rate, and brightness and color of stars within the galaxy. The new color raises a question as to what's causing the galaxies to be running out of fuel for producing stars. RED LIGHT DISTRICT IN SPACE Scientists have spied a new type of ultra-red galaxy at the far reaches of the universe. Using Spitzer, astronomers spotted four remarkably red galaxies nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth. They might be a missing link in galactic evolution. The galaxies shine much more brightly in infrared than in visible wavelengths. Researchers aren't sure why they're so red. It may be extremely dusty. It could contain many old, red stars. Or the galaxy may be extremely distant, in which case the expansion of the universe has stretched its light to very long and very red wavelengths. ATTACK OF THE SUPERBUBBLES Cosmic rays that strike Earth might come from hot gaseous "superbubbles" in space, a new study reveals. Since cosmic rays are electrically charged, they can get pushed and pulled by interstellar magnetic fields in gas between stars, obscuring where they come from. One suspected source fountain are star-forming regions. Massive stars within stellar nurseries can spew massive amounts of energy and explode as supernovas. Scientists may have pinpointed cosmic rays coming from a superbubble, one caused by powerful winds from clusters of young, massive stars punching into surrounding molecular clouds of gas and dust. The superbubble lies in the Cygnus X region of the sky. It was likely created by clusters, such as Cygnus OB2, a very large cluster about 4,500 light -years away. The cluster contains more than 500 stars, each more than 10 times the Sun's mass. Fermi detected a wide range of gamma rays emanating from space about 160 light -years wide. These gamma rays match those one would expect freshly generated cosmic rays to give off. The gamma rays appear confined within this superbubble, which might suggest the cosmic rays creating them seem trapped. DARK ENERGY - IN THE BEGINNING Scientists have made progress in determining how much dark energy could have existed shortly after the Big Bang. Observing the cosmic microwave background allowed them to deduce dark energy couldn't have accounted for more than 1.8% of the universe's density. By contrast, dark energy dominates space today, accounting for 74% of the universe's matter and energy. If dark energy is a constant, its density hasn't changed over time. Meanwhile, the density of matter in the universe has changed, becoming lower during expansion. 7


EYEPIECE A BLACK HOLE'S INDIGESTION A black hole's greedy gobbling has apparently given it a case of cosmic indigestion, a new study reports. GX 339-4 is consuming its companion star, causing occasional flare-ups in its gassy jets. Astronomers have captured infrared images of the hard-to-view base of these jets as they grow three times in brightness over the course of a few hours before dimming again. As massive as our Sun, GX 339-4 has a stellar companion only a few million miles away. As this bloated star sheds excess material, the black hole sucks it into an accretion disk, where it's heated to millions of degrees. Magnetic fields push some of the material away in rapidly moving jets. For most black holes, light from the jets is intermixed with light from the feeding star or dusty clouds surrounding it. GX 339 -4 was caught with none of the other contaminating components. The flare-ups are most likely caused by an increase in matter coming from either the companion star or the surrounding dust. DWARF GALAXIES' STAR FACTORY Astronomers have discovered tiny, distant galaxies forming stars at a surprisingly rapid rate. Using Hubble, they spotted 69 hyperactive dwarf galaxies about 9 billion light-years away. They're creating stars so fast that their stellar population would double in 10 million years. The results are somewhat at odds with other recent studies of ancient dwarf galaxies. The galaxies are about 100 times smaller than the Milky Way. Star formation rates were higher then than now, but the newfound galaxies' rates are still extraordinarily high. Hubble spotted the galaxies because radiation from their young, hot stars lit the gas around them. The study suggests hyperactive dwarf galaxies were common 9 billion years ago, but why they formed stars so rapidly is a mystery. COLD GAS AND DUST LIGHT UP A NEBULA A new image of the Carina Nebula reveals cold clouds where violent star formation is taking place. These clouds of dust and gas play host to some of the most massive and luminous stars in our galaxy, which make them test beds for studying interactions between young stars and their parent molecular clouds. Since the grains of dust are very cold, the faint light they emit can only be seen at submillimeter wavelengths. So, being able to observe the light from these clouds is critical to studying how stars form and interact with their parent clouds. Only a fraction of the Carina Nebula's gas is found in clouds sufficiently dense to collapse and create new stars. HERE A GAMMA, THERE A GAMMA New maps of gamma-ray light reveal some surprising sources of this highest-energy form of light, including objects never detected before. The latest maps identified 1,873 sources. Although more than half are active galaxies whose supermassive central black holes spew radiation as they rip apart matter falling into them, more than a third were never seen in any other wavelength of light, visible or otherwise. Supernova remnants, pulsars and regular novae are three examples. Gamma-rays seen from the Andromeda Galaxy are mostly caused by cosmic rays slamming into gas between stars. Multi-wavelength studies are providing growing evidence that supernova remnants are the source of the bulk of galactic cosmic rays. 8

January 2012

PLUTO DEMOTED UNFAIRLY Although dwarf planet Eris on the edge of the solar system is much denser than Pluto, the two are nearly the same size, a new study found. Astronomers measured Eris' diameter for the first time using observations in late 2010, when it passed in front of a dim star. When Eris was discovered in 2005, it was believed much larger than Pluto. That was a big reason astronomers demoted Pluto to dwarf-planet status in 2006. New observations show Eris' surface more reflective than Earth's snow, suggesting it's covered in a thin layer of ice. Eris and Pluto occupy the Kuiper Belt, but Eris circles the Sun about three times farther away. Its diameter is 1,445 miles. By studying the motion of Eris' moon Dysnomia, scientists peg the dwarf planet as 27% heavier than Pluto. This means Eris is probably a large rocky body covered in a relatively thin mantle of ice. Eris' surface is extremely reflective, bouncing back 96% of light striking it. The surface, composed of nitrogen-rich ice and frozen methane is less than 1 millimeter thick. COSMIC BUBBLE BATH In a star-forming region of Cygnus dubbed Cygnus X, a new Fermi image shows gamma rays filling bubbles of hot gas created by massive stars. The bubbles are about 4,500 light years away. Cygnus X hosts hundreds of huge stars, whose powerful radiation has dissipated vast amounts of gas. The massive stars thus sit in bubbles filled with hot, sparse gas surrounded by ridges of thicker, cooler gas where new stars are forming. The outflow from Cygnus X's gigantic stars also creates magnetic fields within the bubbles. These magnetic fields help spawn gamma rays by trapping and deflecting fastmoving cosmic rays. Cosmic rays colliding with interstellar gas are producing gamma rays through a process of magnetic field-induced deflection and collision with gas molecules. A supernova remnant may have spawned cosmic rays found in Cygnus X's bubbles, but it's also possible the particles were accelerated through repeated interaction with shockwaves produced within the cavities by stellar winds. STELLAR PERFORMANCE IN CYGNUS X-1 To strive for the most complete understanding of a black hole, astronomers turned their telescopes to double-star system Cygnus X-1, which boasts the first of these discovered. The move yielded information on its mass, spin and distance from the Sun. Containing a star and a stellar -mass black hole, Cygnus X-1 is inside the Milky Way. Before measuring the double -star, astronomers needed to determine its distance from the Sun. Calculations established it to be 6,070 light -years from the Sun and moving very slowly, only nine miles per second. The black hole component is almost 15 times more massive than the Sun, making it one of the most massive stellar black holes in our galaxy. Stellar black holes are smaller and more common than their supermassive cousins. While larger black holes tend to be in galaxy centers, stellar-mass black holes are sprinkled throughout. The black hole spins more than 800 times per second, almost half the speed of light. It was apparently born of a mild stellar death, with no core bounce that generates the massive shock wave that creates a supernova. Such a transformation allowed Cygnus X-1 to hold on to the mass and energy that most stellar black holes lose during their violent deaths.
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EYEPIECE WHEN GIANTS STALKED OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Within our solar system, an extra giant planet, possibly two, might once have accompanied Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. Computer models suggest the planets once gravitationally slung one another across space, settling into their current orbits over billions of years. A solar system that began with four giant planets only had a 2.5% chance of leading to the orbits presently seen. These systems would be too violent in their youth to end up like ours, most likely resulting in systems with fewer than four giants over time. Instead, a model 10 times more likely to match our solar system began with five giants, including a now-lost world comparable in mass to Uranus and Neptune. When the solar system was 600 million years old, major instability scattered giant planets and smaller worlds. Gravitational encounters with Jupiter would have flung the giant into interstellar space about 4 billion years ago. COUSIN LUTETIA, WE PRESUME? The oddball asteroid Lutetia is a rocky remnant of the material that formed Earth, Venus and Mercury, a new study suggests. Lutetia, 62 miles across, is pitted with craters. Its composition suggests it formed close to the Sun in the same cloud that coalesced into rocky planets. But then it was expelled to its current location in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, likely after a run-in with a young planet. GAMMA-RAY CHRISTMAS PRESENT The Christmas sky in 2010 was lit up by an extraordinarily powerful and mysteriously long-lasting explosion that scientists suggest was a comet smacking into a dense star or a peculiar supernova death. Gamma-ray bursts can last less than two seconds or up to minutes. However, the Christmas 2010 gamma-ray burst lasted at least half an hour. Scientists think shorter bursts are caused by merging neutron stars. Longer bursts are thought to originate from hypernovae. Researchers suspect a number of mysterious events of different origins could mimic gamma-ray bursts. This might be the case with the Christmas burst. Scientists have competing explanations: a cosmic impact on a dead star in our galaxy or a peculiar supernova in a distant galaxy. Based on length and brightness of the burst, some scientists suggest a minor body such as a comet or asteroid crashed into a neutron star. But others assert an oddball supernova might be to blame. They contend the Christmas explosion occurred when a neutron star combined with a helium star, a type of super-giant rich in helium. ELEMENTARY, DEAR WATSON Ancient stars in the outer reaches of the Milky Way are surprisingly full of some of the heaviest chemical elements, which could have formed in the galaxy's early history, a new study reveals. An abundance of very heavy metals is typically only seen in much later generations of stars. Two theories explain these ancient stars, both centered around supernova explosions. Some early stars may have been in close binary systems. When one star went supernova, it would have coated its companion with a thin layer of heavy elements such as gold and uranium. Another theory is that early supernovas could shoot jets of these elements in different directions, dispersing them into surrounding clouds of gas that eventually formed some stars we see today.

January 2012

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING STARS The first stars weren't nearly as massive as once thought, according to simulations of the early universe. Previous theory assumed that the first stars were biggest. Instead, findings show these stars are tens of times the mass of the Sun. The first stars had to have been formed out of hydrogen and helium. As a result, scientists theorized they would need more mass to compensate for lack of heavy elements and their cooling power. Stars keep getting smaller over time. New simulations show matter surrounding new stars heats up to 90,000 degrees, hotter than thought. At these temperatures, gas expands and escapes the gravity of the developing star. The stars' growth is stunted earlier than predicted, which explains why they appear smaller. Findings also shed light on supernovae. If the first stars were as large, supernovae should have left a pattern of heavy elements imprinted on material of the next generation of stars built from expelled matter. Astronomers couldn't find it, suggesting the signature is not there. THE MAP IN THE MOON Scientists have stitched together the highest-resolution topographic map of the Moon ever created, using observations by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The map covers 98.2% of the Moon and depicts its surface and features at a pixel scale of 330 feet. Scientists can now determine slopes of all major geologic terrains at 100 -meter scale, determine how the crust has deformed, better understand impact-crater mechanics, investigate volcanic features and better plan robotic and human missions. The map doesn't cover the entire Moon because persistent shadows prevent good photos near the poles. However, another instrument aboard LRO can map polar terrain, so the holes may soon be filled in. LOOKING BACK ON OUR MILKY WAY The twin Voyager probes are still shedding light on the universe, now by offering an unprecedented view of our galaxy. As they roam outward to the edge of the solar system, the spacecraft are providing the first glimpse of Milky Way radiation similar to what scientists have seen coming from other galaxies. The data could yield better understanding of star formation. The spacecraft have confirmed that most newfound rays appear to come from star-forming regions, as expected. STAND BACK - IT'S GONNA BLOW Astronomers seeking to observe a star just before it explodes have come close to their goal, a new study reports. For three years, researchers have scanned 25 nearby galaxies for stars that brighten and dim in unusual ways, in hopes of catching a few about to die in supernova explosions. This past summer, they saw one star in a binary dim noticeably before the other blew up. While astronomers don't think they got direct observations of the star that exploded, the find is encouraging. GOOD NIGHT, MOON The last total lunar eclipse until 2014 occurred December 10, giving sky watchers a spectacular view of a supersized, reddened moon. Observers in the western continental U.S. and Canada, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia, were treated to a stunning celestial show, as Earth passed between the Sun and the moon, casting our planet's natural satellite completely in shadow. 9


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THIS MONTH'S BOOK REVIEW "MARTIAN SUMMER"
By Evan Schneider Not often do we get an insider perspective on what it is like to experience history as it unfolds. Headlines capture our imagination, often the culmination of years of detailed work performed by dedicated professionals collaborating to make what some of us would call "magic." "Martian Summer" (Pegasus Books, 2011, $27.95) written by NY-based author Andrew Kessler, adeptly takes us back to NASA's 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander mission and puts us directly into the rooms of the Tucson, Arizona Science Operations Center (SOC), our Mission Control for this 90 day journey to and across Mars. The experience is tangible and overwhelming at times. The organized chaos and excitement, the anticipation of success and failure all walked the corridors of the mission facility each day and night. Every meeting, every briefing, every mathematical calculation had the potential of bringing a small remotely placed Phoenix rover and Mankind closer to understanding more about our neighboring planet Mars. "Martian Summer" is told in the first person, through the eyes of Mr. Kessler. He is not a team specialist, but is instead a journalistic reflection of the mission - our "fly on the wall," recording the movements and events that unfold on a daily basis. Through his association with Peter Smith, Principal Investigator and Project Leader for the $420 million mission, Mr. Kessler was asked to write this book with the hope that the next generation will be inspired to further the endeavors of space exploration and science. Mr. Smith is responsible for building nearly half of the cameras on Mars, and imaging the surface had brought us all to understand what it would be like to stand and gaze out across the ocher -colored Martian landscape. Now it was Mr. Kessler's turn - to write down frank observations about the many facets of this mission, thus providing the reader with a sense of the complexities and even drama involved in managing a small vehicle on a planet whose distance ranges between 36 million and 240 million miles from Earth. Many factors affected the psyche of team members. At the core, everyone must live on Martian time. The Martian solar day (Sol) is 2.7% longer than an Earth day. Each day the team spent "on Mars" working in the SOC, they lost 40 minutes of Earth time. The greater the amount of Martian time for the mission, the more out of synch we become with our normal body clocks on Earth. Local solar time has a significant impact on planning the daily activities of Mars landers, since daylight is needed to charge solar panels and operate the vehicles. Therefore this shift in time was essential to the mission's success. But changes in the perception of time coupled with the day-to-day pressures of operating the rover lead to flared temperaments and often conflicting opinions on how to solve problems that initially taunted the Phoenix rover. The majority of the book focuses on the team dynamics and the politics of NASA. Missions are funded to produce results in a specific time frame. Add any glitch or set of glitches and the success of the mission is in jeopardy. Every 10

decision, set of calculations, and strategy session is carefully managed to be result-oriented. A successful mission can mean additional funding and an approved extension to perform important research. Trial and error was inevitable when faced with a dilemma. Exact surface conditions were not fully understood, so the characteristics of the Martian regolith (fine soil) that would be scooped (to scrape or to rasp, that is the question), heated and then analyzed, created an ongoing challenge to the team. The primary goals of the mission were to answer the questions: (1) Can the Martian arctic support life? (2) What is the history of water at the landing site? and (3) How is the Martian climate affected by polar dynamics? Operating the lander's equipment successfully was the only way to achieve these goals. A robotic arm developed by JPL dug through the soil to the watery ice layer below and delivered soil and ice samples to the mission's experiments. A miniature oven and a mass spectrometer, TEGA (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer) provided chemical analyses of trace matter. A chemistry lab-in-a-box characterized the soil and ice chemistry. While this was in progress, imaging systems provided an unprecedented view of Mars, spanning 12 powers of 10 in scale. Through the careful deployment of this complex equipment, the mission was a success. Ice was discovered in the Martian soil and the mission received its extension. When you read this book, come prepared to track the countless acronyms used to describe equipment, people, teams and rooms. I found that to be the most challenging part of the experience. But, armed with this book review and a healthy "curiosity" (no pun intended here, rover fans), Martian Summer can be a fascinating ride to the Red Planet while sitting right here on Earth.

UPDATE FROM THE PLANET MARS
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars. "This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity. "This stuff is a fairly pure chemical deposit that formed in place right where we see it. That can't be said for other gypsum seen on Mars or for other water -related minerals Opportunity has found. It's not uncommon on Earth, but on Mars, it's the kind of thing that makes geologists jump out of their chairs." The latest findings by Rover Opportunity were presented December 7 at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco. "We want to understand why these veins are in the apron but not out on the plains," said the mission's deputy principal investigator, Ray Arvidson, of Washington University in St. Louis. "The answer may be that rising groundwater coming from the ancient crust moved through material adjacent to Cape York and deposited gypsum, because this material would be relatively insoluble compared with either magnesium or iron sulfates."


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AAA Events on the Horizon January 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., M, P AAA Members and Friends Holiday Party (Cash bar and dinner menu available) -

AAA LECTURER DR. SHARA REVEALS HOW NOVAE & SUPERNOVAE CONNECT
By Maya Kushner In explaining the importance of dark energy and its role in the expansion of the universe, the scientific community has focused its efforts on Type Ia Supernovae (SNe). At the December 6 AAA Lecture Series' presentation, Dr. Michael Shara, founding curator of the Department of Astrophysics at AMNH explained how specific cataclysmic binaries produce Type Ia SNe. Dr. Shara shed light on how the Type Ia SNe are not really "standard candles" with fixed luminosities as once perceived, but rather "standardizable candles." The light curves of Type Ia are not identical when looking at brightness vs. time data, but are "standardizable" over larger measurements. Most stars are in hydrostatic equilibrium, where gravity pulls inward and pressure pushes outward through microscopic collisions of hydrogen atoms. When this main sequence ceases we either see a star collapse (loss of pressure) or explode (increased pressure). Depletion of hydrogen is what drives the development of stars. With the gasses stripped off a white dwarf, the internal pressure, then, is a metallic pressure from remnant material. White dwarfs form inside red giants. In a type of cataclysmic binary, as red giants swell they swallow their companions. The expanding solar wind of a red giant would be expanding to be a main sequence star like our Sun for example, at an ever increasing rate of speed. Once the red giant's envelope is blown away, what we would eventually see is a star like our Sun standing next to a tiny dot like our Earth which is much hotter but just as dense and of equal mass. The object that will always triumph in such a scenario is the white dwarf star. Dr. Shara's research also shows that two thirds of novae explode in the central bulges of galaxies rather than in spiral arms. Since all white dwarfs have a standard mass (Chandrasekhar limit of 1.44 solar masses), if any more mass gets added, the star will implode and create a Type Ia supernova. If that is a fact, then all Type Ia should be standard...but it is not so simple. We need to first know the donor stars involved in the process. They could be white dwarfs, red giants, or stars like our Sun. Depending upon the kind of donor star,, Dr. Shara showed how astronomers have come up with six different progenitor models and outcomes. How are novae (cataclysmic variables) and Type 1a SNe connected? After a Type Ia explodes you can look and see what's left, comparing candidate class vs. surviving companion (five out of the six models demand that either a red giant or sub-giant star is present). If you do not observe either a red giant or sub-giant then you ruled out five of six models. That
Dr. Shara Lecture continues on page 12

Friday, January 6, 6:15 p.m., AAA Lecture, M, P AAA Lecture Series - Robert Nemiroff - "Best Short Astronomy Videos" Kaufman Auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History Next date: February 10. Thursday, January 12, Thurs 6:30 - 8 p.m., M, T Charles Dana Discovery Center Sky Program Charles Dana Discovery Center (110 St & Lenox Ave) Indoor presentation followed by observing session (In case of clouds, there will still be an indoor presentation) Sunday, January 15, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., P Beyond Planet Earth Events -- SpaceFest

Cullman Hall of the Universe of the American Museum of Natural History Free with Museum Admission
Wednesday, January 18, 7 p.m., P Premiere: "The City Dark"

IFC Center (323 Avenue of the Americas) See schedule for all showings (www.thecitydark.com)
Saturday, January 21, 10 a.m.-noon, P, T, C Solar observing in Central Park

At the Conservatory Water Next date: February 18. Legend for Events
M: Members P: Open to the public T: Bring your telescopes, binoculars, etc. C: Cancelled if cloudy
AMNH: For ticket information, call (212) 769 -5200; Check the AMNH's website at www.amnh.org for an additional listing of other events.

For more information about all AAA events, visit our website at www.aaa.org.

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January 2012

has been proven to the double degener two white dwarfs explosion can Type

be the case. The elegant conclusion is that ate model is the correct one.....only when merge causing catastrophic collapse and Ia SNe be created.

Museum Innovator Joseph M. Chamberlain Dies Dr. Joseph M. Chamberlain, who headed both the Hayden and Adler planetariums during a distinguished career lasting more than four decades, died November 28 in his hometown of Peoria, Ill. He was 88. At the Hayden as a guest lecturer in 1950, he became an assistant curator in 1952, four years before becoming the planetarium's chairman. He rose to assistant director of AMNH in 1964. Chamberlain moved to Chicago's Adler in 1968, serving as director until retirement in 1991. He was chairman of the International Planetarium Directors Conference for 12 years. At the both institutions, Chamberlain was renowned for updating technology and instruction, hiring more professional astronomers, strengthening and increasing the number of special exhibitions and greatly expanding educational offerings, The New York Times noted. A high point of Chamberlain's tenure came in 1960 when he bought a powerful new projector for the Hayden planetarium's star show. He was also "one of the first scientists to organize destination cruises...so people could witness heavenly events like eclipses and comets." Chamberlain was frequently quoted in the New York

press on eclipses, the change of seasons, and planets. He would personally answer letters from children, including those asking to "please write up the solar system for me." He told them to do their own homework. According to a report in The New York Times, Chamberlain discovered "life" on Mars in 1958. The breakthrough came as his employees were making a large globe representing Mars from plants for a flower show. He spotted a spider crawling over the planet's surface. "Good heavens, there is life on Mars!" he exclaimed. Paying tribute to Chamberlain, Hayden director Neil deGrasse Tyson told Eyepiece: "In each one of my half -dozen encounters with Joseph Chamberlain, his blend of leadership skills with scientific and administrative acumen shined with a luminosity that I have yet seen equaled." NEXT MONTH IN EYEPIECE

Here's a peek at February: Tony Hoffman delves into the
world of exoplanets and the HARPS project (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher); David Weinflash looks back and forward in "Re-Introducing the Black Hole;" Tom Haeberle presents his perspective on lunar phases; Ed Fox covers the AAA Lecture Series' "Best Short Astronomy Videos" ; We review Richard Panek's new book, "The 4 Percent Universe" and the new IFC Center film "The City Dark;" Briefs in Astronomy continue to amaze us and, of course, Rich Rosenberg's "What's Up in the Sky" keeps our scopes trained on monthly celestial events; And of course much more......

Amateur Astronomers Association PO Box 150253 Brooklyn, NY 11215. ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

First Class
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