mac april 2011 magazine

binocular target. M44 is a loose open cluster containing about 400 stars and is located approximately 500 light-years away.

www.midlandsastronomy.com

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Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

Issue 23- April, 2011

Latest Astronomy and Space News

Kids Astronomy

Quizzes and Games

Monthly Sky Guide

Internet Highlights

Sky Guide - Beginner’s targets for April

Club Notes

Club Observing:

Remember the next club meets every first Friday of the month for our observing sessions held in the MAC grounds. If you

wish to be informed of these sessions please email your name and mobile number to [email protected] who will

confirm if the session is going ahead (depending on weather).

MAC is a proud member of

General notes As spring starts to quicken everything into life again, so meteor activity begins to pick up too. The first northern shower of any note is the Lyrids which has no Moon this year. April has something of a reputation for producing more than its share of sporadic fireballs, though some of this impression may result from the occasional spectacular Lyrid fireball. Lyrid meteors can be seen from April 16-25, and the shower should peak on April 22. The year there is a Waning Gibbous moon. Shower gazing conditions will not be ideal. The moon will obstruct all but the brightest of Lyrid meteors. The average ZHR is 18, and tends to be lower the further the maximum happens away from the "ideal" time. Lyrids are medium-fast meteors, and can be very bright sometimes. Telescope Targets We'll start the month off in Cancer with M44 (The Beehive Cluster). To find M44, find Regulus (the bright star in the backwards question mark in Leo) and Pollux in Gemini (the star closer to Regulus in the twins). About halfway between these two is M44. M44 can be seen with the naked eye from a dark site. Use your lowest power eyepiece to try and get the entire cluster into view. M44 makes a nice

Next we'll move on to another open cluster in Cancer, M67. To find M67, again we'll use Regulus, but this time Procryon will be the other star. About halfway between these two stars is M67. M67 is one of the older open clusters with age estimates from 5 - 10 billion years old. It contains about 500 stars and is located approx. 2500 light-years from us. Next, we'll move on to a galaxy. M51 (The Whirpool Galaxy) is one of the skies premier galaxies. Through scopes of 8" or larger, the spiral arms become evident and large scopes show the galaxy in all of it's spiral glory. To locate M51, find Alkaid (the star at the end of the Big Dipper's handle). Just below Alkaid is M51. Also visible with M51 is the companion galaxy NGC 5195. You'll need a very dark site to spot these, but it's well worth the trip. Distance estimates to these galaxies range from 15 million to 40 million light-years away. Moving back over toward Leo, find the triangle of stars to the left of the backwards question mark. The point of the triangle

points at the magnificent Virgo Cluster. I could take pages trying to explain which galaxies are which here so I'll just say point your scope in that direction and scan the area. Even in small instruments several galaxies at a time will be visible in the same field of view. General notes Check ou t www .heav en s -above.com for the latest passes of the International Space Station and satellites, details of Space Shuttle launches and passes and for details of Iridium Flare activity. Clear skies and good hunting!

By Kevin Daly http://members.aol.com/kdaly10475/index.html

Above: Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Cancer is small and its stars are faint. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to the east, Lynx to the north and Canis Minor and Hydra to the south.

Above: A sky chart showing the centre of the Lyrid meteor shower. Look for the star Vega as a guide.

Above: The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer and is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System.

Above: The M51 galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars.


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Exercise your brainExercise your brainExercise your brainExercise your brain Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

c o n t e n t sc o n t e n t sc o n t e n t sc o n t e n t s Latest Astronomy and Space News MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury ............... 3

Kepler spacecraft back in action after computer glitch ........... 3

Coldest star found - no hotter than fresh coffee .................... 4

Runaway star creates quite a shock ...................................... 4

Why are Dobsonian telescopes a favourite for amateur astronomers? ...................................................................... 5

Dusty neighbour NGC 247 is a million light-years closer than thought ....................................................................... 6

Global Astronomy Month 2011 Free online activities .............. 6

Look to Orion and help measure the darkness of your night sky............................................................................. 7

The King and The Brightest entertain the Night Sky .............. 8

Bucket List Object #9: Sunrise on the Moon ......................... 9

Kids Section Kids Korner ....................................................................... 10

Quizzes and Games Exercise your brain ............................................................ 11

Monthly Sky Guide Beginners sky guide for April .............................................. 12

Internet Highlights Special content only available with the online version of the magazine ................................................................ 13

Front cover image: Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral

Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on

the west coast of the United States.

Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from

the California Nebula, also known as NGC1499, the classic emission nebula is

around 100 light-years long.

A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula can be spotted with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the

constellation of Perseus, not far from the Pleiades.

Credit & Copyright: Markus Noller

MAC meets on the first Tuesday of

the month in the Presbyterian Hall, High Street, Tullamore from 8pm.

All are welcome to attend. It also holds infrequent Observing

Nights at its Observing Site in

Clonminch, or at a member’s house (weather permitting) on the first

Friday of every month..

You can see more about the club and its events on


or contact the club via e-mail at [email protected]

Meetings are informal and are aimed at a level to suit all ages.

1. Compared to other stars,

how big is our Sun?

� Larger than most stars,

but not the largest � Very small

� Medium size

� Huge

2. Compared to Earth, how long is one day on

Mercury?

� About the same length as

one day on Earth

� Nearly two Earth months

long � About half of one day on

Earth � A little longer than one

day on Earth

3. Venus the brightest planet in our solar

system… but why is Venus so bright?

� It's not actually a planet,

it is a very small white dwarf star

� Its thick clouds reflect

sunlight � The Earth's atmosphere

makes it look bright � None of these

4. The dirt and hard

surface that we walk on

is very different from the core of the Earth. What

is the core of the Earth made of?

� Pure molten iron

� Molten gold

� Molten nickel and iron,

and some other elements � Water and methane ice

5. The planet Mars itself

might be weird, but

what is so weird about Mars' satellites, Phobos

and Deimos?

� They are irregularly

shaped � Neither of them have

any craters whatsoever � One orbits Mars in a

counter-clockwise direction, the other in a

clockwise direction � All of these

6. How long are Jupiter's seasons?

� The same length as

Earth's � Very long

� Jupiter doesn't have

seasons

� Very short

7. What day of the week

does Saturn translate to?

� Saturday

� Thursday

� Sunday

� It doesn't translate to a

day of the week

8. What colour is Uranus?

� Pink

� Multi-coloured

� Blue-green

� Purple

9. What is Neptune's

mantle made of?

� Molten rock

� Ammonia, water

� Liquid methane, water

� Water, ammonia, me-

thane ices

10.Pluto is a frigid cold

place, and has three frigid cold moons. What

are their names?

� Larissa, Nix, Triton

� Triton, Nix, Hydra

� Charon, Hydra, Nix

� Charon, Hydra, Titan

4 2 9 6

7 6 4

3

8 9 1

6 1 4 5 9 2

2 6 1

1

2 5 9

9 3 1 4

SUDOKU

Check your answers

Answer 1: The correct answer was Medium size. The Sun's diameter is

about 1.4 million kilometres, but some huge stars, like red giants, can be

millions and millions of kilometres in diameter!

Answer 2: The correct answer was

Nearly two Earth months long. One day on Mercury is about 59 Earth days, to be precise. A day on Mercury may

be long, but one year is not at all! One year on Mercury is about 88 Earth

days.

Answer 3: The correct answer was Its thick clouds reflect sunlight. Venus is one of the brightest objects in the

night sky, after the moon. The atmosphere of Venus is made of 97%

carbon dioxide, and the thick swirling clouds are partly made of sulphuric

acid.

Answer 4: The correct answer was Molten nickel and iron, and some other elements. The core of the Earth is very

hot an estimated 3677 degrees Celsius!

Answer 5: The correct answer was They are irregularly shaped. The

names Phobos and Deimos come from the Greek language, Phobos meaning

fear and Deimos meaning panic, or terror. Phobos and Deimos are thought

to have once been asteroids, but the Martian gravitational field pulled them

into Mars' orbit.

Answer 6: The correct answer was Jupiter doesn't have seasons. Jupiter

doesn't have seasons because it is tilted only 3 degrees on its axis.


Saturday. Here is what each celestial object translates to as a day of the week: Monday = The Moon; Tuesday

= Mars; Wednesday = Mercury; Thursday = Jupiter; Friday = Venus;

Saturday = obviously, Saturn and Sunday = The Sun.


Blue-green. Uranus is a blue-green colour because the methane in the upper layer of the atmosphere absorbs

red light.

Answer 9: The correct answer was Water, ammonia, methane ices.

Neptune has the strongest winds in the solar system- wind speeds that have

been discovered are around 2253 kmh!

Answer 10: The correct answer was Charon, Hydra, Nix. Charon was discovered in 1978 and Nix and Hydra

were discovered in 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope.


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hours—conducting the equivalent of two flybys a day and sending back reams of data from a suite of on board cameras and spectrographs.

For instance, being in orbit will allow the probe to take "ultra high-resolution images" of the planet's entire surface, said Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in D.C.

Mariner 10 captured just 45 percent of the cratered surface before moving on, and the three previous MESSENGER flybys didn't quite fill in the whole picture.

MESSENGER will also be studying Mercury's atmosphere and inner structure, as well as its magnetic environment, which changes rapidly due to the planet's close interaction with the sun.

"We will benefit tremendously from being there, rather than having to take drive-by snapshots," Solomon said.

www.nationalgeographic.com

NASA made history tonight as the MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the tiny planet Mercury.

At 9:10 p.m. engineers confirmed that the burn had occurred. By 9:45 p.m. the probe had turned its antenna back toward Earth and began transmitting more detailed data showing that the 15-minute burn was "clean"—indicating that the probe has entered orbit.

As with burn sequences during the craft's previous flybys, the team had contingencies in place if MESSENGER had failed to enter orbit, Sean Solomon, principal investigator of MESSENGER's science mission, told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday.

But the backup plans, he said, didn't involve an immediate retry and would have substantially changed the time line of the mission.

With orbital insertion complete, MESSENGER should start collecting science data by early April. During the probe's year-long mission, it will orbit Mercury twice every 24

Launched in 2004, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission marks the first time a craft has gone near Mercury since 1975, when NASA's Mariner 10 probe conducted flybys.

For the past six and a half years MESSENGER has been manoeuvring itself into an orbital path via so-called gravity assists, using the tugs from flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself to speed up and alter course.

At 8:45 p.m. ET, MESSENGER performed a "burn"—essentially "riding its brakes" by firing its main thruster—to slow the spacecraft enough to be captured by Mercury's gravity.

The mission control team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland was monitoring MESSENGER's progress from 96 million miles (155 million kilometres) away.


Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

Success! MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit

Mercury

determine the cause of the safe mode event.

A safe mode is a measure the spacecraft takes to protect itself when something unexpected occurs. Kepler mission managers described what happens during a safe mode event:

“During safe mode, the spacecraft points the solar panels directly at

Kepler spacecraft back in action after computer glitch NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is back in planet-hunting action after a computer malfunction put it into “safe mode” for 144 hours (six days.) The anomaly occurred on March 14, 2011 immediately after the spacecraft issued a network interface card (NIC) reset command to start a computer program update.

the sun and begins to slowly rotate along a sun-aligned axis. This safe mode orientation provides the vehicle with the maximum power and limits the build up of momentum from solar wind.

The spacecraft also swapped to its backup subsystem interface box (SIB), an electronics component that provides thermal and power distribution control to all spacecraft subsystems, and powered off the photometer, the instrument used to measure light intensity to detect planets. This is a normal procedure when the spacecraft enters safe mode.”

Kepler spacecraft returned to science data collection at 2:45 p.m. EDT Sunday, March 20, 2011.

Kepler launched in 2009 to look for

Kid’s�Korner�

Deep Space 1 blasted off at 8:08 AM (Eastern Daylight Time) on October 24, 1998. It rode atop a Delta rocket, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. But how do space engineers know when to launch?

Well, nothing in space stands still. Everything either orbits around something else, or moves toward or away from something else. So how do space engineers aim a spacecraft so it lands on Mars or meets up with a particular comet or asteroid? Not only are Earth and the target constantly moving in their different orbits around the Sun, but our Earthly launch pad is spinning at

about 1,000 miles per hour when we launch the rocket!

Adding the motion makes it a lot harder to hit your target, doesn't it? Now imagine the target is on another spinning merry-go-round on the other side of the playground. Even if your paper balls w e r e r e a l b as ke tba l l s o r baseballs, you'd have a lot of trouble.

Timing is everything! In picking a time to launch, space engineers and scientists have to consider quite a number of things. Most of them have to do with getting the biggest boost possible from the big launch pad called planet Earth!

Earth goes around the sun at a brisk 107,000 kilometres per hour (66,000 miles per hour)! I f ou r i n te r p lane t a r y spacecraft is aimed in the same direction Earth is already going, it will get a big head start.

Also, Earth rotates eastward on its axis, one complete turn each day. At the equator, Earth's surface is rotating at 1675 kilometres per hour (1041 miles per hour)!

So if we launch the rocket toward the east, it will get another big boost from Earth's rotational motion.

Now, we launch eastward. We pick the time of launch (in Deep Space 1's case, early morning) to give the rocket time to accelerate as it goes partway around Earth. Then, when the spacecraft is headed in the same direction as Earth's orbital motion around the sun, the rocket gives it a final boost out of Earth orbit and on its way.

Using both the rotational motion of Earth on its axis and the orbital motion of Earth around the Sun, we can save a lot of fuel and a lot of time in getting to our far distant destination!

Ready. . . Aim. . . Blast off! Where do we want to go? Once we know that, we figure out the best time of year to launch based on where Earth will be in its orbit around the sun. Deep Space 1 will actually end up in orbit around the sun, too, but farther from the sun than we are. The launch was timed so that, after eight months or so of thrusting from Deep Space 1's ion engine, the spacecraft's orbit crossed the orbit of Asteroid Braille on July 29, 1999.

The best times to launch the rocket are called "launch windows." Usually, engineers will try for the beginning of the first launch window. However, several things can delay a launch.

For example, the weather might be bad. Or something might suddenly look a little funny with the spacecraft or the rocket or the ground communications. Or a boat or airplane might appear, even though they've been warned to keep their distance. Any of these could cause a delay until the next launch window or later in the same launch window.

As a glass window is an opening in a wall, a launch window is an opening in time for a successful rocket launch.

Launch a "Rocket" Above: An artist's impression of the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury.

alien worlds, hoping to find one like Earth in the just-right “Goldilocks Zone” around another star. So far, Kepler has discovered 1,235 possible planets, with 54 of those candidates in that potential habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Further study is needed to see if any of these planets have the potential to harbour life.

But given how many potential habitable planets were found in just one area of the sky, astronomers have estimated that our Milky Way galaxy could hold as many as 50 billion alien planets, with 2 billion of those being about the size of Earth

www.universetoday.com

"Planet" from a spinning

During the reset, the NIC sent invalid reaction wheel data to the flight software, which caused the spacecraft to enter the self-protecting safe mode. The NIC is the interfaces between the spacecraft’s flight software, attitude determination, and its control subsystems and sensors. Mission managers said an anomaly response team will continue to evaluate the spacecraft data to



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Dubbed CFBDSIR 1458 10b, the star is what's called a brown dwarf. These oddball objects are often called failed stars, because they have starlike heat and chemical properties but don't have enough mass for the crush of gravity to ignite nuclear fusion at their cores.

With surface temperatures hovering around 206 degrees F (97 degrees C), the newfound star is the coldest brown dwarf seen to date.

"Over the years there has been steady but slow progress in pushing the boundaries of finding the coldest stars," said study leader Michael Liu, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

"But with this latest discovery we have made a big leap forward—besting the previous record holder by at least 150 Kelvin [270 degrees F, or 150 degrees C]," he said.

orbiting other stars with surface temperatures around 1,000 degrees F (538 degrees C).

In star terms, "this new object is so much colder than anything else seen that it now enters the regime where it may actually have an atmosphere with water clouds," Liu said.

"The most exciting aspect of this finding is that we might be on the threshold of finding a new class of objects that blurs the line between gas-giant exoplanets and brown

Coldest Star May Have Watery Atmosphere?

With an estimated mass of only 6 to 15 times that of Jupiter, CFBDSIR 1458 10b is the smaller and dimmer member of a binary system in which two brown dwarfs are locked in close orbit.

Liu and his team spotted the pair's faint infrared signature using the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, both on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

The discovery is stretching our understanding of where to draw the line between what is a planet and what is a star, Lui added.

For instance, although surface temperatures on our solar system's Jupiter sit around -236 degrees F (-149 degrees C), astronomers have found so-called hot Jupiter's

dwarf stars previously seen—something I think that is really surpr is ing the as tronomical community."

What's more, the new star may not hold its "coldest" title for long: Scientists with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are working to confirm an even cooler brown dwarf with possible surface temperatures dipping down to a balmy 86 degrees F (30 degrees C).


bright side and a dark side. Not particularly exciting.

But when the sun rises over a lunar mountain range or walled crater, it casts an immense shadow. And it often illuminates higher elevations first, setting them apart from unlit lower-lying regions. You might, for example, see an illuminated mountain peak standing out like a candle flame from the lower-lying regions along the terminator. Very striking.

Perhaps no other lunar feature comes close to capturing the drama of a lunar sunrise than the immense crater Copernicus. A fairly young crater at just 800 million year old, Copernicus spans some 100km just north of the lunar equator and south of the Mare Imbrium. The crater has tall, terraced side walls and a cluster of peaks near its centre. So there are many hilly features which cast long shadows when the crater lies along the terminator.

This month we move on to sight #9, one of the most moving and dynamic scenes you’ll ever see in a small telescope: the sun slowly rising over one of the Moon’s most spectacular craters.

And you can see it from anywhere on Earth once you know how, when, and where to look. First, a little orientation…

Look at the Moon any night during the two weeks between its new and full phase. You’ll see a bright area and a dark area. An astronaut standing on the bright part of the Moon would enjoy lunar daytime. On the dark area, he would experience night. And along the boundary between the two, which is called the terminator, he would see the sun just rising over the lunar horizon.

Because of the sun’s low angle at lunar sunrise, our astronaut would see even the lowliest stump of a hillock casts a long, exaggerated shadow across the Moon’s surface. And we get the same view from Earth. Which is why the terminator almost always offers the most vivid viewing of the Moon’s mountains and ridges and craters. Even a small ridge a few hundred meters high, which would be invisible from Earth most telescopes, casts a shadow many kilometres long… big enough to glimpse in a small scope. And the bigger the hill, the bigger the shadow.

Of course, some lunar surface features cast more dramatic shadows than others.

Where the terminator crosses the dark, flat lunar seas (or maria), you see no shadows at all… just a

Copernicus graces the terminator about nine days after new moon each month, and about five days before full moon. So it’s well placed for viewing in the evening… you

don’t need to stay up late. And if the timing’s right, you can watch sunlight fan out over Copernicus during the course of an evening. It’s a stirring sight to see the crater’s walls and central peaks catch the sun’s first rays, followed by the low-lying crater floor.

And while you can certainly see the crater in binoculars, a telescope gives you a much better view. Since the Moon is bright, you can use high magnification if you have steady air. Try dif ferent eyepieces and magnifications to see what gives you the best view. The image at the top of the page gives you an idea of what you can see at 200-300x.

Your next chance to see the sun rise over Copernicus is coming up on June 20-21, roughly. And like all lunar features, if you miss this sight one month, just wait 29 days to see it again.

Only 24 humans, al l Apollo astronauts, have witnessed sunrise on the Moon close up. It will be a long time before anyone returns to the Moon. But with a small scope, from your backyard or balcony, you too can see a magnificent sunrise over the craters and mountains of the Earth’s nearest neighbour.

A grand sight for all of us to see, surely, before we “kick the bucket.”

www.oneminuteastronomer.com

According to a new study, a star discovered 75 light-years away is no warmer than a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

Coldest star found - no hotter than fresh coffee

Bucket List Object #9: Sunrise on the Moon

Over the next several months, we present our totally subjective list of ten celestial sights to see before you die, or “kick the bucket”, as they say. We call it the “Bucket List for Backyard Stargazers”. Our list is targeted at the casual stargazer, with no special expertise or training or ambition other than to see some of the most beautiful, and in some cases, transient sights in nature. For some of these objects, you’ll need access to a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. Others require travel and good timing and luck. And for others, you need to simply look up. But all these sights are not that hard to see, once you know how and when and where to look for them. We’ll help you with that.

Left: A close-

up of Coperni-

cus taken by

Apollo 12.

Above: Copernicus is a prominent lunar impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum and is estimated to be about 800 million years old.

Alpha Camelopardalis, the bright star in the middle of this image, is a runaway star, moving at incredible speeds – astronomers believe could be zooming along at somewhere between 1.5 and 9.4 million miles per hour!!! The speed of this star is so fast, a huge bow shock is being created as the star moves through space. Alpha Cam’s bow shock can’t be seen in visible light, but WISE’s infrared detectors allow us to see this arc of heated gas and dust around the star.

Runaway stars are kicked into motion e i ther through the supernova explosion of a companion star or through gravitational interactions with other stars in a cluster. The WISE team explains the bow shock:

“Because Alpha Cam is a supergiant star, it gives off a very strong wind. When this fast-moving wind slams into the slower-moving interstellar material, a bow shock is created, similar to the wake in front of the bow of a ship in water. The stellar wind compresses the interstellar gas and dust, causing it to heat up and glow in infrared.”

Just as astronomers aren’t quite about the speed Alpha Cam is traveling, its distance is also somewhat uncertain, but it is probably somewhere between 1,600 and 6,900 light-years away. It is located in the constellation Camelopardis, near Ursa Major.


Runaway star creates quite a shock

Copernicus

An artist's impression of the brown dwarf CFBDSIR 1458 10b (right) and its binary companion

Faster than a speeding bullet, this supergiant star looks like it might be wearing a red cape.

A fast-moving star, Alpha Camelopardalis, creates a stunning bow shock in this new image from WISE.


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www.midlandsastronomy

The benefit of this type of optical arrangement is the telescopes light gathering ability. The more light gathered, equals more fainter objects to be seen. A light bucket!

Dobsonian/Newtonian telescopes have a big advantage over telescopes with lenses such as re f rac tors and Cassegra in telescopes, as mirrors are a lot cheaper to make than lenses. Plus they can be a lot bigger!

Both Dobsonian and Newtonian telescopes are measured by the size of the diameter of their primary (big) mirror. Dobsonian sizes range from starter scopes of 6 inches up to 30 inches, but common sizes are 8 to 16 inches in diameter. They can be many times larger and less expensive to produce than scopes with lenses.

The second part of a Dobsonian telescope is the mount. As with the optical part the mount is just as simple, if not more so! A basic manual mount which supports the optical tube and can be manually moved by hand in the Altitude (up/

A Dobsonian is simplicity in itself; a simple set of optics on a simple mount. But don’t be fooled by this simplicity. Dobsonian telescopes are incredibly good and are great for amateurs and profess iona l astronomers alike. They are also very economical compared to other telescopes.

The optical part of the telescope or OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) is the same as a Newtonian reflector telescope. It consists of a primary parabolic mirror and a flat secondary mirror in an open ended tube, with a focuser for an eyepiece set on the side. Light enters the tube, reflects off of the primary mirror at the base and is then focused onto the smaller flat secondary mirror and then finally, into an eyepiece. Simple!

down) and Azimuth (left/right) axis.

The mount is usually made from wood or metal with bearings and support for the two axis of movement. More so lately, some manufacturers have put GoTo systems with motors on some Dobsonian mounts. Personally I think it’s a bit over kill for a Dobsonian, a s f i n d i n g o b j e c t s

manual ly b y s t a r hopping or other manual methods helps you learn the sky better and can be fun.

Resist the urge to spend lots of money on small computerized scopes that will eventually never get used, as they can be too complicated or you may not see much through them apart from the brightest objects such as the Moon. A Dobsonian is a great all-around telescope, and are available in almost all telescope stores. Some people make their own homemade Dobsonian scopes too!

Due to the nature of the Alt-Az mount, Dobsonians are not

suitable for long exposure astro imaging. For that you will need an equatorial

mount, which will track the stars equatorially. You may

have some success with w e b c a m imaging with some of the G o T o M o u n t s though.

Dobsonian telescopes are designed to be simple, easy to use and gather as much light as possible. Because of this robust simplicity, they are very economical and popular with

astronomers of all levels of ability. My own and most favourite

telescope is my Skywatcher 10-inch Dobsonian and I will probably be using it for many more years to come, as it is difficult to beat!

The name of the Dobsonian telescope comes from its creator John Dobson, who combined the simple design of the Newtonian telescope with the Alt-Azimuth mount. He originally made simple homemade scopes from household materials and ground mirrors out of the glass of old ship portholes.

John Dobson is the grandfather of Sidewalk Astronomy and co-founder

of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers.


Why are Dobsonian telescopes a favourite for

amateur astronomers?

Welcome to the scary and expensive world of buying your first, or replacing your old telescope! I am asked all the time “What telescope should I buy” or “What telescope do I need to see X with?” Nine times out of ten, I recommend a Dobsonian Telescope. So what is a Dobsonian telescope and why are they so good? Read on to find out why.

Most people who see a bright star in the sky might not even know it is actually a planet. Most people that have an interest in Astronomy, no matter how deep that may be, can tell you what the difference between a planet and a star is. “The stars twinkle, the planets do not” is usually what is said. However, even if you knew how to identify that bright object in the night sky as a planet, would you know which one it is? Let's find out...

Mercury Commonly known as the “Elusive Planet”, Mercury is sometimes the one to watch because it changes so fast on its racetrack around the Sun. Usually seen just before sunrise or just after sunset, it is thought that less than 3% of Earth's population has seen Mercury and know it.

From the first week of March it will be visible following, but moving away from, the setting Sun before moving close to it again. A telescope or binoculars will show a changing phase of Mercury on different nights, just like the Moon.

Venus The brightest celestial object in the sky apart from the Sun or Moon, Venus was often considered to be a beautiful planet due to its brilliance at night. In contrast, the planet is actually a scorching, acidic wasteland where even lead will melt and the toughest spacecraft that landed there only lasted an hour before being crushed under enormous atmospher ic pressure.

It's brilliant white light takes a mere 2.5 minutes to travel to us when at its closest to

minutes to reach us). Jupiter is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium gases.

Point a telescope or a pair of binoculars to Jupiter and you will be able to spot the 4 Galilean Moons – Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – orbit around it, changing position from night to night. A larger telescope will show 1 or 2 cloud bands.

Saturn Often referred to as “The Majestic Planet” because of its extraordinary ring system, Saturn is the 2nd largest planet in the Solar System. Despite this, it is also the lightest, being less dense than water - if there was an ocean of water big enough, Saturn would float in it! Its system of rings are made up of 9 separate ring structures only 20 to 30 meters thick of rock and ice. Saturn also has the largest amount of moons of any planet – 62 and counting.

Even a modest pair of 10 X 50 binoculars will show Saturn’s distinctive shape on a clear, steady night. Most nights you will also spot its largest moon, Titan, nearby.

Uranus The 4th largest planet, Uranus was always known to exist but was thought to be a slow moving star until it was declared a planet by William Herschel in 1781. It has the uncanny characteristic of rotating on its side at an angle of 98 degrees (Earth rotates on its axis at an angle of 23 degrees).

Earth. It also exhibits a change of phase just like the Moon and Mercury as it orbits the Sun.

Mars “The Red Planet” is still thought of as the next step in human exploration. Showing signs on its surface that water once flowed in abundance, its soil composition has been shown by spacecraft that have landed there that given the right conditions, Martian soil could support vegetation.

Mars is not seen in our skies until the Summer. Still, when it is visible, it often appears with an orange hue in appearance. In a modest telescope or pair of binoculars it looks like an orange sphere. Larger telescopes have shown some surface detail.

Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System – almost 318 Earth's could fit inside it! Because of its size but despite it's distance it appears bright (the reflected light from its surface takes about 43

In a telescope or binoculars it appears simply as a light green disk. No surface features can be resolved from Earth with telescopes. It's green colour is due to the abundance of methane in its atmosphere.

Neptune The 3rd largest planet in the Solar System and since 2006 with the demotion of Pluto to Kuiper (Belt) Object, Neptune is now the furthest planet from the Sun. It was d i s c ove r ed i n 1 846 a f te r mathematical calculations attempted to attribute an interruption in Uranus's orbit by another large body and where it should lie – the calculations were spot on! It's la rges t moon, Tr i ton, was discovered not long after by telescopic observations.

In a telescope, Neptune is seen simply as a light blue disc under ideal observing conditions. It has a storm on its surface called the Great Dark Spot, first observed by Voyager 2 in 1989, and measured to have windspeeds of around 2,100kph – the fastest in the Solar System.

Seanie Morris is the Secretary of the Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) having been a member since 1990 when it used to be known as the Tullamore Astronomical Society ( T A S ) . S ea n i e ' s f a v o u r i t e astronomical interests include meteor watching, deep sky telescope objects and the Moon.


During the year you get the chance to view just about everything the Universe can throw at you with the naked eye – stars, meteors, the Moon and even one very distant galaxy. What some amateur observers don't realise is that, at different times of the year, our nearest neighbours – the planets – are also there.

The King and The Brightest entertain the Night Sky


distance markers in a study called the Araucaria Project. The team has already reported that NGC 247 is more than a million light-years closer to the Milky Way than was previously thought, bringing its distance down to just over 11 million light-years.

More information about the lead image: It was created from a large number of monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow/green and red filters taken over many years. In addition, exposures through a filter that isolates the glow from hydrogen gas have also been included and coloured red. The total exposure time per filter was 20 hours, 19 hours, 25 minutes and 35 minutes, respectively.


star to brighten and fade can be plugged into a simple mathematical relation that gives its in t r ins ic br ightness . When compared with the measured brightness this gives the distance. However, this method isn’t fool-proof, as astronomers think this period–luminosity relationship depends on the composition of the Cepheid.

Another problem arises from the fact that some of the light from a Cepheid may be absorbed by dust en route to Earth, making it appear fainter, and therefore further away than it really is. This is a particular problem for NGC 247 with its highly inclined orientation, as the line of sight to the Cepheids passes through the galaxy’s dusty disc.

However, a team of astronomers is currently looking into the factors that influence these celestial

Here are a few photos from our recent

outreach event in Athlone Shopping

Centre on Sat. 19th March organised by Jason Fallon and Seanie Morris in order to

promote the Midlands

Astronomy Club and

our annual COSMOS star

party.

If you would like a

similar event organised in your local

area please contact us to arrange the

details.



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Well, not really. But astronomers are retooling estimates of the distance to i t , which was overestimated in the past partly because of the nearly edge-on tilt. The just-released image, from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope in Chile, shows large numbers of the galaxy’s component stars and glowing pink clouds of hydrogen, marking regions of active star formation. Numerous other galaxies can be seen in the distance.

NGC 247 (RA 00h 47′ 14″ - 20deg 52′ 04″) is one of the closest spiral galaxies of the southern sky, now believed to lie about 11 million light-

years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale). It’s part of the Sculptor Group, a collection of galaxies associated with the Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253, shown in previous releases here and here). This is the nearest group of galaxies to our Local Group, which includes the Milky Way.

To measure the distance from the Earth to a nearby galaxy, astronomers have to rely on a type of variable star called a Cepheid to act as a distance marker. Cepheids are very luminous stars, whose brightness varies at regular intervals. The time taken for the

GLOBE at Night is a wonderful way for everyone around the world to participate to raise public awareness of the impact of arti f ic ia l l ight ing on local env i ronments . Th is event encourages everyone to measure the darkness of their local skies and contribute their observations online to a world map.

The campaign is easy to do with just five easy steps to participate. This year participants can submit their measurements in real time if they have a smart phone.

“There is now a mobile website to submit data,” Sparks told Universe Today. “It will take the GPS data, time and date from your phone and has a cool little graphic to help you determine the brightness of the sky. It even has a red screen

“We are running our campaign this year from March 22nd to April 4th in the northern hemisphere” said Rob Sparks from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is one of the sponsors for this year’s campaign.

Light pollution is a serious and growing global concern. With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonder of pristinely dark skies and perhaps, maybe never will. But light pollution is also a concern in areas of safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars.

But this is also one of the easiest environmental problems you can address on local levels.

feature for night use.” http://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/

To participate, you will match the appearance of the constellation Orion or Leo with simple star maps of progressively fainter stars found. Then submit your measurements, including the date, time, and location of your comparison. After all the campaign’s observations are submitted, the project’s organisers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. In previous campaigns, volunteers from more than 100 nations contributed 52,000 measurements, one third of which came from last year’s campaign.

The five easy star-hunting steps are: 1) F ind your lat i tude and

longitude. 2) Find Orion by going outside an

hour after sunset. 3) Match your night time sky to

one of the GLOBE at Night magnitude charts

4) Report your observation. 5) Compare your observation to

thousands around the world.

Go to the GLOBE at Night website for all the details. There is even a 10-minute audio podcast on light pollution and the project. Or download a 45-minute PowerPoint and accompanying audio.

Be a part of GLOBE at Night and help the campaign exceed the 17,800 observations contributed last year. Your measurements will make a world of difference.


One of our celestial neighbours, the spiral galaxy NGC 247, just moved about a million light-years closer.

Dusty neighbour NGC 247 is a million light-years closer than thought

How dark are your skies? GLOBE at Night wants to know! Join the 6th annual worldwide GLOBE at Night campaign, which is going on right now in the northern hemisphere.

Look to Orion and help measure the darkness of your night sky

Orion as seen from Easter Island.

Recent Outreach Event in Athlone Shopping Centre

Below: Through a moderate-sized amateur telescope, the Cetus galaxy appears large but dim, and is seen best in a dark sky.

Spiral galaxy NGC 247, shot with the Wide Field Imager at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Global Astronomy Month 2011 (GAM2011) is introducing special remote observing programs throughout the month of April. Exciting activities using advanced, remotely-accessible observatories will include online guided cosmic shows, free personal remote observing sessions, and special discounts for observing time for t h o s e w h o w a n t t o d o more. Discover the benefits of

remote astronomy and enjoy the sky from the comfort of your own home.

GAM offers two ways to enjoy remote observing: online, live events with real-time narration and personal observing through remotely controlled telescopes or images on demand. Here is a sample of online live astronomical events with real-time narration:

• Online Messier Marathon:

(OPENING event, April 1) observe as many Messier objects as possible in one night

• Around the Ringed Planet:

observe Saturn remotely, enjoying live images.

• Stars for All

• Walking on the Moon:

observe Moon to celebrate GAM Lunar Week.

• Here Comes the Sun:

celebrate GAM Sun Day by remote observing session for our very own star; Sun!

• Write Your Name in the

Sky!: (CLOSING event, April 30) a chance to discover an asteroid! Images will be taken and shared in real time for participants to check for signs of asteroids. The winner will be recognized as the asteroid's co-discoverer!

For full dates and times of these free events please check this link:

http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/programs/all-programs/562-remote-

observing.html


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www.midlandsastronomy

The benefit of this type of optical arrangement is the telescopes light gathering ability. The more light gathered, equals more fainter objects to be seen. A light bucket!

Dobsonian/Newtonian telescopes have a big advantage over telescopes with lenses such as re f rac tors and Cassegra in telescopes, as mirrors are a lot cheaper to make than lenses. Plus they can be a lot bigger!

Both Dobsonian and Newtonian telescopes are measured by the size of the diameter of their primary (big) mirror. Dobsonian sizes range from starter scopes of 6 inches up to 30 inches, but common sizes are 8 to 16 inches in diameter. They can be many times larger and less expensive to produce than scopes with lenses.

The second part of a Dobsonian telescope is the mount. As with the optical part the mount is just as simple, if not more so! A basic manual mount which supports the optical tube and can be manually moved by hand in the Altitude (up/

A Dobsonian is simplicity in itself; a simple set of optics on a simple mount. But don’t be fooled by this simplicity. Dobsonian telescopes are incredibly good and are great for amateurs and profess iona l astronomers alike. They are also very economical compared to other telescopes.

The optical part of the telescope or OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) is the same as a Newtonian reflector telescope. It consists of a primary parabolic mirror and a flat secondary mirror in an open ended tube, with a focuser for an eyepiece set on the side. Light enters the tube, reflects off of the primary mirror at the base and is then focused onto the smaller flat secondary mirror and then finally, into an eyepiece. Simple!

down) and Azimuth (left/right) axis.

The mount is usually made from wood or metal with bearings and support for the two axis of movement. More so lately, some manufacturers have put GoTo systems with motors on some Dobsonian mounts. Personally I think it’s a bit over kill for a Dobsonian, a s f i n d i n g o b j e c t s

manual ly b y s t a r hopping or other manual methods helps you learn the sky better and can be fun.

Resist the urge to spend lots of money on small computerized scopes that will eventually never get used, as they can be too complicated or you may not see much through them apart from the brightest objects such as the Moon. A Dobsonian is a great all-around telescope, and are available in almost all telescope stores. Some people make their own homemade Dobsonian scopes too!

Due to the nature of the Alt-Az mount, Dobsonians are not

suitable for long exposure astro imaging. For that you will need an equatorial

mount, which will track the stars equatorially. You may

have some success with w e b c a m imaging with some of the G o T o M o u n t s though.

Dobsonian telescopes are designed to be simple, easy to use and gather as much light as possible. Because of this robust simplicity, they are very economical and popular with

astronomers of all levels of ability. My own and most favourite

telescope is my Skywatcher 10-inch Dobsonian and I will probably be using it for many more years to come, as it is difficult to beat!

The name of the Dobsonian telescope comes from its creator John Dobson, who combined the simple design of the Newtonian telescope with the Alt-Azimuth mount. He originally made simple homemade scopes from household materials and ground mirrors out of the glass of old ship portholes.

John Dobson is the grandfather of Sidewalk Astronomy and co-founder

of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers.


Why are Dobsonian telescopes a favourite for

amateur astronomers?

Welcome to the scary and expensive world of buying your first, or replacing your old telescope! I am asked all the time “What telescope should I buy” or “What telescope do I need to see X with?” Nine times out of ten, I recommend a Dobsonian Telescope. So what is a Dobsonian telescope and why are they so good? Read on to find out why.

Most people who see a bright star in the sky might not even know it is actually a planet. Most people that have an interest in Astronomy, no matter how deep that may be, can tell you what the difference between a planet and a star is. “The stars twinkle, the planets do not” is usually what is said. However, even if you knew how to identify that bright object in the night sky as a planet, would you know which one it is? Let's find out...

Mercury Commonly known as the “Elusive Planet”, Mercury is sometimes the one to watch because it changes so fast on its racetrack around the Sun. Usually seen just before sunrise or just after sunset, it is thought that less than 3% of Earth's population has seen Mercury and know it.

From the first week of March it will be visible following, but moving away from, the setting Sun before moving close to it again. A telescope or binoculars will show a changing phase of Mercury on different nights, just like the Moon.

Venus The brightest celestial object in the sky apart from the Sun or Moon, Venus was often considered to be a beautiful planet due to its brilliance at night. In contrast, the planet is actually a scorching, acidic wasteland where even lead will melt and the toughest spacecraft that landed there only lasted an hour before being crushed under enormous atmospher ic pressure.

It's brilliant white light takes a mere 2.5 minutes to travel to us when at its closest to

minutes to reach us). Jupiter is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium gases.

Point a telescope or a pair of binoculars to Jupiter and you will be able to spot the 4 Galilean Moons – Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto – orbit around it, changing position from night to night. A larger telescope will show 1 or 2 cloud bands.

Saturn Often referred to as “The Majestic Planet” because of its extraordinary ring system, Saturn is the 2nd largest planet in the Solar System. Despite this, it is also the lightest, being less dense than water - if there was an ocean of water big enough, Saturn would float in it! Its system of rings are made up of 9 separate ring structures only 20 to 30 meters thick of rock and ice. Saturn also has the largest amount of moons of any planet – 62 and counting.

Even a modest pair of 10 X 50 binoculars will show Saturn’s distinctive shape on a clear, steady night. Most nights you will also spot its largest moon, Titan, nearby.

Uranus The 4th largest planet, Uranus was always known to exist but was thought to be a slow moving star until it was declared a planet by William Herschel in 1781. It has the uncanny characteristic of rotating on its side at an angle of 98 degrees (Earth rotates on its axis at an angle of 23 degrees).

Earth. It also exhibits a change of phase just like the Moon and Mercury as it orbits the Sun.

Mars “The Red Planet” is still thought of as the next step in human exploration. Showing signs on its surface that water once flowed in abundance, its soil composition has been shown by spacecraft that have landed there that given the right conditions, Martian soil could support vegetation.

Mars is not seen in our skies until the Summer. Still, when it is visible, it often appears with an orange hue in appearance. In a modest telescope or pair of binoculars it looks like an orange sphere. Larger telescopes have shown some surface detail.

Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System – almost 318 Earth's could fit inside it! Because of its size but despite it's distance it appears bright (the reflected light from its surface takes about 43

In a telescope or binoculars it appears simply as a light green disk. No surface features can be resolved from Earth with telescopes. It's green colour is due to the abundance of methane in its atmosphere.

Neptune The 3rd largest planet in the Solar System and since 2006 with the demotion of Pluto to Kuiper (Belt) Object, Neptune is now the furthest planet from the Sun. It was d i s c ove r ed i n 1 846 a f te r mathematical calculations attempted to attribute an interruption in Uranus's orbit by another large body and where it should lie – the calculations were spot on! It's la rges t moon, Tr i ton, was discovered not long after by telescopic observations.

In a telescope, Neptune is seen simply as a light blue disc under ideal observing conditions. It has a storm on its surface called the Great Dark Spot, first observed by Voyager 2 in 1989, and measured to have windspeeds of around 2,100kph – the fastest in the Solar System.

Seanie Morris is the Secretary of the Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) having been a member since 1990 when it used to be known as the Tullamore Astronomical Society ( T A S ) . S ea n i e ' s f a v o u r i t e astronomical interests include meteor watching, deep sky telescope objects and the Moon.


During the year you get the chance to view just about everything the Universe can throw at you with the naked eye – stars, meteors, the Moon and even one very distant galaxy. What some amateur observers don't realise is that, at different times of the year, our nearest neighbours – the planets – are also there.

The King and The Brightest entertain the Night Sky




Page - 9 Page - 4


Dubbed CFBDSIR 1458 10b, the star is what's called a brown dwarf. These oddball objects are often called failed stars, because they have starlike heat and chemical properties but don't have enough mass for the crush of gravity to ignite nuclear fusion at their cores.

With surface temperatures hovering around 206 degrees F (97 degrees C), the newfound star is the coldest brown dwarf seen to date.

"Over the years there has been steady but slow progress in pushing the boundaries of finding the coldest stars," said study leader Michael Liu, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

"But with this latest discovery we have made a big leap forward—besting the previous record holder by at least 150 Kelvin [270 degrees F, or 150 degrees C]," he said.

orbiting other stars with surface temperatures around 1,000 degrees F (538 degrees C).

In star terms, "this new object is so much colder than anything else seen that it now enters the regime where it may actually have an atmosphere with water clouds," Liu said.

"The most exciting aspect of this finding is that we might be on the threshold of finding a new class of objects that blurs the line between gas-giant exoplanets and brown

Coldest Star May Have Watery Atmosphere?

With an estimated mass of only 6 to 15 times that of Jupiter, CFBDSIR 1458 10b is the smaller and dimmer member of a binary system in which two brown dwarfs are locked in close orbit.

Liu and his team spotted the pair's faint infrared signature using the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, both on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

The discovery is stretching our understanding of where to draw the line between what is a planet and what is a star, Lui added.

For instance, although surface temperatures on our solar system's Jupiter sit around -236 degrees F (-149 degrees C), astronomers have found so-called hot Jupiter's

dwarf stars previously seen—something I think that is really surpr is ing the as tronomical community."

What's more, the new star may not hold its "coldest" title for long: Scientists with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are working to confirm an even cooler brown dwarf with possible surface temperatures dipping down to a balmy 86 degrees F (30 degrees C).


bright side and a dark side. Not particularly exciting.

But when the sun rises over a lunar mountain range or walled crater, it casts an immense shadow. And it often illuminates higher elevations first, setting them apart from unlit lower-lying regions. You might, for example, see an illuminated mountain peak standing out like a candle flame from the lower-lying regions along the terminator. Very striking.

Perhaps no other lunar feature comes close to capturing the drama of a lunar sunrise than the immense crater Copernicus. A fairly young crater at just 800 million year old, Copernicus spans some 100km just north of the lunar equator and south of the Mare Imbrium. The crater has tall, terraced side walls and a cluster of peaks near its centre. So there are many hilly features which cast long shadows when the crater lies along the terminator.

This month we move on to sight #9, one of the most moving and dynamic scenes you’ll ever see in a small telescope: the sun slowly rising over one of the Moon’s most spectacular craters.

And you can see it from anywhere on Earth once you know how, when, and where to look. First, a little orientation…

Look at the Moon any night during the two weeks between its new and full phase. You’ll see a bright area and a dark area. An astronaut standing on the bright part of the Moon would enjoy lunar daytime. On the dark area, he would experience night. And along the boundary between the two, which is called the terminator, he would see the sun just rising over the lunar horizon.

Because of the sun’s low angle at lunar sunrise, our astronaut would see even the lowliest stump of a hillock casts a long, exaggerated shadow across the Moon’s surface. And we get the same view from Earth. Which is why the terminator almost always offers the most vivid viewing of the Moon’s mountains and ridges and craters. Even a small ridge a few hundred meters high, which would be invisible from Earth most telescopes, casts a shadow many kilometres long… big enough to glimpse in a small scope. And the bigger the hill, the bigger the shadow.

Of course, some lunar surface features cast more dramatic shadows than others.

Where the terminator crosses the dark, flat lunar seas (or maria), you see no shadows at all… just a

Copernicus graces the terminator about nine days after new moon each month, and about five days before full moon. So it’s well placed for viewing in the evening… you

don’t need to stay up late. And if the timing’s right, you can watch sunlight fan out over Copernicus during the course of an evening. It’s a stirring sight to see the crater’s walls and central peaks catch the sun’s first rays, followed by the low-lying crater floor.

And while you can certainly see the crater in binoculars, a telescope gives you a much better view. Since the Moon is bright, you can use high magnification if you have steady air. Try dif ferent eyepieces and magnifications to see what gives you the best view. The image at the top of the page gives you an idea of what you can see at 200-300x.

Your next chance to see the sun rise over Copernicus is coming up on June 20-21, roughly. And like all lunar features, if you miss this sight one month, just wait 29 days to see it again.

Only 24 humans, al l Apollo astronauts, have witnessed sunrise on the Moon close up. It will be a long time before anyone returns to the Moon. But with a small scope, from your backyard or balcony, you too can see a magnificent sunrise over the craters and mountains of the Earth’s nearest neighbour.

A grand sight for all of us to see, surely, before we “kick the bucket.”

www.oneminuteastronomer.com

According to a new study, a star discovered 75 light-years away is no warmer than a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

Coldest star found - no hotter than fresh coffee

Bucket List Object #9: Sunrise on the Moon

Over the next several months, we present our totally subjective list of ten celestial sights to see before you die, or “kick the bucket”, as they say. We call it the “Bucket List for Backyard Stargazers”. Our list is targeted at the casual stargazer, with no special expertise or training or ambition other than to see some of the most beautiful, and in some cases, transient sights in nature. For some of these objects, you’ll need access to a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. Others require travel and good timing and luck. And for others, you need to simply look up. But all these sights are not that hard to see, once you know how and when and where to look for them. We’ll help you with that.

Left: A close-

up of Coperni-

cus taken by

Apollo 12.

Above: Copernicus is a prominent lunar impact crater located in eastern Oceanus Procellarum and is estimated to be about 800 million years old.

Alpha Camelopardalis, the bright star in the middle of this image, is a runaway star, moving at incredible speeds – astronomers believe could be zooming along at somewhere between 1.5 and 9.4 million miles per hour!!! The speed of this star is so fast, a huge bow shock is being created as the star moves through space. Alpha Cam’s bow shock can’t be seen in visible light, but WISE’s infrared detectors allow us to see this arc of heated gas and dust around the star.

Runaway stars are kicked into motion e i ther through the supernova explosion of a companion star or through gravitational interactions with other stars in a cluster. The WISE team explains the bow shock:

“Because Alpha Cam is a supergiant star, it gives off a very strong wind. When this fast-moving wind slams into the slower-moving interstellar material, a bow shock is created, similar to the wake in front of the bow of a ship in water. The stellar wind compresses the interstellar gas and dust, causing it to heat up and glow in infrared.”

Just as astronomers aren’t quite about the speed Alpha Cam is traveling, its distance is also somewhat uncertain, but it is probably somewhere between 1,600 and 6,900 light-years away. It is located in the constellation Camelopardis, near Ursa Major.


Runaway star creates quite a shock

Copernicus

An artist's impression of the brown dwarf CFBDSIR 1458 10b (right) and its binary companion

Faster than a speeding bullet, this supergiant star looks like it might be wearing a red cape.

A fast-moving star, Alpha Camelopardalis, creates a stunning bow shock in this new image from WISE.


Page - 3 Page - 10

hours—conducting the equivalent of two flybys a day and sending back reams of data from a suite of on board cameras and spectrographs.

For instance, being in orbit will allow the probe to take "ultra high-resolution images" of the planet's entire surface, said Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in D.C.

Mariner 10 captured just 45 percent of the cratered surface before moving on, and the three previous MESSENGER flybys didn't quite fill in the whole picture.

MESSENGER will also be studying Mercury's atmosphere and inner structure, as well as its magnetic environment, which changes rapidly due to the planet's close interaction with the sun.

"We will benefit tremendously from being there, rather than having to take drive-by snapshots," Solomon said.


NASA made history tonight as the MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the tiny planet Mercury.

At 9:10 p.m. engineers confirmed that the burn had occurred. By 9:45 p.m. the probe had turned its antenna back toward Earth and began transmitting more detailed data showing that the 15-minute burn was "clean"—indicating that the probe has entered orbit.

As with burn sequences during the craft's previous flybys, the team had contingencies in place if MESSENGER had failed to enter orbit, Sean Solomon, principal investigator of MESSENGER's science mission, told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday.

But the backup plans, he said, didn't involve an immediate retry and would have substantially changed the time line of the mission.

With orbital insertion complete, MESSENGER should start collecting science data by early April. During the probe's year-long mission, it will orbit Mercury twice every 24

Launched in 2004, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission marks the first time a craft has gone near Mercury since 1975, when NASA's Mariner 10 probe conducted flybys.

For the past six and a half years MESSENGER has been manoeuvring itself into an orbital path via so-called gravity assists, using the tugs from flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself to speed up and alter course.

At 8:45 p.m. ET, MESSENGER performed a "burn"—essentially "riding its brakes" by firing its main thruster—to slow the spacecraft enough to be captured by Mercury's gravity.

The mission control team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland was monitoring MESSENGER's progress from 96 million miles (155 million kilometres) away.



Success! MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit

Mercury

determine the cause of the safe mode event.

A safe mode is a measure the spacecraft takes to protect itself when something unexpected occurs. Kepler mission managers described what happens during a safe mode event:

“During safe mode, the spacecraft points the solar panels directly at

Kepler spacecraft back in action after computer glitch NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is back in planet-hunting action after a computer malfunction put it into “safe mode” for 144 hours (six days.) The anomaly occurred on March 14, 2011 immediately after the spacecraft issued a network interface card (NIC) reset command to start a computer program update.

the sun and begins to slowly rotate along a sun-aligned axis. This safe mode orientation provides the vehicle with the maximum power and limits the build up of momentum from solar wind.

The spacecraft also swapped to its backup subsystem interface box (SIB), an electronics component that provides thermal and power distribution control to all spacecraft subsystems, and powered off the photometer, the instrument used to measure light intensity to detect planets. This is a normal procedure when the spacecraft enters safe mode.”

Kepler spacecraft returned to science data collection at 2:45 p.m. EDT Sunday, March 20, 2011.

Kepler launched in 2009 to look for

Kid’s�Korner�

Deep Space 1 blasted off at 8:08 AM (Eastern Daylight Time) on October 24, 1998. It rode atop a Delta rocket, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. But how do space engineers know when to launch?

Well, nothing in space stands still. Everything either orbits around something else, or moves toward or away from something else. So how do space engineers aim a spacecraft so it lands on Mars or meets up with a particular comet or asteroid? Not only are Earth and the target constantly moving in their different orbits around the Sun, but our Earthly launch pad is spinning at

about 1,000 miles per hour when we launch the rocket!

Adding the motion makes it a lot harder to hit your target, doesn't it? Now imagine the target is on another spinning merry-go-round on the other side of the playground. Even if your paper balls w e r e r e a l b as ke tba l l s o r baseballs, you'd have a lot of trouble.

Timing is everything! In picking a time to launch, space engineers and scientists have to consider quite a number of things. Most of them have to do with getting the biggest boost possible from the big launch pad called planet Earth!

Earth goes around the sun at a brisk 107,000 kilometres per hour (66,000 miles per hour)! I f ou r i n te r p lane t a r y spacecraft is aimed in the same direction Earth is already going, it will get a big head start.

Also, Earth rotates eastward on its axis, one complete turn each day. At the equator, Earth's surface is rotating at 1675 kilometres per hour (1041 miles per hour)!

So if we launch the rocket toward the east, it will get another big boost from Earth's rotational motion.

Now, we launch eastward. We pick the time of launch (in Deep Space 1's case, early morning) to give the rocket time to accelerate as it goes partway around Earth. Then, when the spacecraft is headed in the same direction as Earth's orbital motion around the sun, the rocket gives it a final boost out of Earth orbit and on its way.

Using both the rotational motion of Earth on its axis and the orbital motion of Earth around the Sun, we can save a lot of fuel and a lot of time in getting to our far distant destination!

Ready. . . Aim. . . Blast off! Where do we want to go? Once we know that, we figure out the best time of year to launch based on where Earth will be in its orbit around the sun. Deep Space 1 will actually end up in orbit around the sun, too, but farther from the sun than we are. The launch was timed so that, after eight months or so of thrusting from Deep Space 1's ion engine, the spacecraft's orbit crossed the orbit of Asteroid Braille on July 29, 1999.

The best times to launch the rocket are called "launch windows." Usually, engineers will try for the beginning of the first launch window. However, several things can delay a launch.

For example, the weather might be bad. Or something might suddenly look a little funny with the spacecraft or the rocket or the ground communications. Or a boat or airplane might appear, even though they've been warned to keep their distance. Any of these could cause a delay until the next launch window or later in the same launch window.

As a glass window is an opening in a wall, a launch window is an opening in time for a successful rocket launch.

Launch a "Rocket" Above: An artist's impression of the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury.

alien worlds, hoping to find one like Earth in the just-right “Goldilocks Zone” around another star. So far, Kepler has discovered 1,235 possible planets, with 54 of those candidates in that potential habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Further study is needed to see if any of these planets have the potential to harbour life.

But given how many potential habitable planets were found in just one area of the sky, astronomers have estimated that our Milky Way galaxy could hold as many as 50 billion alien planets, with 2 billion of those being about the size of Earth


"Planet" from a spinning

During the reset, the NIC sent invalid reaction wheel data to the flight software, which caused the spacecraft to enter the self-protecting safe mode. The NIC is the interfaces between the spacecraft’s flight software, attitude determination, and its control subsystems and sensors. Mission managers said an anomaly response team will continue to evaluate the spacecraft data to


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Exercise your brainExercise your brainExercise your brainExercise your brain Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

c o n t e n t sc o n t e n t sc o n t e n t sc o n t e n t s Latest Astronomy and Space News MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury ............... 3

Kepler spacecraft back in action after computer glitch ........... 3

Coldest star found - no hotter than fresh coffee .................... 4

Runaway star creates quite a shock ...................................... 4

Why are Dobsonian telescopes a favourite for amateur astronomers? ...................................................................... 5

Dusty neighbour NGC 247 is a million light-years closer than thought ....................................................................... 6

Global Astronomy Month 2011 Free online activities .............. 6

Look to Orion and help measure the darkness of your night sky............................................................................. 7

The King and The Brightest entertain the Night Sky .............. 8

Bucket List Object #9: Sunrise on the Moon ......................... 9

Kids Section Kids Korner ....................................................................... 10

Quizzes and Games Exercise your brain ............................................................ 11

Monthly Sky Guide Beginners sky guide for April .............................................. 12

Internet Highlights Special content only available with the online version of the magazine ................................................................ 13

Front cover image: Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral

Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on

the west coast of the United States.

Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from

the California Nebula, also known as NGC1499, the classic emission nebula is

around 100 light-years long.

A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula can be spotted with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the

constellation of Perseus, not far from the Pleiades.

Credit & Copyright: Markus Noller

MAC meets on the first Tuesday of

the month in the Presbyterian Hall, High Street, Tullamore from 8pm.

All are welcome to attend. It also holds infrequent Observing

Nights at its Observing Site in

Clonminch, or at a member’s house (weather permitting) on the first

Friday of every month..

You can see more about the club and its events on


or contact the club via e-mail at [email protected]

Meetings are informal and are aimed at a level to suit all ages.

1. Compared to other stars,

how big is our Sun?

� Larger than most stars,

but not the largest � Very small

� Medium size

� Huge

2. Compared to Earth, how long is one day on

Mercury?

� About the same length as

one day on Earth

� Nearly two Earth months

long � About half of one day on

Earth � A little longer than one

day on Earth

3. Venus the brightest planet in our solar

system… but why is Venus so bright?

� It's not actually a planet,

it is a very small white dwarf star

� Its thick clouds reflect

sunlight � The Earth's atmosphere

makes it look bright � None of these

4. The dirt and hard

surface that we walk on

is very different from the core of the Earth. What

is the core of the Earth made of?

� Pure molten iron

� Molten gold

� Molten nickel and iron,

and some other elements � Water and methane ice

5. The planet Mars itself

might be weird, but

what is so weird about Mars' satellites, Phobos

and Deimos?

� They are irregularly

shaped � Neither of them have

any craters whatsoever � One orbits Mars in a

counter-clockwise direction, the other in a

clockwise direction � All of these

6. How long are Jupiter's seasons?

� The same length as

Earth's � Very long

� Jupiter doesn't have

seasons

� Very short

7. What day of the week

does Saturn translate to?

� Saturday

� Thursday

� Sunday

� It doesn't translate to a

day of the week

8. What colour is Uranus?

� Pink

� Multi-coloured

� Blue-green

� Purple

9. What is Neptune's

mantle made of?

� Molten rock

� Ammonia, water

� Liquid methane, water

� Water, ammonia, me-

thane ices

10.Pluto is a frigid cold

place, and has three frigid cold moons. What

are their names?

� Larissa, Nix, Triton

� Triton, Nix, Hydra

� Charon, Hydra, Nix

� Charon, Hydra, Titan

4 2 9 6

7 6 4

3

8 9 1

6 1 4 5 9 2

2 6 1

1

2 5 9

9 3 1 4

SUDOKU

Check your answers

Answer 1: The correct answer was Medium size. The Sun's diameter is

about 1.4 million kilometres, but some huge stars, like red giants, can be

millions and millions of kilometres in diameter!


Nearly two Earth months long. One day on Mercury is about 59 Earth days, to be precise. A day on Mercury may

be long, but one year is not at all! One year on Mercury is about 88 Earth

days.

Answer 3: The correct answer was Its thick clouds reflect sunlight. Venus is one of the brightest objects in the

night sky, after the moon. The atmosphere of Venus is made of 97%

carbon dioxide, and the thick swirling clouds are partly made of sulphuric

acid.

Answer 4: The correct answer was Molten nickel and iron, and some other elements. The core of the Earth is very

hot an estimated 3677 degrees Celsius!

Answer 5: The correct answer was They are irregularly shaped. The

names Phobos and Deimos come from the Greek language, Phobos meaning

fear and Deimos meaning panic, or terror. Phobos and Deimos are thought

to have once been asteroids, but the Martian gravitational field pulled them

into Mars' orbit.

Answer 6: The correct answer was Jupiter doesn't have seasons. Jupiter

doesn't have seasons because it is tilted only 3 degrees on its axis.


Saturday. Here is what each celestial object translates to as a day of the week: Monday = The Moon; Tuesday

= Mars; Wednesday = Mercury; Thursday = Jupiter; Friday = Venus;

Saturday = obviously, Saturn and Sunday = The Sun.


Blue-green. Uranus is a blue-green colour because the methane in the upper layer of the atmosphere absorbs

red light.

Answer 9: The correct answer was Water, ammonia, methane ices.

Neptune has the strongest winds in the solar system- wind speeds that have

been discovered are around 2253 kmh!

Answer 10: The correct answer was Charon, Hydra, Nix. Charon was discovered in 1978 and Nix and Hydra

were discovered in 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope.

binocular target. M44 is a loose open cluster containing about 400 stars and is located approximately 500 light-years away.


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Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

Issue 23- April, 2011

Latest Astronomy and Space News

Kids Astronomy

Quizzes and Games

Monthly Sky Guide

Internet Highlights

Sky Guide - Beginner’s targets for April

Club Notes

Club Observing:

Remember the next club meets every first Friday of the month for our observing sessions held in the MAC grounds. If you

wish to be informed of these sessions please email your name and mobile number to [email protected] who will

confirm if the session is going ahead (depending on weather).

MAC is a proud member of

General notes As spring starts to quicken everything into life again, so meteor activity begins to pick up too. The first northern shower of any note is the Lyrids which has no Moon this year. April has something of a reputation for producing more than its share of sporadic fireballs, though some of this impression may result from the occasional spectacular Lyrid fireball. Lyrid meteors can be seen from April 16-25, and the shower should peak on April 22. The year there is a Waning Gibbous moon. Shower gazing conditions will not be ideal. The moon will obstruct all but the brightest of Lyrid meteors. The average ZHR is 18, and tends to be lower the further the maximum happens away from the "ideal" time. Lyrids are medium-fast meteors, and can be very bright sometimes. Telescope Targets We'll start the month off in Cancer with M44 (The Beehive Cluster). To find M44, find Regulus (the bright star in the backwards question mark in Leo) and Pollux in Gemini (the star closer to Regulus in the twins). About halfway between these two is M44. M44 can be seen with the naked eye from a dark site. Use your lowest power eyepiece to try and get the entire cluster into view. M44 makes a nice

Next we'll move on to another open cluster in Cancer, M67. To find M67, again we'll use Regulus, but this time Procryon will be the other star. About halfway between these two stars is M67. M67 is one of the older open clusters with age estimates from 5 - 10 billion years old. It contains about 500 stars and is located approx. 2500 light-years from us. Next, we'll move on to a galaxy. M51 (The Whirpool Galaxy) is one of the skies premier galaxies. Through scopes of 8" or larger, the spiral arms become evident and large scopes show the galaxy in all of it's spiral glory. To locate M51, find Alkaid (the star at the end of the Big Dipper's handle). Just below Alkaid is M51. Also visible with M51 is the companion galaxy NGC 5195. You'll need a very dark site to spot these, but it's well worth the trip. Distance estimates to these galaxies range from 15 million to 40 million light-years away. Moving back over toward Leo, find the triangle of stars to the left of the backwards question mark. The point of the triangle

points at the magnificent Virgo Cluster. I could take pages trying to explain which galaxies are which here so I'll just say point your scope in that direction and scan the area. Even in small instruments several galaxies at a time will be visible in the same field of view. General notes Check ou t www .heav en s -above.com for the latest passes of the International Space Station and satellites, details of Space Shuttle launches and passes and for details of Iridium Flare activity. Clear skies and good hunting!

By Kevin Daly http://members.aol.com/kdaly10475/index.html

Above: Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Cancer is small and its stars are faint. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to the east, Lynx to the north and Canis Minor and Hydra to the south.

Above: A sky chart showing the centre of the Lyrid meteor shower. Look for the star Vega as a guide.

Above: The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer and is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System.

Above: The M51 galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars.


Page - 14 Page - 13

Each month we will try and bring you the best of the web for astronomy online resources such as movies, podcasts and free software. If you have any suggestions for content in these pages please contact us at [email protected]

Please click on the links provided to view the material and not the images.

boosters helps give a sense of scale of how big these SRBs are. This is from shuttle Discovery’s final mission, STS-133, and comes complete w i th underwater breathing sounds!


NASA shot some very unique high-definition footage of teams recovering the space shuttle’s solid rocket booster segments, including under-water shots of divers working on the recovery in the Atlantic Ocean. Seeing the divers and other recovery team members around the



How to Recover a Solid Rocket Booster

Every planetary body is a source of radio waves, but Saturn seems to be split in two regarding the radio waves controlled by the planet’s rotation. Saturn emits radio waves known as Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR), and an instrument

on the Cassini spacecraft recently determined that the variations in these radio waves are different in the northern and southern hemi-spheres.


Internet Highlights

Useful free astronomy resources

IFAS Website

h p://www.irishastronomy.org

Stellarium

h p://www.stellarium.org

Virtual Moon Atlas

h p://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html

Celes'a

h p://www.sha ers.net/celes'a/index.html

Sky Maps

h p://skymaps.com/index.html

Heavens-Above

h p://www.heavens-above.com/

Has Saturn a split radio personality?

http://www.universetoday.com/84317/saturn-has-a-split-radio-personality/

How the Universe Was Formed

http://www.deepastronomy.com/star-astronomy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%

3A+DeepAstronomy+%28Deep+Astronomy%29

Exoplanets: The first Earth-sized world of Kepler

http://www.deepastronomy.com/exoplanet-first-kepler.html

Epic voyage through the Universe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlAkCeQZxwg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cWR_MHkuBMU

Simply Stunning Aurora Video from Norway

around Kirkenes and Pas National Park in the very north part of Norway, which borders Russia, at 70 degrees north and 30 degrees east.

Temperatures during the week of

Photographer Terje Sorgjerd spent a week capturing what he called “one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years,” and the results are simply stunning.

The footage was shot in and http://vimeo.com/21294655

photography were around -25 Celsius, Sorgjerd said.


NASA's Messenger Mission to Mercury (Infographic)

http://www.space.com/11102-mercury-nasa-messenger-mission-

infographic.html

Robonaut 2 unleashed and joins first human-robot space crew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature= player_embedded&v=Hkagxtiy1-M

mac april 2011 magazine

Documents