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European Space Agency

A new baby picture of the universe -- ESA's Planck satellite mapped temperature and polarization of microwaves from dust in the Milky Way's magnetic field.

Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York
January 2015
Volume 63 Number 1; ISSN 0146-7662

The Day New York Stood Still: The 1925 Total Solar Eclipse
SOLAR SAGAS By Tom Haeberle In the middle of the 1920s, while Europe was still recovering from the First World War, the United States was experiencing an economic boom. Easy credit and new inventions helped the average American obtain telephones, radios and even cars. So when New York City experienced its first total solar eclipse on a very cold January 24 in 1925, the congested city's automobile traffic came to a grinding halt that Saturday morning. City streets grew even more crowded that day as observers flocked to New York to record the event. The unique layout of the streets themselves drew astronomers who hoped to map the southern limit of the eclipse's path using the Manhattan Gridline to help improve predictions for such events. Calculations based on the American Ephemeris foretold that the edge of the Moon's path would cut upper Manhattan somewhere between 83rd Street and 110th Street. To aid their efforts, astronomers enlisted the help of 149 workers from the New York Edison company on duty that day. Each worker was furnished with a darkened glass and instructed to look at the Sun at the moment of instantaneous photosphere extinction (or totality). The photosphere is the bright, visible surface of the Sun that we see each day. The Edison workers were asked to record if they could see the corona ­ the plasma aura of the Sun ­ or if a thin edge of the photosphere was still shining through. They were positioned at each Manhattan intersection from 72nd Street to 135th Street, mostly perched on rooftops for better viewing. During totality, the workers who were below the southern limit of the eclipse path reported seeing a "Diamond Ring," a dim band of the corona with a bright spot of light from the photoDavid Cornfield, MIT sphere, that shined The beautiful "Diamond Ring" effect during a total solar eclipse. A dim glow of the hot through the lunar valleys and hills. T he gas in the corona creates a band, dotted with a gem of the bright photosphere. New York Times r ecorded, "A thin, lum i1925 Solar Eclipse (cont'd on Page 4)

Pit Stops in Space: Off-World Filling Stations
WHAT IF??? Richard Brounstein With the successful test flight of NASA's Orion capsule in December, the U.S. may soon be back in the business of manned space travel. Improving on the retired Space Shuttle, Orion can transport a crew beyond Earth orbit, carrying up to five astronauts for many months at a time. It could be the spacecraft that returns humans to the Moon or finally sends them for the first time to an asteroid, comet, or even Mars. Asteroids would be a great destination for human exploration. They've been floating around the solar system for billions of years practically untouched. And while they can reveal the wondrous A plans to roboti history of the solar system, NASst's image of a Ncally capture Arti ASA plan to they also contain thousands of capture a near-Earth asteroid. tons of raw materials and that we could one day harness to support future space colonies. The most important of those asteroid materials is water ­ but not for its life-giving properties. Water molecules can also be broken down into liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used as propellant for a rocket engine. Liberating large quantities of water from an asteroid has the potential to turn a scientifically interesting celestial body into a practical refueling station for space ships. Today, spacecraft must launch with all the fuel they will ever need. This extra weight dampens the thrust a vehicle needs to perform maneuvers or to dock at a destination. For landings, spacecraft must use a planet's atmosphere for air-braking, and for long journeys, they rely on gravity assists from planets to compensate for a limited fuel supply. The fuel problem is one of the biggest barriers to exploration. With about 12,000 near-Earth asteroids discovered so far, and another half-million elsewhere in our solar system, there is plenty of untapped potential out there to tap for fuel. To realize this potential would require solving some major engineering problems. The technology does not yet exist for deep drilling and excavation in the vacuum of space. We would also need to build a deep space processing station for the mined resources once we do figure out how to acquire them. Such an endeavor would be incredibly expensive for
Pit Stops in Space (cont'd on Page 4)

THIS MONTH: A A A Holid ay Par t y on Jan 7, A A A L ect ur e on Jan 9, and Solar Fest on Jan 24!


January 2015

WHAT'S UP IN THE SKY
AAA Observers' January Guide
By Tony Faddoul

The Winter Hexagon's Bright Stars
Most of us are familiar with the stars of the famous Winter Triangle ­ Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon ­ but, there is another asterism of bright stars visible from December through March. The Winter Hexagon is comprised of seven main stars, including two from the Winter Triangle. It can be seen all around the world, except in the most southern parts of South America and New Zealand. In the Southern hemisphere, it is known as the Summer Hexagon. Capella in Auriga the Charioteer. Capella, the sixth brightest star in the night sky, is 42 light-years away with 0.08 magnitude. It is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs. The first pair consists of two giants, Capella Aa and Capella Ab, in close orbit around each other. Each is about 1,000 times larger than the Sun and two and a half times its mass. The second pair, Capella H and Capella L, is comprised of two faint red dwarfs. Aldeberan in Taurus the Bull. T h e E ye of Taurus is a red giant about 65 light-years from Earth. 80,000 times larger than the Sun, it is twice as massive and 500 times brighter. Aldeberan is a variable star that shines at various magastrojourney.workdpress.com nitudes, averaging 0.8. A binary system, it has a small, faint red dwarf companion. Rigel in Orion the Hunter. T h is b lu e-white super giant is about 800 light-years from Earth. It is over 400,000 times larger than the Sun and about 30 times more massive. Shining at 0.12 magnitude, it is more than 45,000 times brighter than our sun. Its two companions are Rigel B and Rigel C. Sirius in Canis Major the Great Dog. Only 8.6 light-years away, the brightest star in our night sky, Sirius, shines at -1.46 magnitude. It is 10 times larger than the Sun, twice as massive, and 20 times brighter. The Sirius binary system has a white dwarf companion Sirius B. Procyon in Canis Minor the Little Dog. Sh in in g at 0.35 magnitude, Procyon is only 11 light -years away from Earth. It is 8 times larger than our sun, one and a half times more massive, and 10 times brighter. Procyon is a binary system with white dwarf companion Procyon B. Castor and Pollux in Gemini the Twins. At 1.14 magnitude, Pollux is the brighter of the two main stars in Gemini, named for the devoted brothers of Greek mythology. Pollux is 700 times larger than the Sun, twice as massive, and 40 times brighter. Castor, about 50 light-years away, shines at 1.55 magnitude, an average of the three pairs of binary stars in its six-star system. Sources: earthsky.org; space.com.
Follow veteran sky watcher Tony Faddoul each month, as he points our eyes and our scopes toward the night sky.

January's Evening Planets: Mars will be up until
8:00 PM in Aquarius the Water Bearer. Venus and Mercury are paired in Capricornus the Seagoat during the first half of January for about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus will move up in the sky toward Aquarius as the month advances, while Mercury moves down until finally disappearing in the last week. Uranus will be in Pisces the Fish until midnight, setting earlier every night until 10:00 PM by the end of the month. Bright Jupiter rises between Cancer the Crab and Leo the Lion around 8:00 PM in early January, visible all night.

January's Evening Stars: The Winter Triangle will
dominate the night in January: Sirius, the brightest star viewed from Earth is in Canis Major the Great Dog, Betelgeuse is in Orion the Hunter, and Procyon is in Canis Minor the Small Dog. Spot Rigel in Orion, Capella in Auriga the Charioteer, Aldeberan in Taurus the Bull, and bright Castor and Pollux in Gemini the Twins. Also find the stars of constellations Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Cepheus, Draco, Aquarius, Taurus, Pisces, and the two Dippers during the month.

January's Morning Planets: Bright Jupiter is up during January between Cancer the Crab and Leo the Lion until sunrise. Saturn is visible in Scorpius the Scorpion for couple of hours before sunrise.

January's Morning Stars: The Winter Triangle of
Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Procyon will be up until around 3:00 AM during January. Spot Capella in Auriga the Charioteer, Arcturus in Bootes the Herdsman, and Spica in Virgo the Virgin, along with the stars of constellations Leo, Gemini, Hercules, Libra, Cancer, Orion, Corona Borealis, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco, Perseus, and the two Dippers.

January "Skylights"
Jan 3 Jan 4 J J J J an an an an 9 13 20 21 Earth at perihelion Full Moon at 11:53 PM Quadrantid meteor shower peak in the early morning Moon at apogee (251,655 miles from Earth) Last Quarter Moon at 4:45 AM New Moon at 8:15 AM Moon-Venus-Mercury triangle at dusk Mercury at perihelion Moon at perigee (223,072 miles from Earth) First Quarter Moon at 11:48 PM

Jan 22 Jan 26

Times given in EST.

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January 2015

Seen in Space
A Star is Not Born: Chandra Uncovers a Mystery Chandra, one of NASA's four "Great Observatories," celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2014. Deployed in July 1999, the incredibly sensitive space telescope is specially designed to detect X-ray emissions from hot and energetic regions of the universe. Galaxy clusters are one such region. NASA/CXC/Stanford/I.Zhuravleva et al Perseus and Virgo (here) galaxy Galaxy clusters are the clusters are extremely large and largest objects in the universe bright, great for imaging X-rays. held together by gravity. They contain hundreds or thousands of individual galaxies, immersed in gas heated to millions of degrees ­ hot enough to produce X-rays. That gas contains enough matter to make hundreds of trillions of stars. Over time, the gas should cool so that the stars can form; however, that's not what's happening. Something is preventing the galaxy clusters from cooling. Scientists suspected black holes were somehow responsible. Last fall, Chandra finally caught the culprit in the act. Supermassive black holes at the centers of large galaxies within galaxy clusters pump out enormous amounts of energy, released through powerful jets of particles. Previously, Chandra data found that these jets create giant cavities in the hot gas of the clusters. However, scientists could not see how those cavities interacted with the gas. Chandra's new images of the Perseus and Virgo galaxy clusters, which are particularly large and bright, show details of ripple-like structures in the gas. These ripples are evidence of the turbulent and chaotic motion of energy transferring from the cavities, which then slowly dissipates, keeping the cluster gas hot for billions of NASA/CXC/Stanford/I.Zhuravleva et al years, too hot for stars to form. Chandra images of the Perseus
AMW
Sources: nasa; chandra.harvard.edu.
(here) and Virgo galaxy clusters, see ripples of turbulence that prevent stars from forming.

Mad for Mars
A Watery Model for Mars Plus Organics Found! NASA announced that the Curiosity rover has found evidence that Mars' Gale Crater had episodes of large lakes, rivers, and deltas over millions to tens of millions of years. M a r s on ce h a d flowin g wa t er , a n d a lot of it . Yet , most climate models show that Mars has always been frozen. But, just prior to the December discovery, Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute of Science and James Head III of Brown released a new model that reconciles cold, dry Mars with flowing water. Enormous early Martian volcanoes erupted for years at a time, releasing tremendous gas into the atmosphere, like greenhouse gas sulfur dioxide, which temporarily warmed Mars just enough to melt its ice. Brief, but intense, wet periods of tens to hundreds of years followed eruptions ­ enough time for rivers and streams to mark the planet's surface. Head had already determined that Mars' lakes and valleys "date to approximately 3.7 billion years ago, coincident with a period of high volcanic activity." Did life emerge from those lakes on Mars at the same time it Wolfgang WIESER arose on Earth? "...M ars is Mars' Olympus Mons is the largest looking very attractive to us volcano in the solar system at about as a habitable planet," sa id three times the height of Mt Everest. John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist. "W e don't k now if life ever started on Mars, but if it did, we now have a better chance of discovering it," a dded NASA's J ohn Gr unsfeld. Curiosity scientists also announced the first, definitive detection of organic chemicals on Mars in rock samples and localized spikes of methane gas. These organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered there by meteorites. It is possible that the organics' source is not biological. But, microbial life could be deep below the Martian surface. Mars 2020 will work to drill, lift, and store samples. However, a subsequent mission would be needed to return them to Earth. Perhaps by then, they could be carried back home by astronauts. AMW
Sources: nasa.gov; nytimes.com; wis-wantder.weizmann.ac.il.

Star Light, Star Bright
CIBER: A Little Experiment Makes a Big Discovery There are more stars out there than we thought. I n Novemb er , t h e C osmic I n fr a r ed Background Experiment, or CIBER, discovered that a surplus of infrared light in the space between galaxies comes from previously undetected orphaned stars. First observed by the Spitzer space telescope, the cosmic infrared background was initially thought to be the glow leftover from the first galaxies to form in our universe. However, CIBER measurements show T. Arai/University of Tokyo the light has a blue spectrum, indicative of younger stars. Scientists believe these lone stars Time lapse photo of a 2013 CIBER launch aboard a sounding rocket. scattered out into space during galaxy collisions. "T he m erging of galax ies is a m essy process," sa id Micha el Zemcov of Ca ltech, "Some of the stars mash together and form bigger galaxies, but some of them get tossed out completely and flung over very large distances." Launched with small, cheap sounding rockets, ideal for short, suborbital experiments above Earth's atmosphere, CIBER cameras took images of the cosmic infrared light for 7 minutes. "It is w onderf ully exciting for such a small NASA rocket to make such a huge discovery," sa id Mike Ga r cia of NASA. P er ha ps mor e exciting is the implication that these newfound stars could also be harboring orbiting planets. AM W Sources: nasa.gov; theatlantic.com. 3


January 2015

1925 Solar Eclipse (cont'd from Page 1)

nous ring, set with a great gem of softburning light, hung in the eastern sky yesterday morning at 9:11 while most of New York's population of six millions gazed at A headline from The New York Times describes it. For several seconds the jewel sparkled with a pure and mild radiance, then trembled and melted into the circle of light which rimmed the inky disk of the Moon." Two da ys la ter , a Times article headlined: "S cientists M issed S un's `Diam ond R ing,'" as they neglected to advise observers that the effect at totality can only be seen with the naked eye. To witness a "diamond ring," safe solar observing through filters and dark lenses should be abandoned for those few precious seconds. With that article, a new eclipse verbiage, coined by observers here in New York that day, entered the astronomical lexicon. In addition to the observers on the ground, scientists boarded twenty-five aircraft to take to the air and get a better look at the event above and below. Over New York, the naval airship US S L os A ngeles observed that the southern limit of the eclipse essentially split Manhattan at 96th Street. The
Pit Stops in Space (cont'd from Page 1)

Bronx was completely immersed in darkness, but northern Queens County was just touched by the Moon's shadow, while Brooklyn and Richmond counties were left out altogether. The 1925 eclipse, along with the great Mars opposition tse1925.com the previous the total solar eclipse of January 24, 1925. year, generated a new and prodigious interest in astronomy. Much of the excitement was centered at the American Museum of Natural History. During that time, a dedicated astronomical center and planetarium was proposed for the Museum, and a call was made to organize an independent astronomical society: in 1927, the AAA was born. The original Hayden Planetarium finally opened the public in 1935. As if to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 1925 solar eclipse this January 24, another celestial event will dazzle that day: three of Jupiter's moons will make a triple -transit of the planet at 1:26 AM EST. (Of course, from a Jovian perspective, it will be a triple-solar eclipse!) Later that morning, beginning at 10:00 AM, please join AAA for a SolarFest observing session in Edgar Allen Poe Park, to commemorate the day New York stood still. See the AAA Calendar for details.
Sources: aaa.org/membersarticle12; tse1925.com; eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

NASA alone, but private companies like Planetary Resources are willing to take on the challenge, eager to unlock the economic potential of asteroids. Once the technology to build a rocket refuKT-Imaging eling station in space is Artist's idea for a Shell station in space. perfected, the possibilities for expanded and more flexible space exploration in the solar system could be realized. Top on the list of destinations is Mars. The Red Planet is exciting not just for exploration, but also for the possibility of colonization. Of all the bodies in our Solar System, it has the most Earth-like conditions. Although some spacecraft today, like Orion, could potentially deliver astronauts safely to Mars, none exists yet that can actually land people there. The only proven method for getting humans onto the surface of an object in space was the powered descent method used in the Apollo mission Moon landings. Running a rocket engine during the entire descent required a great deal of fuel, even just to set down the lightweight Lunar Module. A Mars lander would need to be much larger and heavier to combat gravity and atmospheric conditions, and to carry the supplies needed for the longer journey. NASA estimates that the 4

lightest possible load for a Mars lander would be 40 metric tons. Landing that much weight would require an enormous quantity of fuel, which would, of course, necessitate an even larger and heavier vehicle. This is astronomically inefficient. Fueling stations would let a Mars mission lighten the load and top off for landing ­ and two great locations are just standing by: the moons Phobos and Deimos. These small, irregularly shaped rocks were likely asteroids long ago whose paths came a little too close Mars and were captured by its gravity, stuck orbiting the planet ever since. Like other asteroids in the solar system, they may contain water ice that could be melted and converted into fuel and made ready and available for a vehicle to dock and gas up on the way to Mars. For a return trip home, a similar station would be needed on the Mars surface ­ where we know there is definitely a supply of water ice. But, such a fueling system could only be sustained until the water runs out. Asteroids and moons are our best options for gas stations in space, but what we really need is a renewable source of fuel to extend human exploration in our solar system NASA Martian moons Phobos and Deifor many years to come.
Sources: nasa.gov; space.com.
mos could be perfect for pit stops.

Richard Brounstein's column explores the limits of imagination, wondering if the improbable or impossible could one day be reality.


January 2015

to about 25 degrees in the east by 8:30 PM. I aimed my camera in that direction, and with the extreme wide -angle lens taking in almost 180 degrees, I had a sweeping view from FOCUS ON THE UNIVERSE north to south. By Stan Honda Some high, thin clouds, not readily visible to the naked eye, showed up in the viewfinder. On the camera's screen, I Shooting a shooting star gives new meaning to the could see Gemini, Orion, M44, and most of the stars in the word "challenging." You never know when a meteor will east-southeast sky, with some clouds around the edge of the streak across the sky ­ or where it will show up ­ or how frame. Using an ISO of 3200 and a lens setting of f4, I set an bright it will be ­ or which direction it will go. Other than intervalometer to take 60-second exposures one second apart. that, it's easy. The iOptron would track the stars, so they would be sharp. Unlike much of the visible universe, the movement of And within the wide field, I hoped to capture a few meteors. meteors is completely unpredictable. Some fall in clumps at The easiest way to record a meteor's streak of light is to certain times of the year as annual meteor showers, the result take plenty of long exposures continuously throughout the of debris left by comets passing through our solar system. night ­ then hope that a meteor The night of December 13 saw will fall when the camera's shutthe peak of the Geminids meteor ter is open. So, an intervalometer shower, so I ventured out to the that lets you set the length and east end of Long Island to chase rate of exposures will automate some shooting stars. the process, and you won't have You might think the best to stand by your camera all night. time to photograph a shooting Over the course of two star would be during a meteor hours, I saw occasional flashes in shower, when they fall at rates the sky and light trails from the much higher than on ordinary meteors. I felt certain my camera nights. But, I haven't found that was recording them, but when I to be the case. I have shot indisearched through almost 100 vidual shooting stars while phoframes the next day, I only found tographing general night sky imthree meteors on two shots ­ and ages, but on nights of predicted only one was worth looking at. meteor showers, I have only Stan Honda me eor z pa t 44 d th of h inid me eor In a super-wide shot of the managed to capture one, despite Ahowter on ooms13. sNiMon During16e nigfhtheyte e Gemn ansiOpttron s Dec k 800, mm is lens o sky, the meteor was just a small, hours of shooting. SkyTracker, exposure: 60 seconds, f4, ISO 3200. thin line at the bottom of the Location is a big factor, and frame near a group of trees on the horizon. Cropping in, the as is the case with photographing most astronomical subjects, star cluster M44 could be seen just below the streak, and Jupithe darker the sky, the better. It's possible to see meteors in ter was rising just above the treetops. The wider, uncropped an urban setting, but it is difficult to photograph them beframe showed some clouds in the north and south and what cause of the high level of artificial light that drowns them out. looked like a contrail slashing across the sky, all of which While meteors may be as bright or brighter than stars, their reflected the artificial light of Long Island's east end. It's a duration in the sky is very short. A night sky photographer wonder that any meteor showed up in the image at all. typically has about 30 seconds, depending on exposure, for My experience shooting the Geminids proved to be just the light of stars and other celestial objects to collect on a as challenging as I thought. But, I won't give up pursuing the camera's sensor, but meteors flash by in less than a second. glorious sight of a meteor shower. I'll just tell myself, as I Much less light registers on each pixel. often do, better luck next time! On the night of December 13, the best prospects for a clear sky were east of New York City, so I drove out to the Explore more night sky photography at Custer Institute, an observatory in Southold on Long Island's www.stanhonda.com. North Fork. The observatory is run by a great group of volunteers, and very importantly, it has a warm building to retreat to during a cold night of Geminids watching! By the time I arrived to the Custer Institute, Dave Barnett, an excellent astro-imager, was already set up on the field by the observatory dome with a CCD camera attached to a Submit your photography questions to 35mm lens, all on an AstroTrac mount. He was busy photographing the Orion Nebula, already high in the southeast sky. stanhonda@gmail.com. I set up my tripod and iOptron SkyTracker near Dave Stan Honda is a professional photographer for Agence Franceand attached my Nikon D800 with a 16mm fisheye lens. A Presse and covered the Space Shuttle program for five years. In his bank of clouds loomed on the northwest horizon, but I found "Focus on the Universe" column, he shares his night sky landscapes Polaris easily to align with the SkyTracker. Gemini had risen
and explores his passions for astronomy and photography.

Shooting Shooting Stars

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January 2015

The Amateur Astronomers' Series ­ Part 1: Welcome to Your Universe
By Evan Schneider We are the amateur astronomers of AAA. F or t h ose of you who are new to our club and just beginning your journey to the stars, let me introduce you to our members! Some of us have telescopes. Some of us are planning to buy one for the first time. And, some of us rely on the AAA Observers Group, other members who generously volunteer their equipment, time, and experience, to guide us through observations of the Sun and wonders of the night sky. There are also some of us who do not observe, learning about our universe instead through AAA classes and lectures ­ and that's great too. But, I hope to make observers of us all, so please, indulge me! The universe is out there waiting for each and every one of us. All we need do is grab it. Through the eyepiece of a telescope and the lenses of a pair of binoculars, we can capture its twinkling lights and breathtaking images, bringing the cosmos down to Earth. In this series of articles over the next few months, we will explore it together, finding a way for all of us to become comfortable with observing. Let's get started. Go ahead and pick up a pair of binoculars. T h a t is a ll we n eed t o ob ser ve t h is mon t h 's familiar target ­ the Moon. When visible, it is the largest object in our sky. Even with the naked eye, we can make out distinct areas on its rough surface, etched over billions of years of bombardment by meteors and volcanic activity. But, binoculars can reveal some particular features ­ a pair of 7x50s are great for starters. Providing 7 times magnification across a 50mm field, they are light enough to hold in your hands, so you won't need to rest them on a tripod. A basic pair can be purchased for under $100. The Moon is a great first subject, with so much to see on its surface. E a ch mon t h it goes through its phase cycle, waxing from new to full (lighted portion increasing) and waning from full to new (lighted portion decreasing). How can you tell whether it is waxing or waning? From our vantage in the Northern Hemisphere, it waxes when the right side is rounded with the crescent portion on the left. (The phases of the Moon are rotated through 180° for Southern Hemisphere observers.) A full Moon is impressive, but it can be extremely bright on a clear night, making it difficult to discern surface features. Observing along its phased path provides the most dramatic visuals. First, study the Moon's shadowy edge, called the terminator. Craters along this night/day line are the most pronounced. Shadows across terminator craters reveal threedimensionality that is washed out when viewing the full disk. Drink it all in and marvel at what you can see with just a little magnification through binoculars! Of course, good observing is not just about seeing; it's also about understanding. Learning more about the lunar surface and being able to identify its features makes observing more interesting to the amateur astronomer ­ and more 6 fun. A great reference guide is the 3D Google Moon, a va ila ble with the free downloadable version of Google Earth. This mosaic of pictures taken by the 1994 Clementine orbiter is also a Steve Mandel, Hidden Valley Observatory tourist map ­ complete Moon craters Copernicus (upper left) and Tycho (lower right) can be seen with landmark sites of from Earth with binoculars. They have Apollo Missions. extensive ray systems of debris blasted the Familiarize yourself with out by the impacts that formed them. the landscape first, or bring a laptop outside with you as you observe. Your binoculars won't be able to fully resolve the Moon's surface, but with them you can locate major features that will help you navigate to smaller surface details later using your first telescope (coming soon!). Scanning the light areas (highlands) and dark areas (maria) that stretch across the Moon, you should find Tycho, a 52-mile-wide crater in the southern hemisphere. It has large rays of material that was strewn outward about 900 miles in every direction from an asteroid impact. Apollo 17 astronauts returned samples from Tycho, which date its formation to 108 million years ago. There are many features to explore on the lunar surface, and soon, it will become as familiar as your own neighborhood. Planets are next ­ and the challenge is on. Descr ib ed as "wandering stars" by the Ancient Greeks, planets are great for binocular observing, but you have to know where to find them. As Earth makes its annual 584-million-mile orbit around the Sun, clipping along at 67,108 mph, the other Solar System planets travel orbital paths at their own distances and speeds. This dance of celestial bodies shifts their positions in our sky throughout the year. Some wash out into the daytime, while others hug the horizon at night, peeking out for only an hour or so. S tarry N ight software is great for tracking their positions (Pro Plus 7 is best, but expensive), so you can plan your observing excursions in advance. For an overview of monthly targets with dates and times of visibility in the night sky, be sure to check Tony Faddoul's reference guide "What's Up in the Sky" in each issue of the Ey epiece. The five brightest planets ­ Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ­ can be seen unaided, but they're even better with binoculars. You might even detect Jupiter's Galilean satellites, the four moons observed by Galileo, and perhaps, Saturn's moon Titan. Viewing Uranus and Neptune requires binoculars, but telescopes make it easier. Once you are ready for a telescope, Saturn's rings and Jupiter's cloud belts come into view. Hopefully, this will entice you to take that step! So, go out there and get observing. Bu t , you d on 't have to go it alone. Increase your knowledge and experience by attending an AAA observing session with fellow amateur astronomers who are there to help. The more you learn, the more you will want to explore. You'll be hooked in no time!


January 2015

Saluting the Sidewalk Astronomer
ASTRO ANSWERS By Rori Baldari One thing I love about participating in AAA's public observing events is that you never know who you'll meet. Stargazing on the High Line this past June, a young woman approached and asked if I had ever heard of John Dobson. Naturally, I said, "Of course!" ­ so many of us in AAA are familiar with legendary advocate for amateur astronomy. She wondered if I had ever seen A S idew alk A stronom er, the documentary film about Dobson, who passed away at the age of 98 in January last year. "I ow n the DV D!" I told her. She then introduced herself as Rebecca Jacobs, daughter of its filmmaker, Jeffrey Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs wanted to present the f ilm to AAA Members to celebrate Dobson's extraordinary life. Although the film had been screened for the club before, I thought it was a terrific offer that we could not pass up. On November 25, thanks to efforts by AAA Board Member Jaclyn Avidon, the
Astro Answers (cont'd on page 8)

Probing the Universe
Winding Down MESSENGER ­ Name that Crater! MESSENGER, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, is scheduled to impact with the planet in March and bring its mission to a close. Launched in 2004, the "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging" probe entered orbit in March 2011 for a yearlong misNASA sion. "T his brav e little craf t, A nameless crater on Mercury ­ the buried rock of its central peak, not much bigger than a exposed by a meteoroid impact, is Volkswagen Beetle, has travdifferent from the surrounding rock. eled more than 8 billion miles..." said Julie Edmonds of MESSENGER's outreach team. Extended three more years, it has taken over 250,000 images to create a detailed, high-resolution map of the entire planet. To celebrate MESSENGER's accomplishments, a competition is being held to name five impact craters on Mercury. Naming features is vitally important to the scientists who study them. The contest is open to everyone; entries will be accepted through January 15, 2015. According to the International Astronomical Union, all new craters must be named after a famous artist, composer, or writer who died more than three years ago. Enter at http://namecraters.carnegiescience.edu/. AMW Source: messenger.jhuapl.edu.

Celestial Selection of the Month
The Waterfall Nebula About 1,500 light-years away in the Great Orion Molecular Cloud co mplex lies a beautiful but mysterious object with a structure that no one can explain. H er b ig-Haro 222 (HH-222), otherwise known as the Waterfall Nebula, has a gaseous "stream" that extends about ten light-years in FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT, ESO length and emits a strange array Astronomers don't know what of colors. At the base of the accounts for the "stream" in Herbig -Haro 222 (HH-222), the Waterfall waterfall is HH-34, a structure Nebula, about ten light-years long. of arcs and jets with a young star at its center. Nebulous HH objects are transient and last no more than a few thousand years. They are formed when the narrow jets of gas ejected from young stars collide with clouds of gas and dust at high speed. However, that mechanism does not explain the giant gaseous arc of the waterfall, which appears to "fall" from an unusual, bright concentration of non-thermal radio sources (at the upper left). Some astronomers suggest that the origin of the radio sources is a binary system made of a hot white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, that has produced this enormous jet. But, such systems also emit X-rays, and none have been detected here. AM W Sources: eso.org; apod.nasa.gov.

Telescope of the Month
China's Guo Shoujing Telescope (LAMOST) Named for a 13th century Chinese astronomer, the Guo Shoujing Telescope outside Beijing, China, formally known as the Large Sky Area Multi -Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), studies stellar structure in the Milky Way. The five -year "LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Evolution," is surveying 10 million stars in our galaxy, identifyLAMOST ing their physical characteristics and chemical compositions while scientists map their positions and 3D motions to understand the galaxy's structure and how it formed. LAMOST is a reflective Schmidt telescope with two mirrors, designed for a wide field of view. In a dome at ground level sits a secondary mirror that reflects light up a giant 25 ° slanted tunnel toward the larger, spherical primary focusing mirror. The secondary, a nearly -flat mirror, corrects the spherical aberration of the primary. The primary directs light to a focal plane fitted with 4,000 optical fibers that are connected to spectrographs, so this efficient telescope can take the spectra of 4,000 objects at one time. AM W Source: lamost.us/legue; lamost.org. 7


January 2015

AAA Events on the Horizon
JANUARY 2014
WED, Jan 7 @ 7:00 pm AAA Holiday Party at the Brass Monkey, M Members are invited to ring in the New Year with AAA!
(55 Little West 12th St)

A Message from AAA President Marcelo Cabrera
Happy New Year, AAA Members! By now, you should have received in the mail an AAA Membership renewal form. You can renew your membership by mail or online through the portal at www.adminaaa.org. You will need your member ID and password for login. Please renew your AAA Membership by Februar y 2 8. We hope you will also consider making a donation to AAA with your renewal. For those who receive the printed version of the Eyepiece, a suggested donation of $5 or $10 will help us cover the costs of printing and mailing. As always, you can choose to receive the Eyepiece instead by email in its electronic format. To celebrate the New Year, please join us for the annual AAA Holiday Party at 7 PM on January 7 at the Brass Monkey, located at 55 Little West 12th Street in Manhattan. Enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar as we toast to a new year of AAA fun. Please note, the party is for AAA Members only. Lastly, don't miss the next lecture in the AAA series at the AMNH when Jerry Bonnell, presents NASA's "2014 Astronomy Pictures of the Day" on Friday, January 9 . Check out the entire lecture schedule at www.aaa.org/lectures1415.

FRI, Jan 9 @ 6:15 pm Next: Feb 6 AAA Lecture at the American Museum of Natural History, M "2014 Astronomy Picture of the Day" with NASA's J er r y Bonnell in the Kaufmann Theater. (Enter 77th St) MON, Jan 22 @ 7:30 pm AMNH Special Event at the Hayden Planetarium, P "T he Y ear in R ev iew " with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Watch a livestream of this sold out event at amnh.org/live as the Hayden Director reviews of the science stories that made headlines in 2014. SAT, Jan 24 @ 6:15 pm Next: Feb 6 AAA SolarFest at Edgar Allen Poe Park in the Bronx, C, P, T Celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 1925 Total Solar Eclipse with solar observing! (Meet at Poe Cottage - Kingsbridge Rd/Grand Concourse) TUES, Jan 27 @ 6:30 pm (AAA Discount Below) AMNH Astronomy Live at the Hayden Planetarium, P "A stron om y 101" with Ted Willia ms. Th is in tr odu ction for begin ner observers tours the night skylights of each season. (Enter 81st St) FRI, Jan 30 @ 7 pm Columbia University Stargazing & Lecture at Pupin Hall, P TBA (Observing at 7:30pm , C)
C: Cancelled if cloudy; M: Members only; P: Public event; T: Bring telescopes, binoculars.

Marcelo Cabrera President, AAA

The Amateur Astronomers' Association of New York
Info, E vents, and Obser ving: president@aaa. org or 2 12 -535-2922 Membership: members@aaa. org Eyepiece: editor@aaa.org

For location & cancellation information visit www.aaa.org/calendar.
Astro Answers (cont'd from page 7)

Visit us online at www.aaa.org.

film was presented as an AAA Astro Answers event at the American Museum of Natural History. Mr. Jacobs began with a heartfelt introduction that offered insight into Dobson's unique personality and fascinating life. Shortly after earning a master's degree in chemistry at UC Berkeley, Dobson pursued his interest in the unseen world by joining a Buddhist monastery in San Francisco. While there, he began building telescopes and bringing them out to the street to show the Moon to passersby. Such behavior was considered unbecoming of a monk, and his brothers eventually made him choose to either James Stewart cease building telescopes or leave the monastery. So, he left ­ a now self-described "belligerent atheist." Dobsonian telescope He was, however, a staunch opponent of the Big Bang Theory. Later, he won fame for inventing the with truss tube design. "Dobsonian" mount, a box-like construct that allows for easy movement of large Newtonian reflectors on a swiveling, alt-azimuth, base. His simple, inexpensive design revolutionized the marketing and use of those types of telescope s. Jeffrey Jacobs' film is a marvelous, in-depth portrait of a truly remarkable man. Supplemented by interviews, the film follows Dobson to various speaking engagements at universities and star parties. I particularly enjoyed how the film immersed u s in Dobson's world of "sidewalk astronomy," setting up a telescope on a busy city street and inviting the public to take a look. Most first-time observers were awestruck with views of the Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter with its large moons. A brief Q&A followed the film. AAA offers its sincere thanks to Mr. Jacobs for his wonderful film and presentation!

AAA Member Discount 2014 Hayden Events
American Museum of Natural History

Eyepiece Staff
December Issue

Editor in Chief: Amy M. Wagner
Copy Editor: Rich a r d Br ou n stein
Contributing Writers: R or i B ald ar i, R ich ar d B r ou n st ein , Tony Faddoul, Tom Haeberle, Stan Honda, Evan B. Schneider, and Amy M. Wagner Administrative Support: J oe Delf au sse Printing made possible by McVicker & Higginbotham

Purchase at the Door - $12.00
(Regularly $15.00)

Good for Fr ont ier s L ect ur es, Astronomy Live, Telescope Parties, and other special events at the Hayden Planetarium.

To Reserve Tickets: 212-769-5200 ($2.00 reservation fee applies). This AAA coupon must be shown at the box office (81 st Street entrance).

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