diablo moonwatch - nasa · cloaking devices: past, present & future president’s corner...
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volume 61, number 5 • may 2010 • www.mdas.net
diablo MoonwatchMount Diablo Astronomical Society
An Anniversary Gift From Hubble Rob Haitsma
The image above was released by NASA to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. Reminiscent of the fa-mous “Pillars of Creation” image that was another of Hubble’s masterpieces... We need to reflect on just how important Hubble is/was in adding to our knowledge of the Universe around us. Perhaps no other man-made object has contributed as much in such a short time as Hubble has. Yes, there will be other larger, more powerful telescopes Earth-bound and in orbit, but Hubble has set the standard high and now we get to see how they respond to the challenge. What we will learn will be marvelous.
Pillar and Jets HH 901/902Hubble Space Telescope
NASA and the Moon: A New Generation of Lunar DiscoveriesMDAS May Meeting - Main Speakers Marni Berendsen
What’s NASA’s interest in the Moon? Join us on May 25th for the latest developments.
Much has happened in the field of lunar science since the Apollo landings decades ago. Delia Santiago and Dr. Kim Ennico of NASA Ames, will discuss recent science missions to the Moon and how our knowledge of the Moon has changed drastically in just the past year - including the exciting discovery of water on the surface by the LCROSS mission.
Our speakers will tell us how NASA is engaging with scientists worldwide to do lunar science here on Earth and to train the next generation of lunar scientists for future explorations. They will also introduce us to a new lunar citizen science project called Moon Zoo. Learn how YOU can contribute to our knowledge of the Moon by participating.
Dr. Kim Ennico has been a staff scientist at NASA Ames Research Center since September 2000. For three years, she was the LCROSS Payload Scientist and the LCROSS Payload Integration & Test Manager, and has continued analyzing data from this mission which successfully impacted the Moon in October 2009.
Delia Santiago joined the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) based at NASA Ames Research Center in January 2009. She works with interactive media and science collaboration tools to engage with both the public and researchers inside and outside of NASA.
Mark your calendar for Tuesday, May 25th and find out how to become a Moon Zooite.
Meeting information: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=14585
Upcoming program:June 22: Dr. Steven Beckwith, The Dawn of Creation: The First Two Billion YearsJuly 27: Jim Scala and Mike Harms Debate: Manned vs. Robotic Exploration?
Dr. Kim Ennico
For more information:
Delia Santiagohttp://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/bios/delia-santiago
LRO & LCROSS : One-on-One Chat with LCROSS Scientist Kimberly Ennicohttp://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/lro/lcross_Interview.html
NASA Quest – Space Team Onlinehttp://quest.nasa.gov/people/bios/space/ennico.html
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Delia Santiago
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For more information:
Wikipedia: Quasarshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar
Frequently Asked Questions About Quasarshttp://www.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/faq/quasars.html
Gene Smith’s Astronomy Tutorial: Quasars & Active Galaxieshttp://cass.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/Quasars.html
Ancient, Distant, Violent Beyond Comprehension - Quasars!MDAS May Meeting - What’s Up? Dick Flask
We’re all familiar with observing nearby eye-candy such as M13, the Andromeda Galaxy, Saturn and the Veil Nebula to name a few, observing quasars dazzles the mind more than the eye. For the past decade, I have sought to answer the question: “How far can I see with my telescope?” That seemingly simple question belies delightful complexities just below the surface. Distance, space, velocity, and red shift are not the simple popularized astronomy concepts as commonly understood.
The oldest, most distant, and unimaginably violent objects amateur astronomers can observe are quasars. The methodology for hunting them down and observing them, however, is a bit more challenging than punching “M-22” into a goto keypad and watch-ing your scope slew over to the intended target.
This “What’s Up” ponders the meaning of the basic distance question, the current understanding of quasars, and the observing techniques you can use to bag one of these elusive enigmas for yourself.
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Cloaking Devices: Past, Present & Future
President’s Corner Liede-Marie Haitsma
In the 1931 novel “Brigands of the Moon” author Ray Cummings wrote about an invisible cloak. In the 1960’s Star Trek programs the Klingons and Romulans had the possibility for the spaceships to disappear-they were cloaking. Russian physicist Victor Veselago first theorized in 1967 that materials with a negative index of refraction were possible. It wasn’t until 2005-2006 that such substances were actually created.
In 2006 a paper was published in one of the UK Royal Society’s scientific journals on a study done on cloaking devices by two math-ematicians, Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton. They wrote “the phenomenon is analogous to a tuning fork (which rings with a single sound frequency) being placed next to a wine glass. The wine glass will start to ring with the same frequency (it resonates). The cloaking effect would exploit a resonance with light waves rather than sound waves.” It is still at the beginning stage and only dust particles were being cloaked.
Professor Sir John Pendry, Imperial College London UK, has come up with a devise called a superlens. It forces light to behave in unusual ways. “Superlenses-instead of having a positive refractive index-the property which makes light bend as it passes through a prism or water-the materials have a negative refractive index, which effectively makes light travel backwards”.
Professor Milton’s team calculated that when certain objects are placed next to superlenses, the light bouncing off them is essen-tially erased by light reflecting off the superlens, making the object invisible.
In 2010 a photonic metamaterial cloak was created by Dr Tolga Ergin, Karlsrule Institute of Technology in Germany, and his team. The concept is to transform space with a material influencing the behavior of light rays. It is based on a design known as a “carpet cloak” first proposed by Professor Sir John Pendry, who also took part in this study. The idea was originally designed to work in two dimensions but when reconfigured Dr Ergin and his colleagues realized that they could build a structure that would work in three dimensions. They were able to demonstrate invisibility in three dimensions.
Professor Ortwin Hess, University of Surrey UK, said that this study was a “huge step forward”, and “demonstrated a remarkable proof of principle”.
For more information:
Wikipedia: Cloaking Deviceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaking_device
Is it Possible to Make a Cloaking Device?http://science.howstuffworks.com/cloaking-device.htm
A Real Cloaking Devicehttp://www.popsci.com/node/31078
Is Cloaking Technology for U.S. Infantrymen Final-ly Possible?http://www.defensereview.com/is-cloaking-technol-ogy-for-us-infantry-warfighters-finally-possible/
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Now all Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazine subscriptions renewals will be handled online – AT THE CLUB DISCOUNT RATE!
All MDAS members have been added to our member roster on Night Sky Network.
Here are the easy steps to subscribe to magazines:
1. Go to the Night Sky Network magazine renewal link: http://www.astrosociety.org/magazine/2. Select the magazine to which you wish to subscribe and follow the instructions on the form.
If you don’t have access to a computer, any MDAS member can help you renew your subscription through the same link. Contact Marni Berendsen 925-930-7431 for assistance.
Renewed Your Magazines Subscriptions Yet? Here’s HowMarni Berendsen
Astro Classifieds
I have a Konusmotor 114 (4.5”, 900mm, f/8) equatorial reflec-tor telescope with tripod available for sale. I got it in August 2008, but have never set it up or used it.
After attending some star parties, I realized rather quickly that I was more interested in stargazing with the naked eye. I wonder if anyone might be interested in purchasing it. Thanks for your help. Nancy Brown - [email protected]
I am selling my Celestron ASGT mount.It is lightly used (like new), and includes the usual “lighter 12v” power cord, 11lb weight. and a 11.5” heavy duty dovetail.
I am asking $450, and would be happy to deliver in the Dia-blo Valley area. I am moving to a heavier mount to handle a new larger scope.
Thank you.
Ron Sigourney - [email protected] - 925-686-9217
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While You Observe Saturn This Spring, Think About LifeJim Scala
Saturn showing seven of its eight moons that can be observed through eight inch or larger telescopes. The eighth, Iapetus was out of the field when the four images were taken to make this composite capturing the rings and moons.
The golden star high in the east at sunset is Saturn which is an inspiring sight in any telescope; even binoculars. Saturn’s rings have just gone past being on edge to our line of sight although they’ll decrease to about 2° in early May. Then, over the next 16 years the rings will slowly widen and become even more beautiful. During May the rings are a test of your visual acuity and the seeing be-cause to see them as rings isn’t easy and takes a telescope of about five inches or larger. Six and possibly eight of Saturn’s moons are visible in eight inch or larger telescopes against a dark sky.
Saturn as it appeared on April 6th and will ap-pear in modest telescopes through the spring. At this time the rings were tilted about 2°. By October they will have an angle of over 6° and10° by next January and it gets better after that.
In recent years Saturn’s moons Titan and Encel-adus have attracted scientific attention because they might hold life’s precursors and possibly life itself. “How could that be?” You might ask that because they’re so cold. Read on because there’s a strong possibility life got started in the cold; besides Enceladus may have a warm interior as its consistent water plume suggests. First consider that life could have started in a cold place. I hope you’ll read on and you’ll think about some of these things while you’re looking at Saturn and trying to pick its Moons from among the stars.
Following some early “origin of life experiments,” by Harold Urey (Nobel Prize in chemistry) and Stanley Miller, Dr. Buford Price and others have followed up and expanded on their early experiments. Price showed that when ice crystals form they maintain micro-scopic channels that concentrate organic chemicals and their reactions continue making the chemicals including amino acids and hydrocarbons to name a few that are essential for life. More, everywhere we look in our solar system’s cold regions such as comets, the molecules of life from methane, amino acids and others including the basic subunits of DNA. Indeed, Price and his colleagues make a good case for a cold origin of life in addition to, or in place of the hot origins that most scientists have accepted. Having more than one possible environment is better.
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The Cassini Satellite which discovered Enceladus’ water plume spewed was sent back to get more information and it has shown that it contains methane among other organic materials. It also strongly suggests there’s liquid water below the surface. With the satel-lite data in mind Dr Chris McKay (NASA scientist) proposed we send a satellite to get samples of the Enceladus plume and analyze ratios of methane to other hydrocarbons and nitrogen because the ratios could disclose life and even pre life, or in scientific terms pre-biology. Either biology or pre-biology on Enceladus would be our most profound scientific finding ever. However, Titan, Saturn’s largest moon holds even more mysteries.
Titan, over 5,100 KM is second only to Jupiter’s Moon Ganymede and is a very strange place. Titan has a dense hydrocarbon atmo-sphere, lakes of methane and other hydrocarbons and water rocks. Yes, rocks made of water ice. If that’s not enough it rains and snows on Titan; however not like on earth. Rather on Titan it could rain light hydrocarbons and sleet other heavier hydrocarbons. Hence the surface would be a strange place with “snow drifts,” except the drifts would be made of hydrocarbons. However, some scientists now suggest that deep down Titan could also have liquid water. Add to that, the incredible plethora of organic materials and all the elements of life are present. It’s just cold there, but Dr Price has shown that might not be an impediment.
As you observe Saturn and its moons this spring and summer I hope I’ve given you some things to think about as you peer through the eyepiece. Clearly the basic questions about life’s origins won’t be answered any time soon. However, humor never hurts and helps us not take ourselves too seriously; could the cartoonist have the answer?
Here’s another take on the origin of life.
For more information:
Wikipedia: Moons of Saturnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Saturn
Cassini Equinox Mission: Saturn’s Moonshttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/
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2010 Yosemite Star PartyLeRoy Wiens
The MDAS date for the annual Yosemite Star Party extravaganza is August 14-15th.
This is a third-quarter moon weekend with moonrise after midnight. The public star parties are scheduled for both Friday and Satur-day evenings. The public usually thins out after about 10 or 11pm., so you can enjoy the dark skies as you wish after that.
You can pick up a flier at the MDAS meetings, and I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to visit Yosemite with free entry to the park and free camping at Bridalveil Campground. It is a spectacular place for a Star Party, as you can see from this photo taken during set-up a couple of years ago.
Contact me at 925-689-9924 or email [email protected] if you need more information.
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President:Liede-Marie Haitsma, [email protected] President:Chris Ford, [email protected]:Wil Roberge, [email protected]:Malinda “Moon” Trask, [email protected]
Board members:Publicity/Member-At-Large: Steve [email protected]
Meeting Program Chair: Marni [email protected]
What’s Up? Program Chair: James [email protected]
Outreach Program Chair/Member-At-Large/AANC Rep: Jim Head - [email protected]
Observation Activities Chair/Member-At-Large: Richard [email protected]
WAA Representative: Jon [email protected]
Web Design: Glenn [email protected]
Newsletter Editor: Rob [email protected]
Mailing address:MDASP.O. Box 4889Walnut Creek, CA 94596-3754
Meetings are held:Fourth Tuesday every month, except on the third Tuesday in November and December.Refreshments and conversations are at 6:45pm.Meetings begin at 7:15pm.Where: Concord Police Association Facility5060 Avila Road, top of the hill.Take Avila Road from Willow Pass Road.Directions to facility:http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club-view-directions.cfm?Address_ID=18
Other Astro Events
RTMC linkshttp://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/general.htmlgeneral infohttp://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/detailed.htmdetailed infohttp://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/registration.htmlregistrationhttp://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/vendors.htmvendor info
GSSP linkshttp://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/general infohttp://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/home/2009-registrationregistrationhttp://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/home/rules-guidelinesrules & guidelineshttp://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/events-scheduleevent schedule
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MDAS Meetings and Viewing Events in May 2010
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Mount Diablo Astronomical SocietyP.O. Box 4889Walnut Creek, CA. 94596-3754