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Astronomical League of the

Philippines’ HerAld �

Vol. 5, Issue No. 9

September 2007

©�2007, Astronomical League of the Philippines�

��

Visit our website at

www.astroleaguephils.org Francisco Lao, Jr.

Editor-in-Chief < [email protected] >

FEATURE IMAGE THIS ISSUE

This dark totally eclipsed Moon was captured by Eric Africa from Westchester, Ohio, on the early morning of August 28, when the Moon was somewhat low in the sky, as it was getting ready to set. © Eric Africa. Our coverage of the total lunar eclipse is on page 90.

CLUB NEWSCLUB NEWSCLUB NEWSCLUB NEWS AUGUST MONTHLY MEETING

Last August 5, members of the ALP had their monthly meeting at the Manila Planetarium. Members and guests present were James Kevin Ty, Charito Ty, James’ son Kendrick Cole, Alfonso Uy, Rich Pijuan, Brian Davis and friend Zelda Reyes, Maximo Sacro, Belen Pabunan, Nel Lagda, and Richard de Dios. Since the weather was cloudy, the scheduled solar observation was cancelled. The meeting started at around 3 p.m. with ALP President James Kevin Ty taking over Peter Benedict Tubalinal’s talk on the August 12-13 Perseid meteor shower and the August 28 Total Lunar Eclipse. He discussed the Perseids & how to observe & photograph the meteor shower, as well as the total lunar eclipse. ALP members at the roof deck of PAGASA Observatory will observe both events.

Rich Pijuan is all smiles as she received her 2nd runner-up trophy from ALP director Alfonso Uy in the ALP 3rd 9-Ball Billiard Tournament held last July 15 at Playdium Bowling and Billiards Center in Quezon City.

Brian Davis. received the 1st runner up trophy on behalf of ALP director Edward Eli Tan. Afterwards, ALP director Alfonso Uy presided over the awarding ceremony of the recently concluded July 15 ALP 9-ball billiard tournament in which ALP President James Kevin Ty was crowned champion by besting fellow director Edward Eli Tan 7-2 in the race to 7 finals. Director Rich Pijuan got 3rd place. James talked also the August 12 ALP 1st Bowling Tournament at Playdium Bowling & Billiard Center in Quezon City. James then announced the September meeting will be held on September 16 (Sunday) 12 p.m. at Alice Villa-real’s residence. This will be merged with the ALP’s 4th year anniversary & Mooncake Festival Dice Game wherein the top prize is a pair of 80-mm Binoculars. Registration fee is P500/participant. The meeting ended at around 5 p.m. - text and images by James Kevin Ty

UPCOMING SEPTEMBER MEETING The September monthly meeting will be moved from the standard first Sunday of the month to September 16 so that it can be held in conjunction with our anniversary as well as our annual MoonCake Festival Dice Game. As for our celebration, we plan to have a potluck lunch session that will be held at the residence of ALP director Alice Villa-Real. Bring some food to share with our fellow ALPers. We will also hold our monthly meeting there as well. Afterwards, we will play our yearly Moon Cake Festival Dice Game. This year, our first prize will be a pair of 80-mm zoom binoculars, which cost around P 5500. The dice game is like a numbers game. The object of the game is to get as many 4’s in the 6 dice that will be rolled. The more 4’s correspond to higher prizes to be won. There will be 6 levels of prizes. They are the following: 1st prize - 1 prize 2nd prize - 2 prizes 3rd prize - 4 prizes 4th prize - 8 prizes 5th prize - 16 prizes 6th prize - 32 prizes The 6th prize we normally make it to 64 so that participants won’t go home empty-handed. Registration fee is P500 per participant. You can bring your husband / wife / BF / GF / children to play, but they will be charged an additional P500 each if they will be participating. – James Kevin Ty (� p. 86).

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BOWLING

The 1st ALP bowling tournament was held last August 12, 2007 at Playdium Bowling & Billiard Center at Araneta Avenue, Quezon City. ALPers who participated in the event were James Kevin Ty, Peter Benedict Tubalinal, Kristy Anne Abello, Sheri Mae Domingo, Melisa Bata, Ma. Belen Pabunan, Richard de Dios, John Lawrence Uy, Edgar Ang, Jomar Lacson, Theodore Marc Gutierrez, & Omar Turqueza. The tournament started at around 2:30 p.m. with the 12 participants vying for the 6 slots for the 1st elimination round. A double game heat was implemented for the elimination round. This means a player will play 2 games and the highest score out of the 2 games will be used to determine if he/she will be qualified to advance to the next round. Omar Turqueza, James Kevin Ty, Theodore Marc Gutierrez, Richard de Dios, Peter Benedict Tubalinal, and Sheri Mae Domingo advanced to the next round. On the second round, the double game heat rule was again implemented for the 2nd elimination round. The top 4 qualifiers will advance to the semi-final round. Omar Turqueza, Sheri Mae Domingo, Theodore Marc Gutierrez and James Kevin Ty advanced to the next round. The semifinal round will determine the top 2 players who will enter the championship round while the remaining 2 players will compete for the 2nd runner-up trophy. The double game heat rule was again applied on this round. Omar Turqueza and Sheri Mae Domingo entered the championship round while Theodore Marc Gutierrez and James Kevin Ty competed for the 2nd runner-up trophy. This time, the total pins scored from 2 games will be used to determine the champion, 1st & 2nd runner-up. CHAMPION - OMAR TURQUEZA 1ST RUNNER-UP - SHERI MAE DOMINGO Everyone had a good time competing not only for the awards but also to chat with each other and having fun! We hope next year's event will be even more competitive as well as participated in by more members! – James Kevin Ty

SAN CARLOS BORROMEO AWARD The San Carlos Borromeo Award was conferred on Christopher Go in solemn ceremonies at the CAFA Theater, Talamban Campus, of the University of San Carlos, with physicists, Go's relatives, and the Carolinian academic community in attendance. The award was presented by Fr. Teodoro Gapuz, SVD, vice-president for academic affairs, on behalf of the University Administration and the Board of Trustees,

with Dr. Roland Emerito Otadoy, chair of the Department of Physics, and Dr. Elizabeth Remedio, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, as witnesses. Named after the University’s patron saint known for his great contributions to Catholic reformation and the establishment of seminaries while living a humble existence, the award was conferred on Go in recognition of his discovery of the changing conditions of a storm on Jupiter, known as Red Spot Jr., officially designated as Oval BA, an achievement recognized internationally.

Chris Go (third from left) with the San Carlos Borromeo Medal and citation, is flanked by Otadoy, Remedio and Fr. Gapuz (first, third and fourth from left). A graduate of a Physics degree from USC in 1991, Go rose to international fame on February 24, 2006, when he alerted the Jupiter Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) that Oval BA, a storm that formed in Jupiter in 2000, had metamorphosed from white to red. This important discovery was confirmed by the ALPO Japan Kansai Division. In March 2006, it had become as red as the planet's most famous "landmark", the Great Red Spot. In reference to this, Oval BA is now fondly known as Red Spot Jr. or Red Jr.

Other than the award, Go was also given an appointment as the University’s first honorary lecturer by Fr. Pres. Roderick C. Salazar, Jr., SVD and confirmed by Fr. Teodoro Gapuz, SVD, the vice-president for academic affairs. Fr. Gapuz represented Fr. Pres. Salazar during the ceremonies, as he had to depart for Manila for an urgent meeting.

In response to the award and the appointment, Go made a 20-minute presentation of his discovery and of the progress of work on Jupiter following his internationally-recognized achievement. Red Spot Jr. is now under intense study by a group led by Dr. Imke de Pater and Dr. Phil Marcus, both of the University of California at Berkeley, with Go as a member. The research team was allowed the use of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in mid-April 2006 to obtain high-resolution images of Red Jr. On July 14 this year, the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. had a conjunction, but the two survived unscathed. To study this phenomenal event, the team was allowed use of the W. M. Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Go processed the deep infrared images from the Gemini Observatory also located at Mauna Kea. The group has also been awarded four orbits of HST in February 2007. Just recently, its proposal to use Cycle 16 of HST to study the Jovian climate was approved by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the agency under NASA handling the HST. This is only the third time the San Carlos Borromeo Award has been given by the University since 2005 when it was first conferred on anthropologist Dr. Wenda Trevathan of New Mexico State University. In June this year, Ambassador Alex Weishaupt of Germany was also conferred the award. This is the first time, however, that the award is presented not as a plaque but in the form of a gilded medal with the lines “San Carlos Borromeo Medal of Excellence” engraved around a relief of the known portrait of the saint. - J.E. Bersales

BREAKINGBREAKINGBREAKINGBREAKING NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS AURUGIDS PEAK Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and his colleagues correctly predicted the outburst of Aurigid meteors from ancient Comet Kiess. The shower materialized on schedule and put on a vivid display, including many bright fireballs. Sightings have been reported in the U.S. and western Canada. Meteor radio echoes were heard as far away as the United Kingdom! The source of the outburst was ancient Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), which ~2000 years ago laid down a stream of rocky, dusty debris near Earth's orbit. Earth crossed the stream on Sept. 1st, producing the brief but beautiful flurry. (These meteors are called "Aurigids" because they shot out of the constellation Auriga.) Astronomers generally agreed that Earth would cross the stream, but few expected a major shower. – Space.com (� p. 87).

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URANUS’ RINGS

A series of images was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to show how the ring system around the distant planet Uranus appears at ever more oblique (shallower) tilts as viewed from Earth — culminating in the rings being seen edge-on in three observing opportunities in 2007. The best of these events appears in the image above taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on August 14, 2007. The edge-on rings appear as two spikes above and below the planet. The rings cannot be seen running fully across the face of the planet because the bright glare of the planet has been blocked out in the Hubble photo (a small amount of residual glare appears as a fan-shaped image artifact). A much shorter color exposure of the planet has been photo-composited to show its size and position relative to the ring plane. Earthbound astronomers only see the rings' edge every 42 years as the planet follows a leisurely 84-year orbit about the Sun. However, the last time the rings were tilted edge-on to Earth astronomers didn't even know they existed. With further analysis of the Hubble data, astronomer Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., hopes to detect some of the small moons that may shepherd the debris into distinct rings. Until Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in January 1986, the rings were only known from the way they temporarily blocked the light of stars passing behind the planet. Hubble provided some of the first images of the ring system as viewed from Earth's distance of approximately 3.2 billion kms. The advent of adaptive optics gave ground-based observers using large telescopes comparatively sharp views. The rings were discovered in 1977, so this is the first time for a Uranus ring crossing to be observed from Earth. Earth's orbit around the Sun permits three opportunities to view the rings edge-on: Uranus made its first ring crossing as seen from Earth on May 3; it made its second crossing on August 16; and will cross for the third time on February 20, 2008.

Uranus' edge-on rings appear as spikes above and below the planet (above). The rings cannot be seen running fully across the face of the planet because the bright glare of the planet has been blocked out in the photo (a small amount of residual glare appears as a fan-shaped image artifact, along with an edge between the exposure for the inner and outer rings). NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute) Though the last ring crossing relative to Earth will be hidden behind the Sun, most of Earth's premier telescopes, including Keck, Hubble, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar, plan to focus on the planet again in the days following December 7, 2007. On December 7 the rings will be perfectly edge-on to the Sun. Showalter is a member of a team led by Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, who reported that the rings of micron-sized dust have changed significantly since the Voyager 2 spacecraft photographed the Uranus system 21 years ago. Observations were also gleaned from near-infrared adaptive optics observations with the Keck II telescope on May 28, 2007. - STScI

MIRA’S TAIL The famous long-period variable star Mira (Omicron Ceti) is just a tiny pinpoint in the eyepiece of a telescope. Astronomers found Mira has blown off a gassy hood and tail so big that they wouldn't even fit into your telescope’s field of view.

The full length of Mira's tail, extending 2° from the famous red star, became clear only by stitching several GALEX mapping frames together. The bright star at far left is 70 Ceti. NASA / JPL-Caltech / C. Martin / M. Seibert

Mira’s tail consists of gas and dust puffed out by the star during its speedy trek through the interstellar gas of the Milky Way. The tail was discovered only now because it emits only far-ultraviolet light. D. Christopher Martin and his colleagues spotted signs of Mira's tail during routine inspection of images from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satellite, which is on a mission to map the far-ultraviolet sky. Mira is an old, pulsating red giant on the verge of becoming a planetary nebula. The star has about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun and is orbited every 18 years by a much fainter companion. Like all long-period red variables, Mira is shedding a lot of material into space: about one Earth mass every eight years. Mira is plunging through our part of the Milky Way with an unusually large space velocity, 130 kilometers per second. This accounts for the length of the tail that it has left behind in the interstellar medium. In addition, some of the blown-off gas piles up in a bow shock in front of the star, as is dimly visible in the GALEX images. According to the team, the far-ultraviolet glow is probably caused by fluorescence of hydrogen molecules hit by energetic electrons. At Mira's distance of 350 light-years, the 2° length of the tail translates into a physical length of 13 light-years — the distance the star covers in about 30,000 years. Thus, the tail serves as a fossil record of the star's mass loss over the past 300 centuries. The tail is wider and brighter at positions that correspond to roughly 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 years ago, suggesting a long-term periodicity in Mira's stellar wind. Theoretical models predict long-term “thermal pulses” for Mira-like stars are probably related to the shell-like structures seen in the outer regions of some planetary nebulae. However, the thermal-pulse period for lightweight old red giants like Mira should be

much longer than 10,000 years, so, large-scale turbulence or density variations in the interstellar medium may be what shaped the tail instead. - Govert Schilling, SkyandTelescope.com


GALACTIC COLLISION

A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known. Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky Way, and each is home to billions of stars. The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way. When this merger is complete, this will be one of the biggest galaxies in the universe. Most of the galaxy mergers we already knew about are like compact cars crashing together. What we have here is like four sand trucks smashing together, flinging sand everywhere. Galaxy collisions are a common occurrence in the universe. Our own Milky Way is fated to collide and merge with its neighbor, Andromeda, in about 5 billion years. Astronomers have observed several clashes involving one big galaxy and several larger ones, and they have also witnessed more major mergers among pairs of big galaxies. But the new findings mark the first time major mergers between multiple hefty galaxies have ever been seen.

One of the biggest galaxy collisions ever observed is taking place at the center of this image. The four white blobs in the middle are large galaxies that have begun to tangle and ultimately merge into a single gargantuan galaxy. The whitish cloud around the colliding galaxies contains billions of stars tossed out during the messy encounter. Other galaxies and stars appear in yellow, orange and red hues. Blue shows hot gas that permeates this distant region of tightly packed galaxies. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CXO/WIYN/ Harvard- Smithsonian CfA NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted the quadruple merger during a routine survey of a distant galaxy cluster, called CL0958+4702, located nearly 5 billion light years away. Spitzer's infrared eyes observed an unusually large fan-shaped plume of light emerging from a gathering of four blob-shaped elliptical galaxies. Three of the galaxies are about the size of the Milky Way, while the fourth is three times as large. The plume turned out to be billions of elderly stars ejected and abandoned during the clash. About half of the stars in the plume will later fall back into the galaxies.

Spitzer observations also show that, unlike most known mergers, the galaxies involved in the quadruple collision are bereft of gas, the source material that fuels star birth. As a result, astronomers predict that relatively few new stars will be born in the new, combined galaxy. – Ker Than, Space.com

Observing LogObserving LogObserving LogObserving Log Sun I was free Aug. 2 afternoon to image the Sun. Since there was no sunspot visible, I shifted

to using the Coronado PST Hα to see how our Sun was doing in H-Alpha light. Seeing was better than the past few days as I was able to see 2 filaments on the surface as well as 1 projection-type prominence at the Sun's limb.

I used the Philips Toucam 740K, which I have not been using since 2003. After several trial exposures and combinations. I got the best exposure (above).

I got another opportunity to image the Sun on the afternoon of August 4 (above). Although the seeing was not that good compared to August 2, seeing is around 4/10. The image I took of the small prominences used a Philips

Toucam 740k webcam on Coronado PST Hα.

Finally, after a long wait for clear skies, I was happy it cleared the afternoon of August 20 (above). (� p. 89)


I quickly set up the Coronado PST-Hα on my Vixen GP-DX mount and pointed it to the Sun. Wow! A nice beautiful bright prominence popped out from view of my 12mm Plossl. Nice details could be seen so I quickly set up my webcam so could get some decent images of it, even if the seeing is not that good.

September 3

September 4

September 5

September 6 This week was a good time for me to image the Sun on consecutive days. The deprivation of any observations as well as imaging sessions the past several months forced me to use this good weather condition to observe the Sun. The Sun had several good prominences for me to savor and image (above) using a Philips Toucam 740k webcam. Although I’m

still learning the curve of Hα imaging and processing, I used this opportunity to share the images that I took between Sept 3 and 6.

For the 5th consecutive day, I was able to image the Sun the afternoon of September 7. Although weather the past 2 days turned from best on the 5th to poor today. I was able to get a prominence exposure before thick haze cut short my imaging session. The prominence was nice and large so I am still happy with the result. Image was taken using a Philips Toucam 740K webcam on

Coronado PST-Hα and 2x barlow lens.

I woke up late on Sept. 9 because my body had been soaking the heat of the Sun for the past week because of constant day-by-day observation and imaging. One good consolation is that amid last night’s strong rain and flood, I didn’t expect to get a good sky this morning but the Sun shone through the window telling me "Hey, wake up! It's solar imaging time!" I then set up my system and got a glimpse at

the Sun through the small but nice PST-Hα. Without any sunspot for me to shoot in white light, the PST has been getting my attention lately more than my white light setup. When I looked through the eyepiece, Wow! All 4 quadrants of the Sun had prominences! There were 4 prominences but I concentrated on getting some acceptable images (above), so I concentrated on the 2 big eruptive prominences that were visible. – James Kevin Ty

I took the opportunity to image sunspot 969 on Aug. 26. I was shooting for a detailed filament shot but it is rather flat and scan lines are visible (above). I used the SPC900NC (first solar shot) at 10fps with a SolarMax 40 & BF10. – Brian Davis

Sunday brought a nice sunny morning and an opportunity to image small sunspot, AR969. The sun is currently in a solar minimum phase and is mostly free of any sunspots at all. Thus AR969 is a treat for solar observers even if it is rather small. The image was taken with a Dragonfly 2 camera through a C-14 at f/11 fitted with a Lumicon white light glass filter. – John Nassr

Rainbows Below are some photos of the double rainbow that we took late this afternoon from our bedroom window. You'll notice that the sky inside the primary rainbow looks brighter, while the gap between the two rainbows appears darker (this darkening is also known as Alexander's dark belt or band). You'll also see how the colors of the secondary rainbow are in reversed order compared to the primary. Finally, in the close-up view of the primary rainbow, you'll notice some very faint bands of colors inside called supernumerary bows.

By the way, our wide-angle shot (next page) was shown twice on TV tonight. – Edwin Aguirre and Imelda Joson, Massachusetts (� p. 90).


Perseids Fellow astronomy enthusiast Ver and I went north to Caesar’s Creek State Park to observe the early Perseids. We parked at the old riverbank, which was a flat area filled with lots of gravel. We arrived there around 4:05 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, 24 hours before the predicted peak. The sky was quite dark, except for light pollution toward the western horizon, which was likely where Dayton was located. Nonetheless we saw a number of Perseids and a number of sporadics. I’d estimate between Ver and me that we saw about 30-40 Perseids – a few were fireballs that had smoke trains, while the rest were second to third magnitude. They were characterized as being swift and typically yellow (the fainter ones looked white, as there was likely not enough intensity to stimulate the color cones of the eye). We also saw about 6 satellites, with two satellites going on the same path, about 8 degrees apart, so it looked like they were following each other. As we approached 5 a.m., the sky became damper with dew, as the temperature dropped to about 20o C, and it became chilly. - Jun Lao, Mason, Ohio

Total Lunar Eclipse Bad weather greeted most of the observers in the Luzon area that were expecting to observe the August 28th total lunar eclipse, as rain and thick clouds continued till the evening. Members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP), such as James Kevin Ty, Jett Aguilar, Irving Raymundo, Nathaniel Custodio, Maximo Sacro, Charisse Baldoria, Jomar Lacson, Lala Alcala, and Rafael Lunar, set up at the roof deck of PAGASA Observatory in UP-Diliman. Numerous TV crews led by Kim Atienza of TV Patrol, and those from GMA 7, UNTV 37, and news agencies photographers from AP, Reuters, Philippine Inquirer, European Press Photo Agency, etc were also there to cover the event. Unfortunately, all of them were disappointed because from moonrise till the end of the eclipse, the Moon didn't even peek out of the thick clouds.

People are now looking forward to observing the next lunar eclipse on August 17, 2008. This eclipse will be partial, as the next total lunar eclipse to be visible in the Philippines will be on June 15, 2011. But the ALP did get full coverage of the eclipse - ALP members in the South like Christopher Go from Cebu and Raymund John Ang from Bacolod City saw the finish, while ALP members in the US such as Eric Africa, Francisco Lao, Edwin Aguirre and Imelda Joson were fortunate to observe the beginning of the event with only small patches of clouds that didn't hamper their view. - James Kevin Ty Jun Lao and I got up around 5 a.m. EDT to catch the eclipse. I stepped out into our backyard to see the eclipse already in progress, with the moon way too close to a neighbor's trees!

I started snapping away until the leaves of the trees got in the way. I then proceeded to the Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio, which has a much lower western horizon than I do at home. Totality was already in progress when I arrived, and I snapped as many pictures as I can until it got too bright to see the moon (� p. 91).


All images were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi (400D) through a Borg 45ED at f/6.6 (324mm). ISO 800. The partial phase shot (previous page) was 1/250 second. The image at totality (cover) was a 2-second exposure. – Eric Africa, Westchester, Ohio Here’s a montage of the phases of the eclipse starting from totality, and on to its partial phases (right). Transparency was very poor because of haze. I had trouble focusing during totality. – Chris Go, Cebu

20:04 PST

20:14 PST

20:24 PST (Cloudy) The sky was clouded out for much of the afternoon and early evening. Fortunately, I had a window of opportunity to image the event from 8:04 p.m. PST (Philippine

Standard Time) until about 8:24 p.m. with a 5-minute interval of each image, after which the sky began to be cloudy again. At 8:34 p.m., I was lucky to have a clear glimpse of the moon and imaged the event for the last time when there seemed to be no more eclipse happening. Images (sequence at right) were taken with an ETX-90 Maksutov-Cassegrain + 25mm MA eyepiece + Canon PowerShot A710 IS digital camera (Handheld - Auto Setting) - Raymund Ang, Bacolod City

Here are some photos (below left and above) we took of this morning's total lunar eclipse from Horn Pond in Woburn. Although the Moon was setting when totality began, we were treated to a nice view of the partial phase of the eclipse. The Moon's reddish hue was easily visible to the unaided eye even before the Moon was halfway through Earth's shadow, as shown in the long exposures we took as well as in the Moon's reflection on the water's surface. – Imelda Joson & Edwin Aguirre, Woburn, Massachusetts (� p. 92).


Here’s a montage showing the partial stages of the eclipse all the way to the totally eclipsed Moon setting near a stand of trees. I started shooting images of the eclipse from home here in Mason, Ohio at 4:39 a.m. EDT, when the Moon was still in the penumbra, then at 4:51 a.m. as the Moon started to cross the umbra, and then every 15 mins. after. Exposures varied from 1/250 second to 6 seconds at ASA 640. I used a Nikon D80 with a 300 mm. lens and 2x teleplus.

The weather was mild (17 C) and the skies were clear and we had low humidity and gentle breezes - perfect for viewing the eclipse. As totality progressed and the Moon was now crossing the tree line from my house, I drove over to VOA park to where Eric was situated and saw a sliver of the Moon fighting the increasingly brightening dawn sky. While I could not image the Moon with the increasing low contrast, the bonus was Venus low in the eastern sky - as a wide crescent! – Jun Lao, Mason, Ohio

Mars I set the alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. this morning to attempt my first image of Mars for the season. The early morning sky was gloriously clear and Mars managed to make me gasp with its beauty as it shone brightly between the horns of the bull, Taurus. Visual perusal revealed faint markings in the still far-away planet with dust storms.

Above is an image of Mars that I captured through a C-14 and a DBK21 camera. The disk is 85.7% illuminated and a mere 8.1 arc seconds in size compared to 38.3 arc seconds for Jupiter. This "easy" Mars image required that in order to tame the wildly flickering seeing (you should see the AVI!) I first had to expose over 2,500 frames (1.7 Gigs worth) then manually click through them to select only the very best frames. I find that manual selection is sometimes still far better than what software can do. I then let Registax choose the best to worst frames after which I decided the cut off point for stacking. – John Nassr, Baguio

Jupiter I had the pleasure of the company of John Nassr for a brief session of planetary imaging. John brought his C11 from Baguio in hopes for some better seeing. While we did have a short cloudless period in which we each got a few images in, we eventually got clouded out.

Jupiter with the SPC, 10 fps 446 frames of 750 at 11:35 UT I am getting better acquainted with the Philips SPC but I still have some learning to do. John had an alignment issue at least, so I am not sure how his images will turn out. - Brian Davis

With much looked-forward to anticipation, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Brian Davis last Wednesday, August 1. We rendezvoused on Sucat road en route to his home nearby for a taste of his excellent seeing that has consistently afforded him planet images I consider easily among the very best with a C-8.

Jupiter 1 Aug 07 C-11 f/25 DF2 from Brian's home We set up my C-11 and Brian’s trusty C-8 at his back yard just in time to catch Jupiter emerging from early dusk. The seeing did not disappoint me. Jupiter appeared amazingly clear and steady even through high-powered eyepieces! It would shudder slightly every now and then, but by and large, it was a planet imager’s dream come true! Imaging the Jovian orb proved to be difficult to say the least. My scope was far from properly aligned and my antiquated 1985 drive corrector ran far too slow. I had to manually keep Jupiter centered in my cross hairs every time I made exposures and flipped through RGB filters. Brian on the other hand was capturing exquisite images. The live images on his laptop screen were a vision of beauty that reminded me of Hubble images. We had a scrumptious late supper prepared by Ida, Brian’s warm and gracious wife. Feeling happily full and satisfied, we then went out again to visually view Jove and compare the quality of various eyepieces (Taks, Plossls, Ultra Wide, Meades, Celestrons, TeleVues) that we had. My personal conclusion is that modern eyepieces from reputable makers, irrespective of price, all deliver crisp and clear images that will not disappoint. Though rather belatedly, I thank Brian for sharing his wonderful family, lovely home, and excellent seeing for a truly most enjoyable and memorable evening!

alpha September 2007 3

Jupiter and Ganymede Aug 23 at 11:13 UT C-14 f/27 DBK21 S3 T5 The monsoon sky opened again just long enough to sneak in a quick image of Jupiter and Ganymede (above). Though seeing was a poor 3, I am happy that quite a few details were nevertheless captured with my new DBK21 through a C-14 at f/27.

It has been mostly rainy and foggy here in Baguio but last night, Aug. 29, the sky was kind enough to open up about ten minutes and give me just enough time to image Jupiter's Great Red Spot transiting through thick haze.

Jupiter on Sept 3 at 11:40 UT with C-14 f/27 and imaged with DBK21 S2 T4

Here is an image of Jupiter (left bottom) on Sept. 3, and my very first of Uranus (above) at magnitude 5.7 and 3.67 arc seconds in size. Both images were integrated through a C-14 at f/27 and a DBK21 camera. Baguio had clear skies tonight, Sept. 3, after having cloudy nights for so long! The seeing was wild though and Jupiter at times looked as if it was bouncing around on a wild bucking bronco! The image is a tribute to the magic of a high-speed web cam and Registax's power to tame such unruly seeing. - John Nassr

Aug 11 D 10fps WO UB 656

Aug 12 B 10fps no contrast PM WO 600 Before I scanned the sky for Perseid meteors I continued testing my SPC cam. This is through my C-8 @ f/32, I really like the colors, I think they are better than the Neximager but I haven't been able to match the sharpness yet. As for Perseid meteors, I was able to count only 5. – Brian Davis

August 11. Conditions were perfect. I imaged with Tomio (above). This is the area around Oval BA and South Tropical Depression-1 (STrD-1). Note the white spot around the dark spot that went through the STrD-1. Note also the vortex like feature about to pass around STrD-1. The white area in the middle of the South Equatorial Belt (SEB) is very interesting. Note also the small dark spot on the SEB in the image. The Equatorial Zone (EZ) is claming down. The North Equatorial Belt (NEB) is quiet while the North Temperate Belt (NTB) has really revived. The North North Temperate Belt (NNTB) is reviving and it seems like that the white spot around it might be involved in the NNTB revival.

August 13. Condition was good. Note the white oval forming at the South Tropical Zone (STrZ) at the Central Meridian (CM) surrounded by the STrZ circulation. The NEB is quiet while the NTB is calm. The NNTB is reviving. Note the bright feature at the edge of the reddish NNTB. August 21. Conditions were unsteady early in the evening but slowly got better. Jupiter it so busy! The S3TB has revived! There is an interesting bright streak on the SSTB spots. The area north of Red Jr has a lot of dark red spots that are moving along the South Tropical Current. STrD-1 is still very dark and prominent. Note also the interesting bluish feature in the SEB. The SED is still active, while the EZ is still reddish (� p. 94).


Note the interesting feature at the NEBs below the SED (above). This looks like an oval or a disturbance. Below this feature is another interesting reddish feature just south of the NTB. The NNTB is slowly reviving and it seems like the bright spot close to it is involved in the revival.

August 22. Condition was perfect this evening. The GRS is transiting the Jovian disk (above). Europa's shadow is at the NNTB. There are many interesting things on Jupiter. Note the bright yellowish streak at the STrZ preceding the GRS. This feature seems to be emanating from the GRS! Note also the bluish feature on the northwest of the GRS. The projection from the SEBn to the GRS is also interesting. Note the bright blue area on the STrZ following the GRS. Is this the circulation for the STrD? Note that STrD-2 has disappeared! The EZ is still very busy and still reddish. The NEB is busy with a lot of rift activity while the NTB has become deep dark red. Note the reddish streaks on the NNTB area. August 23. I had a meeting today so I was only able to steal a shot with Jove (above center). Seeing was very good but transparency was not good because of thin clouds. The area below Red Jr is very busy. Note the dark blue feature at the SEBn, which is really the South Equatorial Depression (SED). The EZ is still very muddy. The NEB has a long rift, while the NTB is dark red.

Aug. 28. Lunar Eclipse night! Conditions were ok but transparency was poor. I stole a shot of Jupiter while imaging the moon. The STrZ of Jupiter is very busy. Note the reddish feature below Red Jr. Red Jr is very pale! Is it losing color? STrD-1 is also very prominent. The SED is below the STrD-1. The EZ is still dark. The white spot at the NNTB seems to be growing! September 1. Condition was good this evening although early on seeing was unstable. Here's the image from the GRS to Oval BA. Basically the region of the SEB outbreak.

The SEB outbreak is still very busy. What is left of STrD-2 is a hump on the SEBs. Dark spots are visible on the SEBs headed towards STrD-1. Note also the small red spot at the STrZ moving on the STrC. There is also an interesting small reddish oval at the SEBn between the GRS and STrD-2. There is an interesting bright dome-shaped feature at the EZn.

The NEB is quiet here save for a small rift. The NTB had become dark red while note the dark red spots at the NNTB. Sept. 2. Seeing was good this evening. Sadly transparency was poor because of haze and thin clouds.

This is the region between Red Jr. and the GRS. Red Jr is setting on the left. The region below it and around STrD-1 is very busy! Note the huge FFR at the SSTB. There is a reddish feature on the south side of the FFR. Note also the bluish feature at the faded region of the SEB at the CM. The EZ is still dull and reddish. The NEB has a lot of rift activity at this region. The NNTB is still reviving. September 5. Another evening of excellent seeing. This is the area after STrD-1 with the GRS rising. The SEB revival has reached the GRS and is now even below it. The huge cyclonic oval at the SSTB is still present. It has grown big - note the small oval just south west of it. Will this small oval merge into the big oval? The EZ is still very busy. Note White Spot Z at the NEBn. It is still a dark spot! The NEB is very busy with a lot of rift activity. The NTB is very dark red here. September 6. Seeing was variable. STrD-2 is setting on the left while Red Jr is rising on the

right. The spot that started the SEB outbreak can be seen in this image. It is now past STrD-2 and it is reviving the SEB. The SED can be seen just before the CM. It is still bluish and festoon-like in appearance (� p. 95).


There is some rift activity at the NEB. The NTB is paler here than in the opposite area, while the NNTB revival continues.

September 7. Seeing was very good this evening. Note the Folded Filamentary Region (FFR) in the South South Temperate Belt (SSTB). The south edge of the FFR is reddish! Note also the right SSTB white spot. There seems to be a small spot next to it. The central part of the SEB is still white with some light blue features in it. The EZ is still very busy. The NEB is very busy with lots of rifts. – Christopher Go, Cebu

Milky Way at the Beach I’m still practicing imaging using a DSLR camera. I had the chance to test the camera under the dark skies of Batangas. Here is my Milky Way with Jupiter and Antares shot. I was at a beach and the Milky Way was so visible to the eye even with the beach foglights activated. – Mon Sarmiento

Widefield of the Milky Way and Jupiter at the beach, Canon 400D at ISO1600 - EQ6+EQMOD, Unguided with rough polar alignment

Image above is a wide field of the Milky Way + Jupiter + Antares, Canon 400D at ISO1600 - EQ6+EQMOD, unguided with rough polar alignment. Star just to the right of Jupiter is Antares

The Sky for September In September, the primary luminary in the evening sky is brilliant Jupiter, whose bright white color highlights the red star below it, Antares. Most of the planets are clustered in the morning sky. The brightest is Venus, which lords it over the eastern sky. Venus becomes “fatter” after starting off as a thin, wide crescent (image below by Jun Lao, taken on August 29, 2007 with an ETX-125 Maksutov-Cassegrain and a Nikon D80 DSLR). Other planets can be seen close to it. Higher up is reddish Mars, which is becoming ever closer and larger. Lovely ringed Saturn is lower in the sky than Venus.

One of the main events of the month occurs toward month-end - the September 30 occultation by the Moon. The 19-day old Waning Gibbous Moon will occult the bright star cluster, the Pleiades. An occultation event happens when the Moon passes in front of a celestial object such as a star, deep sky object, asteroid or a planet, covering the object for a certain period of time.

An occultation event has two stages, Ingress (Enters) and Egress (Exits). In most of the country, the Moon will start with the star cluster already undergoing Ingress so we will be observing the event on its Egress stage. During that time, the Moon will just be rising from the ENE horizon. This event will be visible from the Philippines. Below are the estimated timings of the occultation from selected main cities. All predicted times are in Philippine Standard Time (PST).

MANILA

STAR EGRESS ALTITUDE AZIMUTH

Taygeta (mag 4.30)

8:54pm 3 deg 66o ENE

18 Tau (mag 5.66)


Asterope (mag 5.76)


Sterope li (mag 6.43)


BAGUIO


Maia (mag 3.87)


Taygeta (mag 4.30)


18 Tau (mag 5.66)


Asterope (mag 5.76)





CEBU CITY


Taygeta (mag 4.30)


Asterope (mag 5.76)




18 Tau (mag 5.66)


DAVAO CITY


Asterope (mag 5.76)


18 Tau (mag 5.66)


To observe this event clearly, the use of a pair of binoculars or a telescope is highly recommended. If you use a telescope to view this event, it is highly recommended that you time the disappearance and reappearance event. To get an accurate timing, you need to get the correct time by either synchronizing your watch with an Atomic Clock like the one found in PAGASA Observatory in UP-Diliman, a GPS, or getting the time signals from a short wave radio channel. If you have a Global Positioning System (GPS), you also need to get the exact coordinate of your observing location. Concerning the value of total occultation observations and timings, it is still useful in refining the limb corrections. Also, occultation can be used to analyze the errors of the Hipparcos proper motion system. In the near future, visual timings of total occultations may become less useful than photoelectric and video timings. Video timings are more accurate than visual timings and it is for that reason that they are highly recommended as it is easy to acquire sensitive video cameras now. The standards now for getting accurate lunar occultation timings can be accurate to +/- 0.03s. ALP members will observe this event at the roof deck of PAGASA Observatory at UP-Diliman. They will be setting up telescopes and video cameras at around 7 p.m. that night to document this event. In case you plan to join us there at the site, please inform us in advance so we can expect you there as well. You can contact me at [email protected] or +639178559863. – James Kevin Ty

Sky CalendarSky CalendarSky CalendarSky Calendar

DAY HRDAY HRDAY HRDAY HR EVENTEVENTEVENTEVENT

SEPTEMBERSEPTEMBERSEPTEMBERSEPTEMBER

18 16:08 Moon 1.3o S of Antares 20 00:47 FIRST QUARTER 22 17:31 Mercury 0.09o N of Spica 23 17:50 VERNAL EQUINOX 27 03:45 FULL MOON 29 23:59 Mercury Greatest Elongation

26 deg E 30 21:18 Moon 0.7o N of Pleiades

(Occultation visible)

OCTOBER 2007OCTOBER 2007OCTOBER 2007OCTOBER 2007

03 18:05 LAST QUARTER 05 19:32 Moon 0.5o N of Beehive 07 12:40 Venus 3.0o S of Moon 07 16:34 Moon 0.5o S of Regulus 07 23:07 Saturn 1.4o N of Moon 09 18:47 Venus 2.8o S of Regulus 11 13:00 NEW MOON 12 02:20 Moon 1.7o S of Spica 13 07:29 Mercury 1.2o N of Moon 15 22:01 Venus 2.9o S of Saturn 16 00:12 Moon 0.5o S of Antares 19 16:32 FIRST QUARTER 21 12:24 Orionids Meteor Shower Peak 24 07:54 Mercury at Inferior

Conjunction 26 12:51 FULL MOON 28 09:47 Moon 0.7o N of Pleiades star

cluster 28 22:44 Venus Greatest Elongation

46 deg W

Cosmic Cockroaches By Dr. Tony Phillips Cockroaches are supposed to be tough, able to survive anything from a good stomping to a nuclear blast. But roaches are wimps compared to a little molecule that has recently caught the eye of biologists and astronomers — the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs for short) are ring-shaped molecules made of carbon and hydrogen. “They’re all around us,” says Achim Tappe of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics.

“PAHs are present in mineral oils, coal, tar, tobacco smoke and automobile exhaust.” Aromatic, ring-shaped molecules structurally akin to PAHs are found in DNA itself! That’s why Tappe’s recent discovery may be so important. “PAHs are so tough, they can survive a supernova.” The story begins a few thousand years ago when a massive star in the Large Magellanic Cloud exploded, blasting nearby star systems and interstellar clouds with hot gas and deadly radiation. The expanding shell, still visible from Earth after all these years and catalogued by astronomers as “N132D,” spans 80 light years and has swept up some 600 Suns worth of mass.

Using the IR spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists found organic molecules in supernova remnant N132D. Last year “we observed N132D using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope,” says Tappe. Spitzer is an infrared (IR) telescope, and it has a spectrometer onboard sensitive to the IR emissions of PAHs. One look at N132D revealed “PAHs all around the supernova’s expanding shell. They appear to be swept up by a shock wave of 8 million degree gas. This is causing some damage to the molecules, but many of the PAHs are surviving.” Astronomers have long known that PAHs are abundant not only on Earth but throughout the cosmos—they’ve been found in comet dust, meteorites and many cold interstellar clouds—but who knew they were so tough? “This is our first evidence that PAHs can withstand a supernova blast,” he says. Their ability to survive may be key to life on Earth. Many astronomers are convinced that a supernova exploded in our corner of the galaxy 4-to-5 billion years ago just as the solar system was coalescing from primitive interstellar gas. In one scenario of life’s origins, PAHs survived and made their way to our planet. It turns out that stacks of PAHs can form in water—think, primordial seas—and provide a scaffold for nucleic acids with architectural properties akin to RNA and DNA. PAHs may be just tough enough for genesis. Find out about other Spitzer discoveries at www.spitzer.caltech.edu.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,

under a contract with the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration.

feature image this issueteodoro gapuz, svd, the vice-president for academic affairs. fr. gapuz...

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