November 2012

Highlights of theHighlights of the

November SkyNovember Sky. . .. . .

-- -- -- 11stst -- -- -- PM: Jupiter is above the PM: Jupiter is above the Waning Gibbous Moon.Waning Gibbous Moon.

-- -- -- 44thth -- -- -- Daylight Saving Time Daylight Saving Time Ends at 2:00 am.Ends at 2:00 am.

-- -- -- 66thth -- -- -- Last Quarter MoonLast Quarter Moon 7:36 pm EST7:36 pm EST

-- -- -- 1111thth -- -- -- AM: Venus is to the left of AM: Venus is to the left of the Waning Crescent the Waning Crescent Moon.Moon.

-- -- -- 1212thth -- -- -- DAWN: Saturn is to the DAWN: Saturn is to the lower left of a thin lower left of a thin crescent Moon starting crescent Moon starting about an hour before about an hour before sunrise.sunrise.

-- -- -- 1313thth -- -- -- New MoonNew Moon 5:08 pm EST5:08 pm EST

-- -- -- 1515thth → 16→ 16thth -- -- -- DUSK: Waxing Crescent DUSK: Waxing Crescent passes Mars low in the passes Mars low in the southwest.southwest.

-- -- -- 1717thth -- -- -- AM: Leonid meteor shower AM: Leonid meteor shower peaks peaks —— expect ~20 expect ~20 meteors per hour.meteors per hour.

-- -- -- 2020thth -- -- -- First Quarter MoonFirst Quarter Moon 9:31 am EST9:31 am EST

-- -- -- 2626thth → 27→ 27thth -- -- -- DAWN: Venus and Saturn DAWN: Venus and Saturn are less than 1are less than 1ºº apart, with apart, with Mercury well to their lower Mercury well to their lower left.left.

-- -- -- 2828thth -- -- -- Full MoonFull Moon 9:46 am EST9:46 am EST PM: Jupiter is very close to PM: Jupiter is very close to the upper left of the Moon.the upper left of the Moon.

www.kasonline.org

General Meeting: Friday, November 2 @ 7:00 pm

Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 8 for Details

Work Session: Sunday, November 4 @ 1:00 pm

Owl Observatory Cleaning - See Page 7 for Details

Board Meeting: Sunday, November 11 @ 5:00 pm

Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome

This Months This Months KAS EventsEvents

Prime FocusPrime FocusPrime Focus A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical SocietyA Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical SocietyA Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

Inside the Newsletter. . .Inside the Newsletter. . .

October Meeting Minutes.................... p. 2

Board Meeting Minutes......................... p. 4

Observations........................................... p. 4

NASA Space Place.................................. p. 5

November Night Sky............................. p. 6

KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 7

General Meeting Preview..................... p. 8

November 2012

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, October 6, 2012 at 7:15 pm EDT. Approximately 32 members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). As is long-standing KAS tradition, the theme of the October meeting was “Astrophotography Night.” The past few years have seen outside guest speakers share their images and processing techniques. This year we decided to back to the heart of the tradition - KAS members sharing their own celestial portraits. First up was Richard Bell who discussed selling his old telescope, a classic Meade 10” LX200, and other equipment in exchange for something more suited to astrophotography (see the July 2010 issue of Prime Focus, page 4, for more). All images taken by Richard were done with a Canon 550D (T2i) DSLR camera. He started off with some astrophotos taken through his Celestron 9.25” EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The first was of the massive globular cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5130) from the 2011 Winter Star Party. Next was a 45 minute exposure of the famous Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. Finally, an image of the Transit of Venus from Warren Dunes State Park on June 5th. The Venus transit image was a composed of four separate images combined together for a full disk image. Richard said he tried using the Canon PhotoStitch program, but had poor results. Microsoft’s Photo Gallery proved much better for the task. Richard said he hasn’t done much more imaging

with the 9.25” SCT yet, because he’s patiently waiting for Celestron to release a customized focal reducer. Richard then showed several images taken with a TMB-92SS triplet apochromatic refractor. The first two were taken from the Badlands Astronomy Festival this past August. These include the Lagoon & Trifid Nebula (M8 & M20) and the Cygnus Loop (both halves of the Veil Nebula). Images shown of the North American Nebula (NGC 7000) and Andromeda Galaxy (M31) were taken at the 2010 Okie-Tex Party. An image of the Rosette Nebula, which Richard said was his favorite thus far, was also taken at the 2011 Winter Star Party. Two more images taken from Okie-Tex included the Double Cluster with Comet Hartley 2 passing by and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). These were taken with an Astro-Tech 8” f/4 Imaging Newtonian and Baader Planetarium Coma Corrector. Other images taken with the Astro-Tech include the Lagoon Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888), and the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146). Richard invited everyone to check out more images at his personal website, Stargazer Online. Jim Kurtz then showed several images taken with his Tele Vue NP101, SBIG ST-2000XCM CCD camera, and Astro-Physics Mach 1 GTO mount. The first was of the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) with nearby open cluster M52. An image of the iconic Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) in Orion was then shown. This was followed by the Trifid Nebula (M20) taken from North Fulton Cemetery, a decent dark-sky

Prime Focus Page 2

October Meeting MinutesOctober Meeting Minutes

Jim Kurtz created this image of NGC 6960, the Western Veil Nebula in Cygnus, with a Tele Vue NP101 refractor and SBIG ST-2000XCM CCD camera mounted on a Astro-Physics Mach 1 GTO German Equatorial mount. It’s a 2 hour total exposure from North Fulton Cemetery on September 19, 2012.

This image of the Lagoon Nebula (M8) was created by Richard Bell on July 5, 2011 at North Fulton Cemetery. Equipment used includes an Astro-Tech 8” f/4 Newtonian, modified Canon 550D DSLR camera, and Celestron CGEM equatorial mount. In all, 58 90-second exposures were combined to create the image above.

November 2012 Prime Focus Page 3

area frequented by Richard and Jim. An image of the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24) was also taken from North Fulton. This image is also rich with dark nebulae. Jim then shared a colorful rendition of the Dumbbell Nebula and a reprocessed image of the Andromeda Galaxy. Other galaxy images shared include the Triangulum Galaxy and a joint image of M81 & M82 in Ursa Major. A nice Full Moon image taken with a hand-held camera was shown. Jim then showed a recent image of NGC 6960, the western segment of the famous Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cygnus. An older image of the eastern half of the Veil Nebula, NGC 6992, was also shown. Jim said the image was a total exposure of 5 hours taken over 3 nights. A nice close-up of the North American Nebula was also shown. Jim concluded by sharing some images of the Sun he took with his new Lunt Solar Systems H-alpha telescope. Up next was KAS Vice President Jack Price, who shared several images taken on a strange substance known as “film.” The photographs were all taken at Starfest that both Jack and Mike Sinclair attended in August. The first was a shot of the Andromeda Galaxy taken with the camera riding piggyback on KAMSC’s Meade 8” LX10. Constellation images included Cygnus and Sagittarius. Roger Williams started his presentation with an amazing movie created during the Transit of Venus. Roger took an image every second during the transit; totaling more than 10,000 JPEG files! Roger combined them in groups of 100, which made his movie 1 minute 40 seconds long. Let’s hope Roger uploads his movie to YouTube one day, so every member can enjoy it. It’s really incredible! Roger also shared some solar images taken with his Coronado MaxScope 60 and Lumenera SKYnyx2-1 camera. Deep Sky images shared by Roger were taken with his new

Supernova 2012aw is the bright star located on the lower right portion of barred-spiral galaxy M95’s disk. Roger Williams captured this image on March 26, 2012 with a Celestron 14” EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and SBIG ST-8E CCD camera mounted on a Software Bisque Paramount MX.

Roger Williams captured this image of Bode’s Galaxy (M81) on March 20, 2012. Equipment used includes a Celestron 14” EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, SBIG ST-8E CCD camera, and Software Bisque Paramount MX. It is only a 15 minute equivalent exposure (3 × 5 minutes).

equipment; a Celestron 14” EdgeHD and Software Bisque Paramount MX German equatorial mount. Roger described this as starting over, since the learning curve was steeper than he imagined. Some problems weren’t his fault and said some software bugs are probably named after him now. The first two images Roger showed were of spiral galaxies M51 (the Whirlpool) and M81 (Bode’s Galaxy). Both were very well resolved. Roger also showed an image of the dwarf peculiar galaxy NGC 5474, which is a satellite galaxy to M101. Next was the Cat’s Eye Nebula, which marks the North Ecliptic Pole. The emission nebula NGC 6857 was then shown. Roger said this object was once mistaken for a planetary nebula. The last three deep sky images shared were all galaxies. They include NGC 7013 in Cygnus, NGC 7814 in Pegasus (which is seen edge-on), and M95 featuring supernova 2012aw. Roger concluded with some solar system images taken with his 14” SCT and Lumenera camera. Two were of Jupiter (and some of its moons), while another was of Saturn. The final image showed Uranus with the moons Titania and Oberon. Bill Nigg brought “Astrophotography Night” to a close after showing some early 20th century images on vintage glass slides. These were donated to the KAS by the WMU Physics Department in the 1970’s. Some of the photographs were taken by Edward Emerson Barnard, the subject of last month’s presentation. During the break, KAS members enjoyed the traditional snack of cider and donuts provided by Jean DeMott. Richard mentioned that newly discovered comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) could become brighter than the Full Moon in late 2013 and early 2014 or could just fizzle out. Stay tuned! SpaceX is about to launch its first official payload to the International Space Station. Curiosity discovered an ancient stream bed on Mars. The meeting concluded at 9:26 pm.

November 2012 Prime Focus Page 4

ObservationsObservations by Richard S. BellRichard S. Bell

Another season of Public Observing Sessions at the Kalamazoo Nature Center has come to an end. It was not one of our more successful seasons. Most of the blame — as usual — goes to Mother Nature. Here’s the breakdown: 5 good sessions and 9 cancellations. The only month we held both sessions was August. We suffered complete shut-outs in May, September, and October. I want to thank all the KAS members that shared their telescopes with the public and to those that at least came out to observe once. It’s a shame, but most of you do not attend any observing sessions. Why not? Sure, everyone keeps busy these days and nature doesn’t make it easy, but not even one! Make an early New Years resolution. Attend at least one Public Observing Session in 2013. Who knows? You might even enjoy hanging out with your fellow KAS members under the stars. You might have two very good reasons to get out under the night sky next year, but I’ll save that for another column. Our last general meeting of 2012 is on November 2nd (December is our annual meeting) and we’ve got another excellent speaker lined up. Dr. Tamas Gombosi is the Rollin M. Gerstacker Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Gombosi is a very accomplished scientist. His contributions span from planetary exploration to theoretical space plasma physics, to kinetic theory and generalized transport equations, to global simulations of space plasmas. His recent interests focus on the development of high performance numerical codes and software frameworks for simulating space plasmas. Dr. Gombosi has also participated in a number of exciting space missions, including the Venera 9 and 10 Venus orbiters, the VEGA mission to Halley’s Comet, the Dynamics Explorer mission to explore the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and the Pioneer Venus mission. Recent space missions include the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and its moon Titan, the Rosetta mission to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the STEREO mission to explore solar storms, and the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The topic of his presentation on November 2nd is entitled Space Weather and its Impact on Society. Please be sure to read the abstract of Dr. Gombosi’s talk on page 8 and plan to join us. Finally, Owl Observatory needs your help! Our facility at the Nature Center is in dire need of cleaning, repairs, and re-staining. We’ve had to cancel a work session twice, but are trying again for Sunday, November 4th at 1:00 pm. We could certainly use some help. What do you say?

The officers and at-large board members of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society assembled for a meeting on Sunday, October 7, 2012. President Richard Bell brought the meeting to order at 5:04 pm at Sunnyside Church. Other board members in attendance included Joe Borrello, Mike Cook, Scott Macfarlane, Rich Mather, Jack Price, and Don Stilwell. Rich Mather began with his treasurer’s report. The overall total on the Account Balances Report continues to be very healthy thanks to funds raised for the Robotic Telescope Project. Rich asked where the money from the sale of the donated 10” Starsplitter Dobsonian should go. After a brief discussion the Board decided that both the $200 from the Dobsonian sale and $1200 from the Nexstar 8 GPS sale from last year should go toward the Robotic Telescope Project. The Board then had a discussion on the new Paramount ME II by Software Bisque. The mount is currently being offered at an introductory price of $12,750 until December 31, 2012. The question was asked should we take advantage of this price while we can. Concerns raised were the manufacturer’s warranty timeframe and how this would effect our future grant writing efforts. Would we still be able to include the funds spent on the Paramount in any matching grants? Richard promised to investigate and get back to the Board before the introductory price ends. Mike Cook gave another update on the status of the Library Telescope Program. He covered everything Rich Mather reported at the previous board meeting. However, Mike said the Portage Library had asked us to order the second telescope. It was made clear this would only work if Portage gave us a check covering expenses before the telescope was ordered. The Owl Observatory Cleaning Session has been again rescheduled; this time on November 4th. The inside of the observatory is in dire need of cleaning (and dead animal removal apparently), while the outside needs to be patched up in places and re-stained. Richard said he did not have time to find out how much we would be charged to play the light pollution documentary “The City Dark” early next year, but promised to get to it soon. Don Stilwell said the Michigan Audubon Society might be interested in co-sponsoring the presentation, but is currently focused on CraneFest. Joe Borrello also reported he has not investigated liability insurance for the KAS due to his schedule. Finally, the KAS is planning to participate in Spooky Science Saturday at Kingman Museum on October 27th. Most board members said they could not help due to schedule conflicts. The meeting adjourned at 6:35 pm.

BOARDBOARDBOARD Meeting MinutesMeeting MinutesMeeting Minutes

November 2012

Vast fields of marble-sized chunks of ice and rock spun slowly in the darkness this week, and I sat in the back of a grey conference room with white plastic tables spread with papers and laptops. I was sitting in on a meeting of an international team of astronomers gathered to analyze data from the Herschel Infrared Observatory. This telescope, sometimes just called Herschel, orbits the Sun about a million miles from the Earth. The meeting began with dinner at Karl’s house. Karl charred chorizo on the backyard grill while the airplanes dribbled into Dulles airport. Our colleagues arrived, jetlagged and yawning, from Germany, Sweden, and Spain, and we sat on Karl’s couches catching up on the latest gossip. The unemployment level in Spain is about twenty percent, so research funding there is hard to come by these days. That’s not nice to hear. But it cheered us up to be with old friends. The meeting commenced the next morning, as the vast fields of ice and rock continued to spin — shards glinting in the starlight. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe they didn’t exist at all.

You see, this team is looking at a series of images of stars taken by a device called a bolometer that is blind to ordinary starlight. Instead, the bolometer inside Herschel senses infrared light, a kind of light that we would probably refer to as heat if we could feel it. But the idea of pointing the bolometer at the stars was not to collect ordinary starlight. It was to measure heat coming from the vicinity of these stars, like an infrared security camera, in case there was something else to be found lurking nearby. And lo and behold, for a handful of stars, the bolometer measurements were off the charts! Maybe something was orbiting these stars. From the details of the bolometer readings — which channels lit up and so on — you would guess that this stuff took the form of majestic fields or rings of icy and rocky particles. It would be a new kind of disk, a discovery worth writing home to Madrid about. There are several teams of astronomers analyzing data from the Herschel Space Telescope. They call themselves by oddly inappropriate sounding acronyms: GASPS, DUNES, DEBRIS. For the time being, the scientists on these teams are the only ones with access to the Herschel data. But in January, all the data these teams are working on will suddenly be released to the public. So they are all under pressure to finish their work by then. The team whose meeting I was sitting in on would like to publish a paper about the new disks by then. But it’s not so simple. The stars that this team had measured were relatively nearby as stars go, less than a few hundred light years. But the universe is big, and full of galaxies of all kinds — a sea of galaxies starting from maybe a hundred thousand light years away, and stretching on and on. Maybe one of those background galaxies was lined up with each of the stars that had lit up the bolometer — fooling us into thinking they were seeing disks around these stars. The team argued and paced, and then broke for lunch. We marched to the cafeteria through the rain. Meanwhile, vast fields of marble-sized chunks of ice and rock spun slowly in the darkness. Or maybe they didn’t. What else did Herschel recently uncover? Find out at:

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comet-ocean Dr. Marc J. Kuchner is an astrophysicist at the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA’s Astrophysics Division works on big questions about the origin and evolution of the universe, galaxies, and planetary systems. Explore more at:

http://www.science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/

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A Cosmic Tease:A Cosmic Tease:A Cosmic Tease: Trials of the Herschel Space Telescope Science TeamsTrials of the Herschel Space Telescope Science TeamsTrials of the Herschel Space Telescope Science Teams

by Dr. Marc J. KuchnerDr. Marc J. Kuchner

Samuel Pierpoint Langley, who developed the bolometer in 1878. His instrument detects a broad range of infrared wavelengths, sensitive to differences in temperature of one hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius (0.00001º C). In 1961, Frank Low developed the germanium bolometer, which is hundreds of times more sensitive than previous detectors and capable of detecting far-infrared radiation.

November Night Sky..................November Night Sky..................

NORTH

EA

ST

WE

ST

J upiter will shine above the Waxing Gibbous Moon on the night of

November 1st. They’ll be about 2º apart when they rise and will steadily move apart throughout the night. Brilliant Venus will be about 5º to the left of the Waning Crescent Moon on

November 11th. Begin looking in the eastern sky at about 5:30 am EST. Look for Saturn to the left of a very thin crescent Moon on the morning of November 12th. They’ll be visible low in the east-southeast starting about an hour before sunrise. Binoculars will help.

The Leonid meteor shower peaks during the early morning hours of November 17th. Only 20 meteors per hour are predicted. Surprises are possible though! Jupiter will be very close to the nearly Full Moon on November 28th, ending the month just like it started.

SOUTH

This star map is property of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. However you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, so long as it is for non-profit educational purposes and full credit is given to the KAS.

www.kasonline.org

Early October 11 pm

Late October 10 pm

Early November 8 pm

Late November 7 pm

This map represents the sky at the following local standard times:

PRESIDENT

Richard S. Bell 373-8942

VICE PRESIDENT

Jack Price 343-3193

TREASURER

Rich Mather 629-5312

SECRETARY/ALCOR

Roger Williams 375-4867

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Joe Borrello 321-0410 Mike Cook 762-2241 Scott Macfarlane 679-2865 Don Stilwell 963-5856

E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER

KAS BOARDKAS BOARD November 2012 Page 7

Planetarium admission is $3.00 per person. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is located at 230 North Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo. For more information please call (269) 373-7990 or visit us on the web at www.kalamazoomuseum.org

The Little Star That CouldThe Little Star That Could Mon. - Fri. @ 11am; Sat. @ 1pm; Sun. @ 2pm

The Starry MessengerThe Starry Messenger Tues. & Thurs. @ 3pm; Sat. @ 2pm

Wonderful WorldsWonderful Worlds Sun., Mon., Wed., Fri. & Sat. @ 3pm

Opening nominations for 2013 KAS Officers and At-Large Board Members will take place at the November General Meeting. Please send us your nominations if you are unable to attend the meeting. Ask not what the KAS can do for you, but what you can do for the KAS!

Sunday, November 4th @ 1:00 pm

Owl Observatory is in need of maintenance. We will be thoroughly cleaning the inside and re-staining the outside. Would you like to help? Please let us know by sending a note through the Contact Page. We’ll let you know if we have to cancel (again) due to rain or other weather conditions.

Cleaning Session

© November 2012, Stargazer Productions

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

STAMP

General Meeting Preview

Sun and Earth are not only coupled by the solar radiation, but also via the solar wind and its interaction with the geomagnetic field. The dynamics of the coupled Sun-solar wind-magnetosphere system gives rise to a number of dynamic phenomena that may even effect technological systems (such as power lines and communication spacecraft) and human life (astronauts, airline crews). Recognizing the importance of these phenomena in our geosphere the new discipline “Space Weather Research” has emerged. This talk provides an overview of how space weather arises in the solar-terrestrial system and how physical processes are able to cause space weather effects. We also discuss potential societal impacts and the US National Space Weather Program.

Friday, November 2 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center

600 West Vine, Suite 400 • Use Dutton St. Entrance - Dutton Entrance Locked by 7:10 pm -