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Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York July 2012
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Space Exploration Advocate By Evan Schneider
Volume 61 Number 7 ISSN 0146-7662

EYEPIECE
By Amy Wagner

AMNH Presents: A Nobel Idea Dark Energy Expands Our Universe

Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson is on a mission. He is an "Army of One," a visionary who commands the attention of presidents and media as easily as he connects with the average human being. He is also our most celebrated AAA member. Armed with 500,000 followers on Twitter, he is an authority to be reckoned with. Poised, focused, intelligent and known around the world (possibl y across the cosmos, but no one is speaking at SETI yet), Tyson has appeared in numerous interviews and public speaking forums over the past few months, pressing his firm belief that space exploration should be nurtured, supported and expanded at a vigorous rate. His perspective is sound: space exploration is driven by three major factors. In a March 15 lecture at AMNH, Tyson queried "What drives humans to do great things?" The answers rested in three motivational areas ­ war or fear of conflict, the prospect of great economic wealth, and the praise of a deity. These were the human motivational elements behind the Manhattan Project and the Apollo missions (war/conflict), the Great Wall of China and the voyages of Columbus (great wealth), and construction of the pyramids and cathedrals (praise of deity). "It's the act of discover y that inspires nations and the world. NASA should focus on multiple destinations, which would be possi ble if given the budget it deserves." Tyson advocates doubling NASA's funding, now set at $17.7 billion in President Obama's 2013 federal budget request. He describes his approach to NASA's next steps as a bit "unorthodox." Rather than focusing on "band-aids" to address a potential individual mission goal, Tyson promotes constructing a core fleet of spacecraft that can be customized to support more flexible mission parameters. "We're kind of doing that now, but let's do that as the focus," he said. "One configuration will get you to the Moon. Another will get you t o a Lagrangian point. Another will get you to Mars." Today, pulling back on space missions signals our pulling back on competing with China and with other countries. Speaking in April at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Tyson told his audience that NASA should return to the "space culture" that inspired the nation during the time of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. "Think about it. We were in an innovative culture where
Neil deGrasse Tyson continued on page 3 Photo Credit Above: NASA Archives

"Science is social," says astronomer Alex Filippenko, contrary t o our perception of sci entists in solitary labs, alone with their research, waiting for a "Eureka!" moment. Today's scientific discoveries are made by teams of people; however, the Nobel Prize committees in sciences only award individuals (three maximum). Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physi cs, and Dr. Filippenko was a member of Schmidt and Riess's team (having first worked with Perlmutter). By looking at distant, exploding stars (supernovae), they jointly discovered the existence of dark energy and proved that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. On June 18, Dr. Filippenko presented his perspective "Dark Energy and the Runawa y Universe" as part of the AMNH Frontiers in Astrophysics lecture series. This extraordinary scientist and teacher (a former 2006 U.S. Professor of the Year) was introduced by Neil DeGrasse T yson, who also participated in a question and answer exchange at the end of the program. Dr. Filippenko's primary research involves cosmol ogy, the study of the structure and evolution of the universe. Its fundamental building blocks are the approximately 100 billion galaxies, in the observable universe. In 1912, Vesto M. Slipher first looked at the spectral (light) characteristics of galaxies, and observed redshifts, indicating that they are moving away from Earth. Redshift occurs when light coming from an object moving away is proportionally increased in wavelength (or shifted) to the red end of the spectrum Edwin Hubble examined Slipher's redshifts in 1929, com bining the data with his own measurements of nearby galaxies to establish interrelationships. As a result, Hubble's Law has proven that the more distant the galaxy, the faster it moves awa y; therefore, our universe is expanding. But what is the rate of that expansion? The universe has "stuff " in it, all acted upon by gravity. As defined by Newton, it is an attractive force bet ween bodies proportional to their masses. Is the universe decelerating, or will gravit y cause it to collapse on itself in a Big Crunch, or "Gnab Gib" (Big Bang, in reverse)? How can we measure this expansion of the universe? The answer is to just look up. By looking out into space, we can see into the past and categorize the history of the universal expansion. But to measure the universe billions of years ago, we have to measure the distance
AMNH Presents: A Nobel Idea continued on page 4


EYEPIECE Transit of Venus - at The Highline By Michael O'Gara can't remember when packing an umbrella first was something I thought about when taking my gear out for an astronomical observing sessi on. But this was the last time to see Venus transit the face of our Sun, so even if there was the slightest chance of seeing it, rain or shine, I was going to give it a go. Right up to 4 p.m., the NY Clear Sky Clock showed deep clouds all over our area. Then, suddenly, there was an update that put some blue in the sky starting at about 6 p.m., exactl y when the transit was set to begin. As I drove down the Westside Highwa y to the Highline, it started to rain - and it rained hard. I got up to the viewing area before 5 p.m. and saw Howard, Shana, Joe, Rori, Cary, and Tom, along with a new member Javier Colon. We took cover under a structure, and waited for the rain to let up. Blind faith astronomy at its finest. At about 5:45 p.m., Tom Haeberle and I set up a little north of 14th Street, trying to space our scopes out a bit to give the observers room to line up. I had brought the same 8 inch f/5 that I used to observe the 2004 transit, but this time I set it up with my homemade sun funnel. I had to wait a bit for the sky to clear, but did manage to get the sun projected onto m y funnel along with a nice group of sunspots. Alongside, m y Pronto refractor was set up with a Thousand Oaks solar filter for direct viewing. When first contact came, the Sun was behind the clouds and I just missed it. But when the clouds parted again, there it was. That beautiful, perfectl y round, black marble silhouetted against the orange orb of the Sun. I made sure the funnel had the view so that people could see it before they looked into m y Pronto, then started to quickly get everyone up to the scope for a short look before moving on. There was a real sense of urgency this time as we saw the clouds coming in again and again to obstruct our view, but for the next hour or so each telescope was able to show the transit to hundreds of people. Personally, I got very little observing time at the eyepiece because most of my time was spent acquiring the image and then getting an observer up to see it. This transit was a little frantic compared to eight years ago, as it was to be the last time in our collective lifetimes to witness this magnificent sight. Everyone who sa w it was inspired by the magnitude of the image, realizing that 34 million miles awa y, Venus was sweeping across the face of the Sun

July 2012

Transit of Venus - a Bronx View By Joseph Fedrick

I

The afternoon of May 5 was mostly cloudy, and it seemed to me that rain was threatening. I decided not to risk going downtown to join fellow AAA members and be exposed to the weather on the Highline or the pier where I might get rained on or even struck by lightning (a rare, but always risky potential event). Instead, I went to my home in the northeast Bronx. I noticed that the lead-gray threatening overcast sky began to lighten a bit and then began to break up by 6 p.m., so I hurriedly jury-rigged an impromptu apparatus to view the Sun. Venus was almost at first contact, and my window of opportunity could be short. I used an old pair of 10x50 binoculars and taped one lens of an Astronomy Magazine pair of eclipse glasses to the front of one of the objectives of the binoculars. This became a small monocular 10x telescope with approximately one inch of aperture for my adventure. The Sun appeared through a large hole in the overcast sky at 6:45 p.m. Venus' transit was already in progress. I saw the Sun's disk with three fuzzy red-brown sunspot groups on it with a sharply outlined pitch-black disk of Venus, as it made its way across the bright field. The planet appeared as drop of India ink suspended in front of a large orange ball. The three-dimensional effect was astonishing because, with my monocular view, I should not have had a sensation of depth perception. Perhaps the sharp outline of pitch black Venus contrasting with the paler red-brown sunspot groups caused this effect. The Sun then disappeared behind the multitude of clouds, but reappeared again around 7:45 p.m. By then, Venus had progressed a bit farther in front of Sun's disk as it slowl y moved downward to approach the horizon. I continued to view the transit along a long wide street that faced in the direction of the setting Sun. But finally, the clouds began to close in again, which ended my last view of the transit. It is the same for all of us - the next time Venus transits the Sun in December, 2117, we'll all have a very different view from above. I just hope that we get a clear day.

Riverside South Pier

which was another 59 million miles down range. As a club, we fulfilled one of our prime mission - to bring astronomy to the public. I can only hope that in 2117, future club members will fulfill that same promise kept by the AAA since 1927. 2

All Photos: Stan Honda, 2112


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Neil deGrasse Tyson - continued from page 1

July 2012

ever y Gemini mission was more aggressive than the previous one. Every da y, it seemed, you would read about another breakthrough, another accomplishment. It was expected that innovations would transform the world. We had great ambitions in the 1960s, the most turbulent decade since the Civil War. The one shining beacon in that period was the Moon missions, and ever ything was possible." NASA has the ability to motivate and innovate, utilizing the extraordinary scientific resources its programs attract. By driving the ambitions of bi ologists, chemists, physicists, electrical and mechanical engineers and other scientific professi onals, innovations at NASA stimulate discoveries in other fields. In a recent interview, Tyson explained how an algorithm to extract fuzzy image data from the original flawed Hubble telescope provided an opportunity for the medical community to develop an early cancer detection system analyzing mammograms. The MRI was developed through the efforts of an English physicist who created the mathematical technique to analyze radio signals and interpret imaging. Let's not forget about the all-important NASA invention ­ Velcro. "Space is a $300 billion industry worldwide," Tyson said. "NASA is a tiny percent of that. That little bit is what inspires dreams." Whatever direction Neil deGrasse Tyson points in, I, for one, will surely follow.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an active AAA member and strong supporter of our club's members and events.

AAA Members on SPACE.com
Anyone who thinks you can't do backyard astronomy in Manhattan should take a stroll along the city's High Line park on a Tuesday evening. Every Tuesday, weather permitting, members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York gather at dusk at the High Line - an old, elevated railway that was converted into a mile-long park above the lower west side of Manhattan - to gaze up at the night sky. It's urban skywatching at its best. "People think you can't do astronomy in the city of New York because there's too much light, but the city still offers a lot," said Michael O'Gara, who has been a AAA member for 25 years. "If you know where to look, and you concentrate, you can see some amazing things." After breaking for the winter months, the AAA resumed its skywatching sessions on the High Line. On April 3, O'Gara and several other members set up telescopes at the elevated park to marvel at the moon, Mars, Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky.

While O'Gara and his fellow amateur astronomers take pleasure in picking out these celestial targets in the sky, one of the biggest reasons the AAA holds their weekly observing campaigns is to attract the attention of passers-by so the members can share their enthusiasm and passion for skywatching. On April 3, three people, two telescopes and a pair of binoculars quickly grew into a crowd of men, women and children of all ages, lining up to catch a glimpse of Venus, Jupiter or the Moon. O'Gara, who is a past president of the AAA, stood next to his telescope, and as people shuffled past and peered through the eyepiece, he pointed out Jupiter, its moons, and a band of clouds on a gas giant called the South Equatorial Belt. "You can show people the dot and tell them it's a planet, but when you can show them that you can actually see weather systems on that planet, then you've shown people you can do astronomy in New York City," O'Gara told SPACE.com. The AAA has roughly 400 members, and in addition to holding skywatching events around the city, the group also sponsors lectures and seminars on a range of topics. The organization is a forum for astronomy enthusiasts in the city, but the members also aim to foster appreciation of the night sky among members of the public. "We want to get everyone out on street corners with their telescopes," said Joe D e l fa u s s e , th e AAA's fina ncia l secretary. "It's a lot of fun. Every week is different - there are different things in the sky, and you're dealing with different weather." S o m e t i m es , skywatchers don't Credit: Denise Chow, SPACE.com even need to own a telescope to enjoy the celestial sights. When it's visible, Venus is so bright it can be easily spotted with the naked eye. "Some of the most extra ordinary things that I've seen are things you don't need a telescope to see," O'Gara said. "I've seen meteor showers and comets with just my eyes that were absolutely awe-inspiring." The urban surroundings at the High Line pla y their part as well. The park attracts a lot of foot tra ffic. The telescopes draw in curious passers-by to stop for a few moments to stare up at the night sky. "It's a park, so everyone is happy," said AAA member Howard Fink. "The location does help. When you're at the High Line, you're above the city but you're still part of the city."

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July 2012

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observer's Guide for July 2012 By Richard Rosenberg
AMNH Presents: A Nobel Idea - continued from page 1

July's Evening Planets: Mercury may be seen in the evening sky the first week of Jul y, before falling back into the Sun's glare. Mars, now in Virgo, rapidly approaches slumbering Saturn. Below Saturn is the bright star Spica. July's Evening Stars: Look low in the horizon for the constellations Scorpius (which looks like a scorpion) and Sagittarius (which looks like a Teapot though it is supposed to represent an archer). Above Scorpius is the large shapeless Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. Above Ophiuchus at the overhead sky is Hercules. To the east of Hercules note the three bright stars forming the Summer Triangle: Vega, Deneb and Altair in the respective constellations Lyra the Lyre, Cygnus the Swan and Aquila the Eagle. July's Morning Planets: On July 1st one hour before sunrise Venus is brilliant in the east. Above it is Jupiter. Also in the gathering are the bright star Aldebaran below Venus, and the beautiful Pleiades star cluster (on a line from Venus through Jupiter). Later in the month Venus approaches Jupiter but falls back. Watch Venus pass Aldebaran on the tenth, and check out the Moon passing through these stars and planets on the 14th and 15th. July's Morning Stars: The Summer Triangle (Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila), overhead last month, has moved slightly to t he west. Further west is Hercules. Most of the sky now belongs to the constellations of autumn, including Pegasus, Andromeda and Perseus as well as fainter Capricornus and Aquarius.

July's "Skylights"
June 30 July 1 July 3 July 4 July 10 Jul Jul Jul Jul y y y y 12 13 14 15 Mercury's greatest elongation from the Sun (26°) in the early evening Before sunrise, spot brilliant Venus with Jupiter above. Bright Aldebaran in Taurus is below Venus and the Pleiades star cluster is above Jupiter Full Moon at 2:52 p.m. (EDT)

to stars that are billions of light-years awa y. At those great distances, only supernovae are distinguishable from their neighbors, especially T ype 1a supernovae. But to measure the universe billions of years ago, we have to measure the distance to stars that are billions of light-years awa y. At those great distances, only supernovae are distinguishable from their neighbors, especially T ype 1a supernovae. They t ypicall y explode in the same wa y with the same brightness, so the distance to a T ype 1a supernova can be measured, because we can compare how bright the explosion is with how bright we know it should be. In 1998, Dr. Filippenko, along with the future Nobel Prize winners' teams, performed spectral analyses of T ype 1a supernovae, and compared redshifts with their expected distances. The more luminous supernovae took longer to brighten and to fade, and showed that the universe's expansion was actually accelerating. Scientists concluded that the universe must contain some anti-gravitational force that accelerates its expansion ­ dark energy. In 1917, Albert Einstein believed in a static universe that neither expanded nor contracted, with some invisible force that counters gravity. He used a "cosmol ogical constant" in his equations to represent this phenomenon. After Hubble's discovery of an expanding universe, Einstein lamented the cosmological constant as his "biggest blunder." Today, the cosmological constant is used to represent invisible dark energy, which comprises about 73% of the universe. "So," as Dr. Filippenko poses the question, "How will it end?" Will our universe just continue to runawa y? Will it expand so quickly that it becomes all dark and cold? Or is it possibl e that dark energy will one day reverse itself and become an attractive force? Is it even possible to study dark energy long enough to predict what it will do? "Some sa y the world will end in fire, / Some say in ice." For now, Dr. Filippenko suggests we follow Robert Frost's lead and just take our pick

Nebula of the Month: Double Helix

July 19 July 24 July 25 July 26 July 28 July 29

Earth is at aphelion (farthest from the Sun) Venus is 0.9° north of Aldebaran this morning Last quarter Moon at 9:48 p.m. (EDT) Venus at greatest brilliancy Uranus is stationary; begins retrograde motion Crescent Moon is right of the Pleiades in a.m. The Moon is 3.1° below left of Jupiter and 4.3° above and slightly left of Venus in the a.m. New Moon at 8:24 a.m. (EDT) The Moon is 5.8° south of Mars The Moon is 4.5° south of Spica and 5.6° south of Saturn First quarter Moon at 4:56 a.m. (EDT) Mercury is in infer ior conjunction with the Sun, enter ing the mor ning sky Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks

The Double Helix Nebula lies 25,000 light-years from Earth and only 300 light-years from the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Discovered in 2006 by the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope and shaped like a giant strand of DNA, its 80 light year long form may have been created by magnetic torsion. Magnetic field lines at the galactic center are about 1,000 times stronger than on Earth. They run perpendicular to the black hole, but parallel through the nebula. Scientists think that twisting of these lines is what causes the double helix shape.
Photo Credit: NA SA Spitzer Space Telescope (False Color Image)

For additio nal information visit: www.aaa.org/mo nth1207

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July 2012

A Message from AAA President Marcelo Cabrera
Hello Members: The Transit of Venus was great! Did you see it? Two ver y large crowds attended our main locations at Riverside Park and the High Line. Although it seemed like the weather would not cooperate, we had some clearing skies and many New Yorkers got to see Venus transit in front of the Sun through our AAA telescopes. Many of you recorded those rare glimpses and sent in gre at photographs. Check them out on our website. The AAA Spring/Summer Class 2012 is currently in session and a tremendous success. More than 50 member "students" enrolled for the seven sessi ons covering diverse topics of amateur astronomy. We intend to continue this trend for diverse ed ucation for our members, so please watch for the next session. It promises to be exceptionally rewarding and an incredible value for membership. Summer is here! And that means more observing in the city and at North -South Lake. Check our website for updates on schedules, locations and maps. We hope to see you there. Please bring your friends and neighbors to our observing locations t o spread our enthusiasm for astronomy. They will thank you. Remember that now we accept yearly membership payments and your kind donations online as well as new logo merchandise available from the AAA store. All of this and more is available on the AAA website. Clear skies!

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

Telephone: 212-535-2922

Website: www.aaa.org

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July 2012

WHAT IF??? W

Behold the Mighty Parsec
By Richard Brounstein
of 1/60th of a degree so 0.31 arcseconds is about 1/3rd of 1/60th of 1/60th degrees of an angle or 0.31/3600 degrees). This puts 61 Cygni at about 11.3 light-years from Earth. An object with one arcsecond of parallax is 3.26 light -years, which is where we get the term "parallax second," or "parsec." Parallax angles decrease as stars' distances increase. The practical limit with modern telescopes is a parallax of .001 arcseconds, about 6,500 light-years in distance. That's about 5% of the distance across our galaxy using the Earth's position six months apart for parallax measurements. To gain accuracy, we want to take these measurements from an orbit farther away than the Earth rather than closer. A measurement of one arcsecond from Jupiter would be 13.71 light years. From Venus, a parsec would measure 31.831 light -years. From Pluto, a one arcsecond parallax would measure 128.63 light years. The .001 arcsecond measurement of parallax using Pluto's orbit would give an accurate measurement to a star at 128,635 light-years (greater than the distance across our galaxy). That's a great improvement of accurate measurement without even leaving our solar system. Such measurements could be done with current technologies as long as equipment is positioned at the farthest orbiting planet. Unfortunately, while Pluto is probabl y a great place to do astronomy, the dwarf planet takes 238 years to go around the Sun. So, we would have to wait 119 years to take the parallax measurement. But "What If" there was another wa y? Instead of waiting out the long orbits of our outer planets, the same calculations could be effected by doing these observations from multiple space telescopes. If three space telescopes were launched in different directions toward the outer solar system, they could take constant parallax measurements in any direction in the universe - much more accurate than we can on Earth. The parallax observator y spacecraft would only need to track their distance between each other and then coordinate taking images to distant stars from their different locations. Astronomers on Earth could compare the photos from the different vantage points and calculate an accurate parallax measurement to stars thousands of light-years awa y. Over time, as the spacecraft move outward, they could accurately measure the distance to more remote star systems. What a great achievement without much of a breakthrough in current technologies. We could know the distances to all of the visible stars in our galaxy and hopefull y beyond, providing new insight into our amazing universe.
Richard Brounstein's m onthly colum n, "WHAT I F," explores what today seem s im probable or im possible. Stay tuned for m ore fascinating concepts. Image: G eor gia Stat e Physics D epartment U niver sit y

ith all due respect to Han Solo, the parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Just like the astronomical unit and the light-year, the parsec is one of those Earth -centric astronomical units of distance. It is also the longest unit of measurement in existence. The parsec is even longer than a light-year...but not astronomicall y so. It measures a distance of about 30.9 trillion kilometers, or 3.26 light-years (one light-year = 9.4 trillion km). At first glance, this seems to be a strange astronomical measurement. But unlike the light-year, the parsec has within it an important history to our understanding the magnitude of the universe. For eons, stars were just beautiful points of light in the sky. Eventually, mankind discovered that they were enormous balls of gas just like our own Sun, but much farther awa y. Just how far away they were remained a myster y until the last few hundred years. Astronomers use a variety of techniques to measure distances to globular clusters, black holes, and galaxies that are hundreds, millions or even billions of light -years awa y. But our most accurate measurements, as expected, are of close-up stars. For that, we have to thank our friend, the parsec. One of the first techniques explorers discovered to determine the distance to a remote object was the parallax measurement. This is the relative angle of difference to which we see an object when viewed from two different points. To experience this process, hold a finger a few centimeters from your eyes. Close one eye and leave the other open. Then switch. You quickl y notice that objects behind your finger appear to move. That's because of the distance between your eyes. It is an effective technique to measure the distance to your finger and to just about anything. By triangulating three points (two vantage points viewing an object and the object itself), you can measure the distance to that object. All this is required is the angle measurement created by viewing the object from two vantage points and some basic high school trigonometry. Using the Earth as the vantage point at a six-month interval, the parallax of a distant star can be measured. When astronomer/mathematician Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel applied this technique to star 61 Cygni in 1838, science finally had its first accurate measurement to another star. In making a triangle out of Earth when positioned on opposite sides of the Sun and 61 Cygni, the distance to this relativel y close but still distant star is revealed. We still need an angle of measurement by noting how the farther awa y stars shift in the sky when the Earth is positioned on both sides of the Sun. This angle is extremely small - 61 Cygni has a paral la x m ea sur em en t of 0. 31 arcseconds. (an arcsecond is 1/60th 6


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July 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
Heavy Metal Stars You Light Up My Life

The formation of small worlds like Earth was thought to occur mostly around stars rich in heavy elements such as iron and silicon. However, new ground-based observations, com bined with data collected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, shows small planets form around stars with a wide range of heavy element content, suggesting they ma y be widespread in our galaxy. A research team led by Lars A. Buchhave, an astrophysicist at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Centre for Star and Planet Formation, studied the elemental composition of more than 150 stars harboring 226 planet candidates smaller than Neptune. According to Buchhave, "This study shows that small planets do not discriminate and form around stars with a wide range of heavy metal content, including stars with only 25% of the Sun's metallicity."
Battle of the Bulge

New evidence from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory challenges prevailing ideas about how black holes grow in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers originally thought that a supermassive black hole and the bulge of stars at the center of its host galaxy grow at the same rate -- the bigger the bulge, the bigger the black hole. However, a new study of Chandra data has revealed two nearby galaxies with supermassive black holes that are growing faster than the galaxies themselves. The mass of a giant black hole at the center of a galaxy t ypically is a tiny fraction (0.2%) of the mass contained in the bulge, or region of densely packed stars, surrounding it. The targets of the latest Chandra study, galaxies NGC 4342 and NGC 4291, have black holes 10 to 35 times more massive than they should be compared to their bulges. The new observations show the halos, or massive envelopes of dark matter in which these galaxies reside, also are overweight. "This gives us more evidence of a link between two of the most mysterious and darkest phenomena in astrophysics -- black holes and dark matter - in these galaxies," said Akos Bogdan of the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysi cs who led the new study.
Red Rover, Red Rover...

During a powerful solar blast on March 7, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highestenergy light ever associated with an eruption on the Sun. The discover y heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the Sun's maximum period of activity. A solar flare is an explosive blast of light and charged particles. The powerful classification X5.4 flare, based on the peak intensity of its X-rays, is the strongest eruption observed by Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). The flare produced such an outpouring of gamma rays that the Sun briefl y became the brightest object in the gamma ray sky. At its peak, the emissions were two billion times more energetic than visible light. "For most of Fermi's four years in orbit, its LAT saw the sun as a faint, steady gamma -ray source thanks to the impacts of high-speed particles called cosmic rays," said Nicola Omodei, an astrophysicist at Stanford University. "Now we're beginning to see what the Sun itself can do." In addition to the intensity of these emissions, astronomers were surprised by the outburst's length. Fermi observed high-energy gamma rays for approximately 20 hours, which is 2.5 times longer than any event ever recorded. Observations also enabled astronomers to pinpoint the source of the gamma rays on the Sun's disk, making it the first time that such a feat has been accomplished for a gamma-ray source with energies beyond 100 million electron volts (MeV), researchers said.

NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity, which will land on the Red Planet in August. The car -sized rover will arrive closer to its ultimate destination for science operations, but also closer to the foot of a mountain slope that poses a landing hazard."We're trimming the distance we'll have to drive after landing by almost half," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. "That could get us to the mountain months earlier." It was possible to adjust landing plans because of increased confidence in precision landing technology aboard the MSL spacecraft, which is carrying the rover. That spacecraft can aim closer without hitting Mount Sharp at the center of Gale crater. Rock la yers located in the mountain are the prime location for research with the rover. Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug 6). Following checkout operations, Curiosity will begin a twoyear study of whether the landing vicinity ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

Artist drawing of the Fer mi satellite orbiting Earth. Credit: NA SA EPO, Sonoma State Univer sity, A uror e Simonnet

Travel Time The Voyager

spacecraft is traveling away from the Sun at a rate of 17.3 km/s. If Voyager were to travel to the center of our galaxy, it would take more than 450,000,000 years to travel the 8 kpc (see page 7 for more on parsecs). If it could travel at the speed of light, an impossibility due to special relativity, it would still take over 26,000 years to arrive. At 17.3 km/s, Voyager would need over 1.7 billion years to traverse the entire length of the Milky Wa y. Even traveling at the speed of light, it would take nearly a hundred thousand years. 7


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July 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
Dawn Spacecraft Rivals Google Maps
A brand new 3-D video map from the Dawn mission provides a unique view of the varied surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The animation drapes high -resolution false color images over a 3-D model of the Vesta terrain constructed from Dawn's observations. This visualization enables a detailed view of the variation in the material properties of Vesta in the context of its topography. The colors were chosen to highlight differences in surface composition that are too subtle for the human eye to see. Scientists are still analyzing what some of the colors mean for the composition of the surface. But it is clear that the orange material thrown out from some impact craters is different from the surrounding surface material. Green shows the relative abundance of iron. Parts of the huge impact basin known as Rheasilvia in Vesta's southern hemisphere, for instance, have areas with less iron than nearby areas. Thanks to its extended mission time at Vesta, Dawn has imaged the majority of the surface of the asteroid with the framing camera to provide this 3-D map. While some areas in the north were in shadow at the time the images were obtained by the camera, Dawn expects to improve its coverage of Vesta's northern hemisphere with additional observations. Dawn's viewing geometry also prevented mapping of a portion of the mountain of the south pole. The spacecraft is currently spiraling up from its lowest-altitude orbit into its final science orbit, where its average altitude will be about 420 miles (680 kilometers). Dawn is scheduled to leave Vesta around Aug 26 and then head to Ceres. This will be the first mission to enter orbit around one object, then leave and head to another.

Martian Yardangs?
ESA's Mars Express has provided images of a remarkable crater showing evidence that the planet underwent significant climate fluctuations due to changes in its rotation axis. Danielson crater is filled with layered sediments, heavil y eroded over time. Within the crater are layered buttes, known as "yardangs," streamlined hills carved from bedrock or material formed by abrasive dust and sand particles. They are seen on Earth's desert regions. Scientists hypothesize that sediments were cemented by water, possibl y from a deep reservoir, before being eroded by the wind. The orientation of the yardangs suggests strong north­northeasterly winds deposited the original sediment, causing their subsequent erosion in a later, drier period of Martian history. A 30 km -long field of darker dunes can be seen bisecting the yardangs, thought to have formed in a later epoch. The crater floor of Danielson (large crater pictured below) shows evidence of a series of alternating sedimentary layers with roughly uniform thickness and separation. This may indicate periodic fluctuations in the Martian climate triggered by regular changes in its axis of rotation. The layers would have been laid down during different epochs. By contrast, the smaller Kalocsa crater on the left, shows a completely different topography. Here, no layered sediments are seen. This is thought to be due to the higher altitude of its floor, with the crater not tapping into the suspected underlying

Habitat for Humanity on Mars?

If humans are planning on spending any significant amount of time on the surface of another planet in the solar system, they're going to need a specially made habitat to live in. Developing a prototype is the goal of the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Habitation Systems project, which sponsors the annual eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) challenge. To achieve this, NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation solicited ideas for module design ideas from universities in March. On May 30, the X-Hab challenge organizers selected five teams to participate in the competition. Concepts included "Vertical Habitability La yout and Fabrication Studies," "Horizontal Habitability La yout Studies," "Wireless Smart Plug for DC Power," "Design and Devel opment of a Microgravity Random Access Stowage and Rack System," and "Remote Plant Food Production Capability." The teams are comprised of undergraduate students, which NASA hopes will help train developing scientists and engineers to work on future projects. They have a challenging journey ahead, as their selection is the first step toward teams devel oping, delivering and testing their concepts within a year. These technologies will add to previous years' concepts, giving NASA a growing collection of ideas to draw from. With continued success, NASA's next habitation module might primarily be designed by students. Somewhere in today's middle schools are students who are likely candidates for a future Mars mission. 8

Credit: ESA: Kalocsa and D anielson topogr aphy

ancient water reservoir. Another hypothesis is that this crater is younger than its neighbor, created when water was no longer present.

Asteroids in the Ocean

An international crew of aquanauts is settling into its home on the ocean floor where they will spend 12 days testing concepts for a potential asteroid mission. The expedition is the 16th excursion of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO). NEEMO sends groups of astronauts, engineers, and scientists to live in the Aquarius lab, 63 feet bel ow the Atlantic Ocean surface. The laboratory is located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. For NASA, Aquarius provides a convincing simulation to space exploration, and NEEMO crew members experience some of the same tasks and challenges under water that would occur in space. The mission focuses on 3 areas related to asteroid missions. The crew of aquanauts will investigate communication delays,


EYEPIECE

July 2012

AAA BRIEFS IN ASTRONOMY
NASA Now in the Spy Business Webb Development

NASA's collection of space telescopes just got a bit bigger, thanks to an extraordinary gift from an extraordinary donor. One June 5, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) intelligence agency gave NASA t wo surplus spy satellites that are more advanced than the Hubble Space Telescope. If the money can be found for a mission for the spy "birds," then NASA will not only have two possi ble replacements for the retiring Hubble, but also an added ability to scan the skies for supernovae, locate new exoplanets and even seek the answer to the fate of the universe. Described by NASA as "Stubby Hubbles," the spy satellites weigh in at 3,700 lbs and look like a cross between the Hubble and a dustbin. The optics are superior to Hubble's, which is impressive. The satellites have the same 94-inch diameter primary mirror as Hubble, but with a much steeper curvature. They also have a shorter focal length, allowing them to scan a much wider field of sky. Unlike Hubble, they both have a maneuverable secondary mirror for better focus. There is also more room in the stern of the satellites as well for mounting additional instruments.
Amateur Astronomers Rule Supernova

The first of four instruments to fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) was delivered to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on May 29. The MidInfrared Instrument (MIRI) will allow scientists to study cold and distant objects in greater detail than ever before. It has been undergoing inspection before being integrated into Webb's science instrument payl oad known as the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). MIRI's sensitive detect ors will allow it to observe light, cool stars in very distant galaxies; unveil newl y forming stars within our Milky Wa y; fi nd signatures of the formation of planets around stars other than our own; and take imagery and spectroscopy of planets, comets and the outermost bits of debris in our solar system. MIRI's images will enable scientists to study an object's shape and structure. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb is the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. W e b b ' s four instruments will reveal how the universe evol ved from the Big Bang to the formation of our solar system. Webb is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
The Andromeda Fastball

Sky watchers around the globe jumped into action to catch a fleeting glimpse of a new supernova that erupted into view recently in nearby galaxy M95, 33 million light -years from Earth. The supernova, SN2012aw, represents the death of a massive star that collapsed in on itself and released a huge blast of radiation into space. It will be visible only for a limited time, so astrophotographers have been diligently gathering pictures while they can. One amateur astronomer, ñscar MartÌn Mesonero, captured the supernova without even planning to, while he was photographing the galaxy shining next to Mars from his location in Salamanca, Spain. Unwittingly, he photographed a supernova of magnitude +13.5, only 2 days after its discovery. Mesonero, who is a co-founder of the Salamanca Organization of Astronautics and Space, used a Skywatcher ED 80/600 telescope, as well as a Celestron 8-inch t el escope, along with a Canon EOS 50D camera for his images. "I heard about the supernova on 19 March," Mesonero said. "Then I remembered that two days earlier we had photographed the area of the sky during the Messier marathon we do with the association of astronomy. While everyone watched, I decided to take some photographs of the conjunction of Mars with M95 and M96. Then I reviewed the photos and there it was!"

NASA astronomers announced they can now predict with certainty the next major cosmic event to affect our galaxy, Sun, and solar system: the titanic collision of our Milky Wa y galaxy with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. The Milky Wa y is destined to get a major makeover during the encounter, which is predicted to happen four billion years from now. It is likely the Sun will be flung into a new region of our galaxy, but our Earth and solar system are in no danger of being destroyed. "Our findings are statistically consistent with a head-on collision between Andromeda and our Milky Wa y galaxy," said Roeland van der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute. The solution came through painstaking Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the motion of Andromeda. The galaxy is now 2.5 million light-years awa y, but it is inexorably falling toward the Milky Wa y under the mutual pull of gravity between the two galaxies and the invisible dark matter that surrounds them both. The scenario is like a baseball batter watching an oncoming fastball. Although Andromeda is approaching us more than two thousand times faster, it will take four billion years before the strike crosses the plate. Computer simulations derived from Hubble's data show that it will take an additional two billion years after the encounter for the interacting galaxies to completel y merge and reshape into a single elliptical galaxy similar to the kind commonly seen in the local universe. Although the galaxies will plow into each other, stars inside each galaxy are so far apart that they will not collide during the encounter. Instead, the stars will be thrown into different orbits around the new galactic center. Simulations show our solar system tossed much farther from the galactic core than it is today. A century ago astronomers did not realize Andromeda was a separate galaxy far beyond the Milky Wa y. Edwin Hubble measured its vast distance by uncovering a variable star that served as a "milepost marker."
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EYEPIECE

July 2012

FOCUS ON THE UNIVERSE In The Field - Transits and Annular Eclipses
By Stan Honda
he June 5 transit of Venus was remarkable. Under a heavy overcast sky, I went to the Riverside Park South pier at 5:30 p.m. to join a large crowd of expectant observers. After a brief rain, it was time to set up. I had a Nikon 400mm lens with a 1.7x teleconverter attached, making it equivalent to a 680mm lens. For visual protection, I cut a Thousand Oaks Optical solar filter sheet to fit over the front of the lens. I was ready for viewing and shooting this historic event.. The Sun had been peeking in and out of the clouds, but views were blocked. Ten minutes into the transit, the clouds parted slightly and there was Venus - perched on the top edge of the Sun. Shouts erupted en masse across the pier as spectators and scopes acquired the image. I quickly took several photos as wispy cl ouds trailed across the face of the Sun. A small group gathered around my camera to watch the spectacle while I ran to take photos of our fellow observers. When I returned, Venus had moved farther into the disk and clouds were building again. The time stamp on the last photo in the series said 6:29 p.m. - 10 precious minutes of viewing and shooting. It was quite a relief t o know that I had captured at least part of the transit. After enlarging several photos, I discovered that we had witnessed the "black drop" effect as Venus crossed the Sun's threshold. An optical illusion created by the dark gaseous outer edge of the Sun and aberrations in telescopic equipment, Venus appears as an elongated drop of black ink at the edge of the Sun. It was fascinating to see both that phenomenon and the clean disk of Venus. In many images, clearly visible sunspots dotted the bright orange surface as well. We had hoped for a longer look at this rare occurrence, but cl ouds moved in again, and so we waited. Up the Hudson River was a V-shaped area of blue sky. If timing was in our favor, that patch would reach us as the Sun continued to set. At 7:10 p.m., the Sun broke through, giving us a few more minutes of this spectacle. Cheers rose once more from the crowd. I rapidly shot m y next set of photos, that series showing clouds racing across the sky. My most dramatic photos showed some of these great cloud formations partially veiling the Sun, with the orb of Venus seen at the top right side. It was well worth all of the preparation and effort. A few weeks earlier, I photographed another incredible sight ­ the May 20 annular solar eclipse. Accompanied by t wo friends, we viewed it all from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. A major center of Puebl oan culture from the mid-800s for over 300 years, the canyon provided an excellent foreground for night sky landscape photography. With afterhours access permission from the park rangers, we spent two da ys in the canyon. Late afternoon scouting produced a good l ocation for the eclipse, which would reach annularity just before sunset. We planned to shoot the stars over the pueblo sites a fter dark. Our agreed-upon spot was Pueblo Bonito, one of the largest of the Chacoan buildings and a perfect reference point. I set up around an hour before the eclipse, using a 10

T

300mm lens with a 1.7 teleconverter on a tripod (making it a 510mm lens) with a solar filter. A second camera with a zoom lens set to 50mm with a solar filter on a small tripod was also attached an intervalometer to take a picture ever y fi ve minutes, allowing me to sequence of the Sun through the entire eclipse. At 6:26 p.m., we saw a small bite taken out of the right side of the Sun ­ the eclipse had started. I shot photos every few minutes, occasionally stopping to gaze through the filtered lens at the shrinking Sun. The Moon seemed to inch along until the Sun was a thin crescent. All of a sudden it seemed to move faster, and there was the annular ring ­ an unbelievable sight. People cheered around us. I knew that I had just over four minutes to get my photos of the total eclipse. I shot several pictures with the long telephoto, and used the zoom lens to catch the eclipsed Sun right over the pueblo structure. The light and feeling around the pueblo were noticeabl y different, even though it was not as dark as during a total eclipse. My four minutes passed all too quickly, and soon the Moon was giving us back the Sun's light. Eclipses and transits are humbling experiences to anyone observing the events in real time. Our solar system and the universe are in constant motion, ever y minute of ever y da y and night. Only during these special events can we gain the perspective of how we all fit into this cosmic dance.

Annular Eclipse -Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Stan Honda, 2012 Stan Honda is an accomplished professional photographer and contributing writer for Eyepiece. In this continuing series of articles, he shares his extensive knowledge of photographic equipment and techniques. Please visit www.stanhonda.com or submit your photography questions to stanhonda@gmail.com.


EYEPIECE

July 2012

AAA Events on the Horizon July 2012
Tuesdays, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 8:30-10:30 p.m., P, T, C
Observing on the High Line, Manhattan Enter at 14th Street Next dates: Tuesdays in August

Last Mars Observation Sun Becomes More Active
By Joe Fedrick

Thursdays, July 5, 12, 19, 26, Dusk - 10:00 p.m., P, T, C
Movies With a View/Observing Pier 1, Brookl yn Waterfront

Movie Info: gonyc.about.com Observing: aaa.org/movieswithaview
Next dates: Thursdays in August Wednesday July 18, Dusk-11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Prospect Park, Brookl yn Next date: August 8 Thursday July 19, 6:30 p.m. AAA Board Meeting Cicatelli Conference Center, Manhattan 550 8th Ave, at 35th Street, 20th Floor Next date: September 19 Saturday, July 21, 8:30 - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Great Kills Gateway National Park, Staten Island Next date: August 18 Wednesday, July 25, 8:30-11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Brooklyn Heights Promenade, At end of Montague Street Next date: August 22 Friday, July 27, 8:30 p.m. - 11 p.m., P, T, C Observing at Carl Schurz Park, Manhattan, Next date: August 31 Saturday, July 28, 10 a.m.--noon Solar observing in Central Park, P, T, C At the Conservatory Water. Next date: August 25 Tuesday, July 31, 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., P American Museum of Natural History and AAA Star Party Hayden Planetarium
Legend for Events M: Members P: Ope n to t he public T: Bring telescopes, binoculars, etc. C: Cancelled if cloudy

NEXT MONTH IN EYEPIECE
Our Look Ahead to August: Stan Honda continues his "Focus on the Universe series; Richard Brounstein makes us think in "What If;" Alan Rude on Dark Energy; Ed Fox reviews "The 4% Universe;" Tony Hoffman reviews "Lives of the Planets;" Dan Harrison reports on dark skies from Sark in the English Channel Islands; Maya Kushner on the final AAA lecture; "Kleegor's Universe" explores the funny side of astronomy; Ed Fox's AAA Briefs in Astronomy continue to inform us; Rich Rosenberg's "What's Up in the Sky" points
Credits for July Eyepiece Issue Page 2 - Venus Transit banner; Page 3 - "Kleegor's Universe" Joshua M. Erich Website: (www.pixelatedparchment.com)

I used my 60mm f/15 achromatic refractor one last time to observe Mars on the evening of April 10 (April 11 universal time). My eyepiece of choice yielded 100x, and around 10 p.m., observed Mars' Syrtis Major region for the last time. The Hellas Impact Crater, the depressed area just south of the dark gray triangular shaped Martian highlands, was rather bright with what was apparently a layer of cl ouds that filled the depression. Later, I searched the internet and found that observers with larger scopes, apertures of 10 inches or more and supporting digital cameras, photographed these clouds around the same time period. I was pleased that I could observe the clouds with only 2.4 inches of aperture. Subsequent to this, Mars rapidly receded as the Earth pulled awa y from it and I could no longer observe distinct features across the Martian disk. On May 11 at 5:30 p.m. (EDT), the Sun displayed a ver y large prominent area of sunspots in the projected image of its disk (with the use of the same 60mm scope, but a rather old inferior 20 mm eyepiece, as I don't use my best eyepieces to project the Sun's image). The sunspot group was large enough to be barely visible with use of onl y eclipse glasses and no magnification or other optical aid - a "naked eye" sunspot group. Solar activity so far this sunspot cycle has been characterized by brief spurts of intense activity on an otherwise rather bland, quiescent Sun. Venus then appeared in the west, barely visible without optical aid about a half hour before sunset on May 11, and displayed a large crescent in my 60mm scope. Venus was closing in on its transit of the Sun on June 5, less than one month away at the time. Saturn then appeared as the sky darkened, and I observed the faint brownish belts on the pale tan-yellow disk and its ring system, again with my 60mm scope at 100x. The brownish outer ring, a barely visible Cassini division and a brighter white inner ring and a barely visi ble inner crepe ring were clearly visible. Recently, I have not done as much observing as I had hoped because, after the dry weather of March and April, the rain clouds appeared in May, and April flowers brought Ma y showers (a bit backward this year!). "Whan that aprill, with his shoures soote. The droghte of March hath pierced to the roote..." My apol ogies to Chaucer, but similarities exist even toda y!
AAA Presents: A new and exciting wide selection of logo merchandise for our members to purchase online

AAA ONLINE STORE IS NOW OPEN

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