fine weather rewards picnickers · 2014-10-04 · rvas members who bring telescopes have free...
TRANSCRIPT
Volume 31—Number 10 October 2014
Roanoke Valley Astronomical
Society Amateur Astronomy News and Views
In Southwestern Virginia
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 1 of 14
Following a day of clouds and rain, Saturday, September
20th dawned to a nearly all-blue sky. The forecast for
good weather for the Society’s 2014 picnic and star
party was on its way to becoming a reality!
A total of 34 RVAS and family members turned out for
our annual bash, our third consecutive year for holding
the event at the Claytor Nature Study Center, about
(Picnic Continued on page 7)
Annual RVAS Picnic and Star Party
Fine Weather Rewards Picnickers
2014’s Picnickers: (kneeling, left to right) Noah Abdelhadi and Ben, Randy, Nico and Vivian Sowden; (front row) Maxine Fraade,
Bev Suhr, Carolyn Baratta, Mark Hodges, Paul Caffrey, Robin Jones and Remona and Dave Thomas; (second row) Kim Wade,
George Blanar, Jeff Suhr, Frank Baratta, Mary Erickson, Rand Bowden, Sharon Stinnette, Michael Good, Genevieve and John
Goss, Emily Hamilton and Josh Jones; (back row) Chris Wade, Meighan and Mark Erickson, Clark Thomas, Fred Davis, Nasser
and Kasey Abdelhadi, Tom Skelly and Kevin Hamilton.
Photo by Dave Thomas
By Frank Baratta
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 2 of 14
The Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society is a membership organization of amateur astronomers dedicated to the pursuit of observational and photographic astronomical activities. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. See calendar on last page of news-
letter for location. Meetings are open to the public. Observing sessions are held one or two weekends a month at a dark-sky site. Yearly dues are: Individual, $20.00; Senior Individual, $18.00; Family, $25.00; Senior Family, $22.00; Student, $10.00. Articles, quotes, etc. published in the
newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the RVAS or its editor.
Officers/Executive Committee/Editor/Webmaster Michael Good, President ([email protected] )
Rand Bowden, Vice President ([email protected]) Dan Chrisman, Secretary ([email protected])
Jeff Suhr, Treasurer ([email protected]) Carol Mesimer, Member at Large ([email protected])
Frank Baratta, Immediate Past President ([email protected]) Michael Good, Past President ([email protected])
David E. Thomas, RVAS Newsletter Editor ([email protected])
Roger Pommerenke & David E. Thomas, Webmaster ([email protected])
RVAS web page: http://rvasclub.org
October’s the time for telescopes and wine!
October is a grand month for observing with its clearer skies and earlier sunsets. Two opportunities allow RVAS
members to show off their telescopes while interacting with the public in fun settings.
1. Friday October 3. Virginia Mountain Vineyards holds its annual event, “Wine, Moon, and Stars” at their
winery just north of Fincastle. RVAS members who bring telescopes have free admission. The event begins at
6:00 p.m. The sun sets at 6:58 with Saturn becoming visible just past 7:30. The moon will be near first quarter
and can be viewed from 6 p.m until the event ends about 9:00. From past experiences, wine drinkers love viewing
the moon!
2. Saturday October 11. Blue Ridge Vineyards between Buchanan and Eagle Rock just off highway 43 is having
a musical wine tasting with the Star City Swag band. RVAS members who bring telescopes have free admission.
The event begins at 5 p.m. but telescopes won’t be needed until after the sun sets about 6:50. Saturn is sinking
lower in the southwest but is still visible from 7:30 p.m. until, perhaps, 8 p.m. The moon will not rise until 9:15,
allowing stargazers to see the glorious southern Milky Way with its many nebulae, open star clusters, and globu-
lar star clusters.
Please let John Goss ([email protected]; 966-4606) know if you would like to join the fun!
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 3 of 14
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) is a partnership of North America, Europe, and
East Asia, in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, and
is the largest ground-based global astronomy endeavor
in history.
Composed of 66 high-precision antennas and located on
an excellent site at 16,500-feet elevation on the
Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, ALMA is delivering
to astronomers orders of magnitude improvements in
sensitivity, frequency coverage, and resolution for milli-
meter and submillimeter imaging and spectra, impacting
virtually every field of astrophysics and opening multi-
ple new scientific frontiers.
ALMA’s capabilities span a key part of the electromag-
netic spectrum for observing the first stars and galax-
ies, directly imaging planet formation, studying super-
massive black holes in galaxies, and much more.
This talk will discuss ALMA’s origins and history, its
state-of-the-art technical capabilities, and its primary
scientific goals. Innovative aspects of its design, con-
struction, and operations will be highlighted, including
recent compelling science results and the key roles of
the North American ALMA Science Center in Virginia
and the Joint ALMA Observatory in Chile.
October’s Presentation
The ALMA:
New Window on Our Cosmic Origins
Mark T. Adams
ALMA Operations Support Facility situated at 2,900
meters in Chile.
Photo: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO), W. Garnier
Acknowledgement: General Dynamics C4 Systems
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 4 of 14
Mark Adams is a professional astronomer who
works at the National Radio Astronomy Observato-
ry (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he
leads the Observatory’s Communications Office.
Mark was born in Baltimore and was raised in Mar-
yland and Pennsylvania. He earned an undergradu-
ate astronomy degree (B.S.) from the Pennsylvania
State University. At the University of Arizona, he
earned his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1981 (thesis dis-
sertation: “An Observational Study of Low-Mass
Star Formation in NGC 2264”).
After 13 years working in the defense industry in
Florida, Mark returned to astronomy in 1994 as the
Site Director for the University of Texas -
McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of
far west Texas. Mark moved to Charlottesville and
the NRAO in January 2004. He currently leads in-
ternal and external communications for the NRAO,
including outreach to the US and international sci-
entific communities. Mark’s scientific interests
range from the early stages of stellar evolution to
meteors. He has written numerous professional and
popular articles on astronomy and natural history,
and a book, Chasing Birds across Texas: A Birding
Big Year (Texas A&M University Press, 2003).
Upcoming Speaker
Mark T. Adams, Ph.D.
Cone, Fox Fur and Snowflake Nebulae in Infrared
Spitzer Image of NGC 2264.
Photo by SIRTF/NASA/ESA.
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 5 of 14
The 2013 meeting of the Mid East Region of the Astro-
nomical League (MERAL) was held at the Green Bank
Star Quest. The Library Loaner Telescope Program was
described and a drawing was held for an Orion 4.5 inch
StarBlast Dobsonian Telescope and an 8-24 mm zoom
Celestron eyepiece. The winner was to give the tele-
scope and eyepiece to his or her club to modify and do-
nate to the local library system.
The lucky winner was the RVAS's own Vipin Trivedi!
In August 2014, Dan Chrisman, Frank Baratta, and
John Goss devoted an afternoon to modifying the tele-
scope to make it easier to use and to make it library
ready. The manual later was revised to reflect the
scope's alterations and to include new sections on iden-
tifying planets.
On Friday September 19, John Goss presented the li-
brary telescope to Michael Meise and Diana Rosapepe
of the South County branch of Roanoke City Libraries.
They aim to have it catalogued and entered into the
system by the end of September so patrons can begin
checking it out as they do books.
This marks the third Library Telescope in the Roanoke
area, with the first one being donated by the RVAS to
the Blue Ridge Library in June 2012 and the second
being donated by an individual to the Williamson Road
Library in August 2014. That particular loaner scope
will be presented to the public on October 7.
Thank you, Vipin Trivedi for making the South County
telescope possible!
RVAS donates telescope to
the South County Library
By John Goss
South County Telescope
Photo by John Goss
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 6 of 14
The Sun in Ha, with Prominences
( Comparing the size of the earth in relation to the Solar Disc and a Solar Prominence )
Member Observations
Photos of the Solar disc and Frank Baratta adjusting the RVAS Solar telescope, by Dave Thomas
Solar disc photo taken through the eyepiece of the Solar scope. Earth from space photo by NASA
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 7 of 14
five miles northwest of Bedford. As is always the case,
there was no lack of food, fun and fellowship.
Our event began, technically, at 3:00 p.m., but picnick-
ers arrived from that time until shortly before the pic-
nic dinner began at about 5:00 p.m. Mark Hodges, who
had been unable to attend last year due to his work
schedule, performed flawlessly as our Grille Chef Du
jour.
While setting up and preparing for dinner, we also set
up the club’s Coronado Solar scope for views of the late
-September sun before it dipped below the treetops.
At first the sun seemed rather inactive, but soon a
number of solar prominences were seen, including one
huge outburst that appeared like a wall of flame at
about one o’clock on the edge of the solar disk.
With Mark ensuring that everyone had all the burgers
and hot dogs they desired, the group enjoyed the vari-
ous dishes, salads, desserts and other edibles everyone
had brought. So many delectable items graced the ta-
ble, it’s hard to single out any, but it wouldn’t be unfair
to commend RVAS Vice President Rand Bowden for the
“Trifle” dessert—glass pedestal bowl and all—that he
made and contributed for our eating pleasure!
Around 6:00 or so, dinner was winding down and it was
time for the door prize segment of our day. RVAS
President Michael Good gathered us together and hand-
ed out the door prize tickets, and the drawings began.
A dozen prizes were given away, ranging from a free
2015 Astronomical Calendar, the over-sized, annual vol-
ume by Guy Ottewell, to the ever popular RVAS mug.
Congratulations to the following winners:
Dave Thomas – Astronomical Calendar
Fred Davis – Free RVAS Membership
Randy Sowden – Free RVAS Membership
Emily Hamilton – “Curiosity” (book)
Mary Erickson – “Destination Mars” (book)
Josh Jones – “The Celestial Sampler” (book)
Vivian Sowden – “The Planets” (book)
Carolyn Baratta – “Starry Night” (book)
Chris Wade – Deep Space Mysteries Calendar Kim Wade – Deep Space Mysteries Calendar *
Robin Jones – RVAS Mug *
Paul Caffrey – RVAS Mug
(* Kim Wade and Robin Jones traded prizes with each
other, since Chris Wade had also won one of the wall
calendars.)
Following the drawings, Michael made several announce-
ments and spoke to the group about the many outreach
requests that had been received by the club, only a few
of which we are currently able to satisfy. He also
brought everyone up to date regarding our Library
Loaner Telescope (LiTel) program. John Goss, Dan
Chrisman and Frank Baratta had gotten together on
August 11th to outfit the scope won for the club by Vipin
Trivedi. Dr. Trivedi had entered our club’s name in the
drawing held by the Mid-East Region of the Astronomi-
cal League (MERAL) at its meeting during the 2013
Green Bank Star Quest. This scope becomes the third
now put into service at area libraries, in this case at
Roanoke County’s South County branch. The others are
located at the Botetourt County Library in Blue Ridge
and the Roanoke City Library Williamson Road branch.
The latter telescope was actually purchased by the li-
brary and outfitted by John. All are loaned to patrons
just like books, and are in high demand. We will contin-
ue preparing telescopes, and members interested in par-
ticipating can contact Michael at presi-
[email protected] for more information.
(Picnic Continued from page 1)
(Picnic Continued on page 8)
RVAS President Michael Good jests with Paul Caffrey, who had
just added another club mug to his collection.
Photo by Frank Baratta
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 8 of 14
Michael then called on Frank to engage the group in a
“Name the Constellation” game, which could be played
for a prize or just for fun. Everyone playing received a
map of the constellations visible this evening and a
sheet listing the constellation names, the goal being to
match each numbered star pattern with its name.
Those willing to reveal how many they identified could
compete for the prize. The players were given 5
minutes to name as many patterns as possible. When
time was called, Frank led the group through the an-
swers. The top scorer—surprise, surprise—was Mark
Hodges, who, along with being the Science Museum of
Western Virginia’s chief technician, has long been its
planetarium operator! His prize was a NASA DVD on
the New Horizons spacecraft scheduled to arrive at
Pluto in July 2015. Congratulations, Mark!
The time had arrived to clean up what remained on our
dinner tables. While that proceeded, Clark Thomas
(16” truss Dobsonian), Fred Davis and Sharon Stin-
nette (6” refractor), Josh and Robin Jones (8” Dob-
sonian) and Mark Hodges (11” SCT) began setting up
their scopes; meanwhile, Michael Good set up his tripod
-mounted 11x80 binoculars. As dusk neared, Saturn and
Mars could be seen approaching, and soon dipping below,
the treetops in the southwest.
This night, full darkness would arrive at about 8:45
p.m., but well before then it became apparent that sig-
nificant dewing was in store for the scopes. Early on,
this began to affect Mark, who, unfortunately, had left
his dew shield at home. Dewing also held Clark back;
for quite a while he kept his scope pointed horizontally
to avoid collecting moisture on his optics. Fred and
Sharon and Robin and Josh were able to continue using
their scopes to enjoy the night. Much of the southern
half of the sky from the observing field adjacent to the
Center’s picnic pavilion suffers from skyglow from near-
by Bedford, but the northern half of the sky is quite
nice. However, there’s not a whole lot you can do once
dew begins to collect. Still, considering the poor quality
of the weather we’ve been experiencing, just being out
under a mostly clear sky for a while is not to be under-
valued.
By about 9:15 most everyone had packed it in for the
night. Sharon had the key for the education and re-
search building; she and Fred and Michael remained as
the last scopes were packed away. Shortly after 9:30,
they too departed for the evening.
Thanks to Guy Ottewell and John Goss for providing
three of our door prizes. And thanks, of course, to Mi-
chael, Sharon and everyone who planned and attended
our 2014 event. It was great fun!
(Picnic Continued from page 7)
Mark Hodges, “Griller In-Chief”.
Photo by Dave Thomas
RVAS President Michael Good sets up his 11x80 binoculars
Photo by Dave Thomas
Picnic Photos
(Photos Continued on page 9)
Good food and conversation
Photo by John Goss
(Photos Continued from page 8) More Photos
(Photos Continued on page 10)
RVAS President Michael Good plays the “Birdiee Golf” Game
Photo by John Goss
Delicious food aplenty
Photo by John Goss
E.T. Phone home
E.T., disguised as binoculars
Photo by John Goss Frank Baratta adjusts the Solar scope
Photo by Dave Thomas
Yummy deserts
Photo by Dave Thomas
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 9 of 14
Mark, John, Genevieve, and Paul, confer
Photo by Dave Thomas
(Photos Continued from page 9) More photos
Paul Caffrey Wins another RVAS coffee mug
Photo by Dave Thomas
Observing the Sun through the Solar scope
Photo by John Goss
RVAS President Michael Good presents another coffee
mug, and the lucky recipient is, Robin Jones
Photo by Dave Thomas
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 10 of 14
Panorama of Claytor Nature Center
By Michael Good
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 11 of 14
Carl Sagan said in the first Cosmos: "Absence of evi-dence is not evidence of absence." What greater
"absence" is there than something critically relevant
being forever beyond our direct measurements on an
individual basis? This challenge can apply on a very small
scale, or on a scale as large as the multiverse.
There are indirect work-arounds that can help us "see
the unseeable." This strategy for finding truth was well
expressed by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock
Holmes: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
He also said: "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most im-portant." (brainyquote.com)
The history of science is filled with established error
passing as comfortable fact, and with new truth being
opposed as heresy. English philosopher Bertrand Russell
put it this way: "The fact that an opinion has been wide-ly held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd."
Those who chose to burn Giordano Bruno at the stake in
1600 were good people in their own minds, protecting
Truth against disruptive heresy. Bruno's real crime was
envisioning life on planets around stars in the sky. To-
day's technology is just approaching what Bruno visual-
ized over 400 years ago. In the future our instruments
are likely to confirm what he visualized.
In Bruno's case we are talking about seeing the condi-tional unseeable, as a matter of time and technology.
Neither time nor technology allows us mortals to direct-
ly see and/or measure forever unseeables. The lesser
can never fully know the greater, and our powers of ob-
servation are definitely less than the majesty of all
that is.
There are distances outward, and distances inward.
Both directions inflict limits on our scientific technolo-
gies. We can never see all the way to the end of our uni-
verse, and beyond. Equally, we can hardly see below the
level of atoms at 10^-10 m, and are a long way from di-
rectly observing corpuscular entities approaching
Planck's dimension (10^-35 meters), below which no la-
boratory technology can measurably penetrate. Never-
theless, that's where the most exciting science lies!
There is one instrument that can penetrate the super-
small, as well as the super-large. It is the human mind,
following the trail of logic and visual imagination. The
purely imaginary world is full of attractive ideas and
theses (some of which are developed into religions), and
nearly all of which are likely in error, due to an intellec-
tual version of the Pauli exclusion principle. Even con-
ventional elementary physics is in crisis today, whether
admitted or not. How can we move forward? (Seeing Continued on page 12)
Seeing the Unseeable
by Clark M. Thomas
© 2014
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 12 of 14
Conventional physics has built its reputation on testable
phenomena, some of which have been repeatedly tested
and verified. The area of possible verification still rep-
resents only a small percentage of all phenomenal di-
mensions.
Scientists happily induce experimental findings to eve-
rything else within their chosen theory. However, nei-
ther induction nor deduction is flawless, no matter how
apparently verifiable any experiment has been.
Ideas appear to come in six flavors: impossible, possi-
ble, probable, untestable, testable, tested, and veri-
fied:
* Some ideas are easily eliminated, such as "impossible"
being self-contradictory.
* The "possible" is more important than "probable," as
ultimately we cannot put a probability value on any pos-
sible unknown.
* "Untestable" is equivalent to unseeable.
* "Testable" ideas are good to have, if we can design
and execute a valid test of general value which is re-
peatable.
* Just because something has been repeatedly
"tested," it is not necessarily true. Misunderstanding
what it is we are testing, even if we think we know the
forces, can lead to the right conclusion for the wrong
reasons in the everyday world. This was Einstein's pri-
mary error.
In the everyday world, where we can discuss and utilize
"forces" of nature, physics works just fine. It is only
when we go very large, or very small, that the neat and
tidy everyday ideas are stressed. It is within extreme
dimensions that a general paradigm lives or dies for all
dimensions.
General Relativity DIES when it fails to explain gravity
data relating to supercluster trains. Another theory,
shadow gravity, elegantly and operationally explains
what happens. In this case, GR has misrepresented
shadow gravity measured in smaller everyday dimen-
sions as general proofs of GR in all dimensions.
The chain of logic is only as strong as its weakest link.
That's why Einstein wrote to a friend one year before
his death that he feared his continuous structures
would soon be overthrown: "In that case, nothing re-mains of my entire castle in the air, gravitation theory included, and of the rest of modern physics." Albert
Einstein. (Pais, A. 1982. Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford U. Press, Ox-
ford, UK, p. 467.)
There are theoretical astrophysicists, and there are
experimental astrophysicists. Each needs the other.
Theory needs to be developed, and then tested. If
there were nobody to design and execute experiments,
theories would proliferate like weeds. We see this in
the many flavors of string theory, which cannot be in-
dependently verified by testing.
String theory cosmologists have a lot of sophisticated
calculus to "back up" their ideas. However, nobody can
win a string theory argument, because there can be no
experimental verification. Additionally, there is no way
for the math by itself to verify any theory. No ab-
stract statement by itself proves any version of string
theory is false or true, as long as it is internally con-
sistent. String theory is something of a mutation of
Einstein's GR; so when GR falls, so too does string the-
ory.
An aspect of string theory is supersymmetry. Whereas
super-symmetric particles are not branes, they are
part of the overall multi-dimensional architecture.
Ironically, the Large Hadron Collider was supposed to
find a zoo of supersymmetric particles, and it did not.
Other experiments have likewise failed to support the
idea. If we are not able to rely on GR and string theory,
what's left, as Sherlock Holmes might ask?
On the macro scale, shadow gravity works exceptionally
well. On the sub-nano scale it works too, except not
below the graviton level. Below that level push gravity is
replaced by primary electromagnetism, which dialecti-
cally shifts into secondary/polar EM at dimensions larg-
er than Planck scale. Thus, all verifiable EM experi-
(Seeing Continued from page 11)
(Seeing Continued on page 13)
Mars moves through Scorpio and Sagittarius during October
By John Goss
ments have been of secondary EM, and not of primary
EM.
The closest we can come to experimental verification
of energy/matter within the Planck dimension (10^-35
m) is to construct a theory or theories that elegantly
allow for the emergence of phenomena we can observe
and measure on the collective scale. We are talking
about the forever unseeable foundation (at 10^-40 m)
elegantly supporting the superstructure of increasingly
larger dimensions of matter and energy.
To the degree that we can reverse engineer experi-
ments involving collective nano-phenomena, we can
thereby make reasonable and elegant hypotheses about
the much smaller energy/matter corpuscles we cannot
see and measure. This luminous method is important for
developing all-dimensional paradigms. In short: Go at
the unseeable with all-dimensional theory, and with
testing of the seeable; then hypothesize about the un-
seeable in mass form according to the Law of Parsimo-
ny. From the collective we can deduce the individual
unseeables.
In contrast, verifying theory on the scale of hundreds
of millions of light years is not like doing an experiment
near the sub-Planck level: First, one checks for a theo-
retical/logical consistency, which is supplied by the
modern version of shadow gravity correcting Le Sage's
mistakes. Second, one checks the data supplied by the
COBE satellite, as verified by red shifts seen in Digital
Sky Survey images. When all this checks out, and it
does, we can say that the "experiment" is complete. To
challenge/verify it, we need only re-check the data, and
try to propose a superior theoretical model, of which
there is none to date.
Einstein's trepidations in 1954 have come true. It just
took sixty years for the right data to euthanize his
continuous structures fantasy. Combine the COBE and
DSS gravitational data along supercluster chains of gal-
axies, with the Large Hadron Collider not being able to
support supersymmetry, and you have the makings of a
complete transformation of accepted modern cosmolo-
gy.
In a Kurosawa movie featuring samurai in Japan's medi-
eval period, a warrior is stabbed once in the belly by an
enemy sword. He shouts out to his attacker, "You have
killed me!" The stabbed samurai initially seems quite
alive, except for that festering mortal wound. Such is
the fate of standard cosmology.
A final thought for those who think elemental astro-
physics is just a game for nerds: "Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable." R. Buckmin-
ster Fuller. (brainyquote.com)
(Seeing Continued from page 12)
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 13 of 14
RVAS NL— October 2014— Pg 14 of 14
Monthly Calendar
MONTHLY MEETING: October 20th, 7:30 p.m., Center on Church, Downtown Roanoke.
Dr. Mark Adams, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia, will
be speaking about “ALMA: New Window on Our Cosmic Origins.” See inside for details.
RVAS WEEKEND OBSERVING OPPORTUNITIES: Unless otherwise indicated, observing is held at Cahas Moun-
tain Overlook, milepost 139 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
-- Friday and Saturday, October 17th and 18th. Sunset is at 6:40 p.m. Astronomical twilight ends at 8:07 p.m.
The Moon sets at 3:19 p.m. and 3:52 p.m., respectively.
-- Friday and Saturday, October 24th and 25th. Sunset is at 6:31 p.m. Astronomical twilight ends at 7:58 p.m.
The Moon sets at 7:11 p.m. and 7:54 p.m., respectively.
-- Future Sessions: November 14th and 15th; November 21st and 22nd.
ROANOKE CITY PARKS and RECREATION PUBLIC STARGAZE: Saturday, October 18th, 7:15 p.m., SITE
TO BE DETERMINED. Nonmembers must register with Parks & Rec. at 540-853-2236. Members can call 540-
774-5651 for information. (Next session: November 15th, 6:00 p.m., Cahas Knob Overlook, milepost 139 Blue Ridge
Parkway.)
Astro-Quiz
At the September equinox, the Sun is located in Virgo, as seen from Earth. Where is Earth as seen from the
Sun at that time?
Answer to Last Month’s Astro-Quiz: Last month we asked which of the 88 constellations borders more con-
stellations than any other, and how many it borders. Enclosing an area of almost 1303 square degrees of the ce-
lestial sphere within its border, Hydra is the largest constellation. But its irregular border also spans nearly 7
hours of right ascension and over 41 degrees of declination. In so doing, Hydra borders 13 others; 14, if you
count Lupus, which shares only one point of contact. The other 13 are Antlia, Cancer, Canis Minor, Centaurus,
Corvus, Crater, Libra, Leo, Monoceros, Puppis, Pyxis, Sextans and Virgo. (Have an answer to this month’s quiz [or
a question and answer to suggest]? E-mail it to [email protected]!)