mac march 2011 magazine

www.midlandsastronomy.com

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Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

Issue 22- March, 2011

Latest Astronomy and Space News

Kids Astronomy

Quizzes and Games

Monthly Sky Guide

Sky Guide - Beginner’s targets for March Telescope Targets Orion and the rest of the winter constellations are still placed well for early evening observing. See December's, January's and February's picks for targets in these. March marks the beginning of Spring Galaxy season. Most galaxies will appear as small grey blobs through amateur equipment. The thrill (at least for me) of looking at these is the vast distances and the fact that you're looking at something not of this galaxy. There's something about actually seeing a remote galaxy first hand that cannot possibly be felt by simply looking at pictures in a book. Granted, the pictures in the book are very nice to look at, but viewing them with your own scope gives you the feeling of "being" there. We'll start off in Ursa Major with a very nice pair of galaxies, M81 and M82. M81 and M82 are usually visible in the same low powered field of view, which makes for a fascinating site. Be sure to use your lowest power eyepiece for this pair. It also shows what 2 different types of galaxies will look like in your scope (an irregular, M82 and a spiral, M81). To find M81 and M82, start with the first star that forms the bowl of the big dipper from the handle (Phecda). Draw a line diagonally to the opposite corner

star (Dubhe), now, follow this im-aginary line the same distance out, then move slightly North (toward Polaris, the North Star), scan the area slowly, and you should find 2 smudges, one slightly elongated (M81) and one rounded (M82). This particular pair of galaxies were the first I found, the only description I wrote in my log book was "wow." M81 and M82 are located approximately 7 - 8 million lightyears from us. While in the area of the Big Dipper, there's a nice double star to be glimpsed as well. The second star of the handle (Mizar) is a naked eye double (Mizar and Alcor). While not a binary star system still a treat. Point your scope at it and Mizar itself splits into a double star, this one is a true binary system with a rotational period of several thousand years. Moving on to Leo, which is easy to find by looking for the backwards question mark we have another pair of galaxies which will fit into the same field of view in a low powered eyepiece. M65 and M66 can be located by finding the hindquarters of Leo which is a right triangle to the left (east) of the question mark. The star at the bottom right of the triangle is known as Chort. A dimmer star can be seen down and to the left of Chort (South and East). M65 and M66 can be found halfway between

these 2 stars. M65 and M66 are located about 20 million lightyears away. There are tons of galaxies in the Leo area, scan around the area with a low powered eyepiece and see how many you can detect. One note, you'll need good dark skies to start looking for galaxies so head out to your favourite country observing spot and begin your galaxy hunting there. Planets Mercury can be best seen on the 23rd and this month in the evening sky. It is visible after the first week of the month and sets around 19:30. Venus is low in the south-east dawn sky but returns to our skies in the autumn. Mars is not observable this month as it is too close to the Sun. Jupiter is moving rapidly towards the Sun, becoming lost in the western evening twilight around mid-month. Saturn is visible as an evening object during the month, rising at

21:10 at the start of the month. It can be located in the constellation Virgo this month. Uranus and Neptune is not observable this month. General notes Always keep an eye out f o r A u r o r a e . C h e c k o u t w w w . s t r o n g e . o r g . u k /spaceweather.html for the most up-to-date information on the aurorae. Other interesting naked eye phenomena to look out for include the Zodiacal Light and the Gegenschein. Both are caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles which are present in the solar system.

Finally check out www.heavens-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: Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognised asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures.

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


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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 New Record: Telescope finds 19 Near-Earth Asteroids in one night ........................................................................ 3

Two planets found sharing one orbit .................................... 3

The extraordinary face of the Moon ...................................... 4

Sun unleashes biggest flare of the current cycle .................... 4

Choosing a New Telescope – GoTo or not GoTo .................... 5

Three theories of planet formation busted, expert says.......... 6

Kepler Discovers 6-Planet Exo-Solar System .......................... 7

Up telescope! Search begins for giant new planet.................. 8

Record-setting "near miss" of Earth dramatically shifted tiny asteroid's orbit .............................................................. 8

Bucket List Object #10: Omega Centauri .............................. 9

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

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

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

Front cover image: A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major.

This sharp view of the gorgeous island

universe shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk. Dust lanes, small, pink star

-forming regions, and young blue star clusters are embedded in the patchy, tightly

wound spiral arms.

NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky Way, but this close-up Hubble image spans about 34,000 light-years along the galaxy's

inner region.

Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage

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. Which of the following

celestial bodies is not classified as a dwarf

planet?

� Eris � Pluto � Nix � Ceres

2. What asteroid measures

21 miles long and sometimes approaches

as close as 75 light seconds from Earth?

� Wild 2 � Ida � Eros � Titania

3. In a straight line, which

of these planets is the closest to Earth?

� It varies depending upon the date and time

� Mercury � Venus � Mars

4. What was the first successful fly-by mission

to Mars?

� Mars 2 � Mariner 4 � Viking 1 � Phobos 2

5. What joint American-

G e rman l a u n c he d satellite studied solar

flares and the solar wind?

� Solar Maximum Mission � Pioneer 5 � Helios 1 � Pioneer 9

6. One of Venus's most

distinct features is Maat Mons. Which of the

following statements about Maat Mons is

false?

� It is named for the Roman goddess of fire.

� It rises approximately 5 miles from Venus's

surface.

� It is the largest volcano on Venus.

� There is evidence of recent volcanic activity.

7. Less than a thirty light

minute trip from Earth, what are Ida and

Dactyl?

� Two independent asteroids

� An asteroid and its satellite

� Moons of Saturn � Large pieces of space junk

8. What is Wild 2?

� Oort Cloud � Asteroid � Comet � Centaur

9. Neptune's moon Triton is expected to break

apart or collide with Neptune in the next ten

thousand years.

� True � False

10.What is a Centaur?

� Type of comet � Type of planetoid � Type of asteroid � All of these

2 5

6 5

7 9 1

9 3 4 2

1 9 4 2 8 5

5 4 6 1

3 2 9

3 2

4 8

SUDOKU

Check your answers

Answer 1: The correct answer was Nix. Many scientists believe that several

hundred objects might be classified as dwarf planets once the technology

exists to better study the Kuiper belt. Nix will not be one of these as it is a recently (2005) discovered moon of

Pluto.

Answer 2: The correct answer was Eros. In terms of the size of the

asteroids in the inner portion of our solar system, Eros is huge,

approximately ten times the size of the asteroid thought to have impacted Earth and killed off the dinosaurs.

Answer 3: The correct answer was It

varies depending upon the date and time. Earth and the other planets are

in a constant state of flux. In fact, during much of the early 21st Century,

Mercury has been the closest planet to us and Venus has been the furthest of those listed, even further away than

the sun itself.

Answer 4: The correct answer was Mariner 4. NASA's Mariner 4 flew by

Mars in 1965. The Soviet probe Mars 2 was the first to land on the surface of Mars in 1971, but contact was lost

within seconds.

Answer 5: The correct answer was Helios 1 which studied the sun from an

orbit just outside of Mercury.

Answer 6: The correct answer was it is named for the Roman goddess of fire.

Answer 7: The correct answer was An

asteroid and its satellite. Ida is 52 mile wide asteroid and an inhabitant of the

Asteroid Belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Dactyl is a satellite of Ida.

Answer 8: The correct answer was a

Comet. Before 1974, Wild 2 lived among the gas giants until a near impact with Jupiter hurled it into the

inner solar system. Its current orbit will bring it to within 25 light seconds of

the sun.

Answer 9: The correct answer was false. Triton's orbit is currently degrading but not that rapidly. Current

estimates predict that its orbit will collapse within the next ten million

years. Scientists are unsure, however, if Triton will break apart or impact its

host planet.

Answer 10: The correct answer was All of these. Centaur is the name given to planetoids located between the orbits

of Jupiter and Neptune. Comets and asteroids are subclasses of planetoids.


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Observatories, Hawaii. On Sunday night, they confirmed that two of the asteroids were near-Earth asteroids before snow on Mauna Kea forced the telescopes to close. On Monday night, they confirmed nine more before fog set in.

On Tuesday night, they searched for four, but found only one. After T u e s d a y , t h e r e m a i n i n g unconfirmed near-Earth asteroids had moved too far to be found again.

Telescopes in Arizona, Illinois, Italy, Japan, Kansas, New Mexico, and the United Kingdom, and the

Faulkes Telescope on Haleakala also helped to confirm seven of the discoveries.

Two of the asteroids, it turns out, have orbits that come extremely close to Earth’s. There is no immediate danger, but a collision in the next century or so, while unlikely, cannot yet be ruled out. Astronomers will be paying close attention to these objects.

Next time you view M81 and M82, perhaps you’ll see them in a new light?

www.universetoday.com

The Pan-STARRS PS1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, discovered 19 near-Earth asteroids on the night of January 29, the most asteroids discovered by one telescope on a single night.

times within 12-72 hours to define their orbits, otherwise they are likely to be “lost.”

Denneau and colleagues quickly sent their discoveries to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., which collects and disseminates data about asteroids and comets, so that other astronomers can re-observe the objects.

“Usually there are several mainland observatories that would help us confirm our discoveries, but widespread snowstorms there closed down many of them, so we had to scramble to confirm many of the discoveries ourselves,” noted Institute for Astronomy astronomer Richard Wainscoat.

Wainscoat, astronomer David Tholen, and graduate student Marco Micheli spent the next three nights searching for the asteroids using telescopes at Mauna Kea

“This record number of discoveries shows that PS1 is the world’s most powerful telescope for this kind of study,” said Nick Kaiser, head of the Pan-STARRS project. “NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s support of this project illustrates how seriously they are taking the threat from near-Earth asteroids.”

Pan-STARRS software engineer Larry Denneau spent that Saturday night in his University of Hawaii at Manoa office in Honolulu processing the PS1 data as it was transmitted from the telescope over the Internet. During the night and into the next afternoon, he and others came up with 30 possible new near-Earth asteroids.

Asteroids are discovered because they appear to move against the background of stars. To confirm asteroid discoveries, scientists must carefully re-observe them several


Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

New Record: Telescope finds 19 Near-Earth

Asteroids in one night

Two planets found sharing one orbit

The two planets are part of a four-planet system dubbed KOI-730. They circle their sun-like parent star every 9.8 days at exactly the same orbital distance, one permanently about 60 degrees ahead of the other. In the night sky of one planet, the other world must appear as a constant, blazing light, never fading or brightening. Gravitational "sweet spots" make this possible. When one body (such as a planet) orbits a much more massive body (a star), there are two Lagrange points along the planet's orbit where a third body can orbit stably. These lie 60 degrees ahead of and 60 degrees behind the smaller object. For example, groups of asteroids called Trojans lie at these points along Jupiter's orbit.

In theory, matter in a disc of material around a newborn star

Buried in the flood of data from the Kepler telescope is a planetary system unlike any seen before. Two of its apparent planets share the same orbit around their star. If the discovery is confirmed, it would bolster a theory that Earth once shared its orbit with a Mars-sized body that later crashed into it, resulting in the moon's formation.

could coalesce into so-called "co-orbiting" planets, but no one had spotted evidence of this before. "Systems like this are not common, as this is the only one we have seen," says Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California.

The moon is thought to have formed about 50 million years after the birth of the solar system, from the debris of a collision between a Mars-sized body and Earth. Simulations suggest the impactor, dubbed Theia, must have come in at a low speed. This could only have happened if Theia had originated in a leading or trailing Lagrange point along

Kid’s�Korner�

Robots that explore other planets must be able to see where they are going. Just like people, robots make good use of two eyes. Why are two eyes so much better than one?

Try an experi-ment. Cover or shut one eye and try to thread a nee-dle. Even a BIG needle. Now try it with both eyes open. Isn't it a lot easier with both eyes?

Or, using only one eye, try pouring water from one container into another--especially into one with a narrow opening. Better have a mop ready! Now try it with both eyes.

Shut one eye and the world looks flat--2-dimensional. Keep both eyes open, and the world takes on a whole new dimension! 3-D, or stereo, vision helps us tell how far

away things are.

Human stereo vision is a good thing for engineers to try to copy in making robots that can get around on their own.

Because your eyes are separated by a few centimetres (a couple of inches), each eye sees a

slightly different image. Your brain, however, combines the two images into one, using the extra information to tell you how close or far away things are.

Roving robots, too, must be able to tell how far away things are. Otherwise the robot will bump into things and have a hard time reaching its target.

"Urbie" is a Tactical Mobile Robot. Urbie was designed to navigate city

terrain. It will be useful for dangerous military missions, and it will also be useful to police and emergency rescue workers.

Urbie can see and navigate by itself, with no help from humans. Urbie would also make an ideal space explorer.

For a robot, exploring an asteroid, comet, or another planet will be a lonely job. It takes minutes or hours for a message (such as an image) from a robot on a distant planet to reach a human on Earth and for a message to be sent back to the robot. By that time, the little

"one-eyed" robot could have fallen into a hole or got ten s tuck somewhere. Like Urb ie , space exploring robots have got to be clever enough to take care of themselves.

Be glad your

http://www.marcsobservatory.com

not a Cyclops! Above: Richard Wainscoat (left) and Marco Micheli study one of the near- Earth asteroids found on January 29. The asteroid is the roundish dot near Wainscoat’s finger.

Earth's orbit. The new finds "show the kind of thing we imagined can happen".

Will KOI-730's co-orbiting planets collide to form a moon someday? Simulations at Princeton suggest the planets will continue to orbit in lockstep with each other for the next 2.22 million years at least.

www.newscientist.com



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Sure, that may just look like another full Moon picture, but it’s much more extraordinary than that: it’s one of the highest resolution pictures of the entire near side of the Moon ever compiled!

This is actually a mosaic of about 1300 separate images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera — the total size is a whopping 24,000 x 24,000 pixels, producing a resolution of about 145 meters/pixel. The full-size version is a monster 550 Mb TIF file (seriously, don’t grab that one unless you really need it!), and you can get a more palatable 1400 x 1400 pixel version with labels, too.

The images were taken over the course of two weeks in December 2010. LRO is in a polar orbit around the Moon — think of it as moving in a north/south direction over the

and brains look to shadows to sense the topographical relief — the ups and downs in the surface. But this image shows those shadows, making it a unique view of the full Moon.

But it’s also one of the highest resolution image ever made too! You can appreciate that if you look at the full-res 145 meters/pixel zoom-and-panable version, which is simply extraordinary. From the Earth, the sharpest view we can get when taking pictures of the Moon is limited by the roiling air above our heads; the smallest features we can see are roughly a kilometre or so across (sometimes it can be better when the air is steady, but not by a whole lot). Even if we pointed Hubble at the Moon the best it can do is about 200 meters. And even then it would take a lot of images to cover the entire lunar surface.

The only way to get better pictures is to go to the Moon! And that’s why these LRO images are so cool. Other missions have gone to the Moon, such as Clementine, the Lunar Orbiters, and Chandrayaan-1. These all produced high-resolution images as well, comparable and in some ways superior to what LRO has done. But it’s actually a bit difficult to find images from those missions put together into one,

surface instead of east/west. Over time, as the Moon rotates underneath it, LRO can see the entire surface of the Moon. As it does this, the angle of sunlight changes, so care had to be taken when creating this mosaic to make it appear seamless; otherwise shadows would appear to jump suddenly from point to point. If you look carefully you’ll see where shadows point in different directions, but it still looks pretty natural.

But it’s not: when you see the full Moon from Earth, that means the Sun is shining straight down on the Moon — the Earth is essentially directly between the Moon and Sun. That means you don’t see any shadows on the surface when the Moon is full. Pictures of it taken from Earth look flat in that case, because our eyes

easy-to-view picture, though. I downloaded the ginormous TIF image, and wow, scanning it is amazing. I saw crater chains (like in the image inset above; I suspect that actually formed from material ejected from an impact just off the frame to the upper right), cliffs, rilles, and tons of other amazing details. I’ve spent a lot of time at the eyepiece looking at the Moon, but I’ve never seen it like this. The detail is amazing, and the shadowing provides a sense of depth you just can’t get when observing the full Moon from home. It’s beautiful.

And if your brain is still intact after all that, I’ll note that the camera used to take this mosaic weighs only 900 grams — 2 pounds! And it would fit in the palm of your hand.

Amazing. And that’s all it took to get — wait for it, wait for it — the full Moonty. So my advice: take a little time and peruse the zoomable version online, and pretend you’re floating over the lunar surface*. And remember: one day people will get to see this not on their computers, but by the simple act of turning their heads and looking out their window.

www.discovermagazine.com

different mechanism than other g l o b u l a r c l u s t e r s . S ome astronomers speculate it may be the remains of a separate dwarf galaxy absorbed by the Milky Way billions of years ago.

The cluster is one of the few of its kind visible to the unaided eye. Which brings us to its name. R ena i s s a nc e a s t r o n ome r s catalogued the cluster as a star, and at the time, stars were labelled roughly in order of brightness with Greek letters Alpha to Omega. Since the massive cluster looked like a dim star, it was listed as the star Omega Centauri. Not until John Herschel turned a large telescope on the “star” was its true appearance revealed.

And what an appearance! Even in binoculars, the c luster is magnificent. Its misty glow spans a nearly a full degree of sky, twice the span of the full Moon.

We begin our bucket list for backyard stargazers with the dazzling star cluster Omega Centauri. Found in the deep southern sky, this globular cluster is an easy target for southern-hemisphere observers from March through October. But in May and early June, some northern stargazers get their best chance to spot the cluster as it peeks just above the southern horizon.

And it’s well worth a look. So breath taking is this swirling mass of stars in a small telescope that astronomy writer Stephen James O’Meara says “observing Omega Centauri is like peering into the working mind of the Creator.”

Omega Centauri is the 800-pound gorilla of our galaxy’s globular clusters. Like other “globs”, Omega Centauri is a gravitationally-stable sphere of 12-billion-year-old stars that formed not long after the universe itself.

And like other globs, it orbits the centre of our galaxy in a halo of some 180 similar ancient star clusters.

But Omega Centauri is far bigger than the rest. It packs 5-10 million stars into a diameter of 150 light years, a density some 10,000 times greater than we see in our own night sky. By some estimates, it’s at least 5-10x more massive than any other globular cluster in the Milky Way.

Omega Centauri is exceptional in another way. It seems to have formed more slowly than other globs, with two episodes of star formation over two billion years. This suggests it formed by a

Turn a 3 or 4-inch telescope on this cluster and it becomes a shimmering ball of stars, glowing like a frosted light bulb against a rich background of closer-by stars.

Even in a small scope, individual stars are visible around the edge; a slightly larger scope resolves the 12-billion-year-old stars right to the core. When you have this object in your sights, look carefully and don’t rush. Examine the colour and pattern of the stars, and enjoy watching for shapes and streams and gaps in the rich stellar tapestry of this magnificent cluster. Use low magnification to make sure the cluster fits in your field of view.

To see Omega Centauri at all, you need to be south of 43ºN latitude, roughly. It’s easy to see south of 30ºN latitude. Ideally, you can venture south of the equator, where the cluster is high in the sky and well placed for viewing from March to October. But a diligent few have seen it from as far north as Point Pelee, the sou the rnmos t po in t i n Canada. From there, the cluster appears to skim the surface of Lake Erie for a few clear spring nights.

In southern latitudes, you can find Omega Centauri about 13 degrees– a little more than the width of your fist held at arms length– northeast of gamma Crucis, the top star of Crux, the Southern Cross. The cluster lies some 16,000 light years from Earth.

Find it, enjoy it, and tick one object off your celestial “bucket list”.

www.oneminuteastronomer.com

Seen the full Moon lately? Maybe you have, but I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never seen it like this...

The extraordinary face of the Moon

Bucket List Object #10: Omega Centauri

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: Hubble Space

Telescope image of the core

of Omega

Centauri.

Above: The star cluster Omega (ω) Centauri, upper left, about 13 degrees northeast of the star Gacrux at the top of the Southern Cross

On February 13, 2011, sunspot 1158 let loose the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, a blast of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation

and located in approximately the middle of the Sun’s disk. The eruption also produced a loud blast of radio waves, and coronagraph data from STEREO-A and SOHO agree that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright coronal mass ejection.


Sun unleashes biggest flare of the current cycle



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themselves up, or are set up by the user, they can access and track and many thousands of stars or objects with just a simple touch of a button. These features have made GoTo scopes are very d e s i r a b l e w i t h m a n y astrophotographers.

Manual telescopes are not automatic or driven by motors as GoTo scopes are. They are predominantly used for observing (using your eyes instead of a camera) and the scope is moved by hand or by levers by the user to find different objects in the

e y e p i e c e . M a n u a l t e l e s c opes u s u a l l y have a f i n d e r scope, red dot finder or laser finder to aid in f i n d i n g

objects in the eyepiece. They are unable to track objects, which can make them u n s u i t a b l e f o r photography.

GoTo Vs Manual Compared to GoTo telescopes, manual telescopes are much more economical as you are basically buying a very simple mount and an optical tube assembly (the telescope tube, or OTA). With GoTo you

are adding electronics a n d c o n t r o l mechanisms to drive the scope, which can

Do you really need a GoTo or would a manual telescope suffice? In order to make a good decision on what telescope to buy, you need to decide on what you want to use the telescope for — observing, photography, or both and does it need to be portable or not? This will help you make the best decision for the mount of your telescope.

GoTo telescopes are usually advertised as being fully automatic and once they have set

add heavily to the cost. A small GoTo telescope could cost the same as a lot larger manual Dobsonian telescope.

Good GoTo telescopes make astrophotography very accessible and enjoyable, especially with the addition of cameras and other kits. As opposed to manual scopes, GoTos can be used f o r l o n g e x p o s u r e astrophotography. Be aware t h o u g h , t h a t m u c h astrophotography is done with very expensive imaging equipment, but good results can be achieved with web cams and DSLR cameras.

Manual telescopes are brilliant at helping you discover and learn the sky as you have to actually hunt or star hop for different objects. I once met a person who had been using a GoTo telescope heavily for a year, and at a star party I asked her to show some kids where a well known star was with my laser pointer, she didn’t know because she was used to her GoTo scope taking her to objects.

So which one should you buy? I would recommend for pure visual observing a manual telescope such as a large Dobsonian or Newtonian telescope. The human eye needs as much light to enter it as possible to see things in the dark, so a big aperture or mirror means greater light gathering and more light entering your eye, so you can see more. What you saved by not having GoTo, you can spend on increasing the size of your telescope.

If you want to add photography or imaging capabilities then I would definitely recommend a good quality GoTo scope or mount. You will get a smaller aperture compared to the manual scope for the same money, but the scope will track for astro-imaging and can also be used for visual observing. Be prepared to spend a lot more money, though.

Consider how you want to use your telescope and the size of your budget. Avoid buying low end, cheap, budget, or what is known as “department store” telescopes to

avoid disappointment. Save up a little longer and get a good telescope. Visit your local astronomy store or telescope distributor and before you buy ask an astronomer, they will be glad to help.


Choosing a New Telescope – GoTo or not GoTo Astronomers are often asked by people “I’m a beginner, so what telescope should I buy?” Or more often, what GoTo telescope would you recommend for someone starting out in astronomy? When venturing out and buying your first telescope, there are a number of factors to consider, but because of glossy advertising and our current digital age, the first telescope that people think of is a GoTo.

To help find your way around the night sky, Skymaps.com makes available for free each month a map of the night sky.

The Evening Sky Map is suitable for all stargazers including newcomers to astronomy and will help you to:

• identify planets, stars and major constellations.

• find sparkling star clusters, wispy nebulae & distant galaxies.

• locate and follow bright comets across the sky.

• learn about the night sky and astronomy.

The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche (pronounced ty-kee), would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth's, and 375 times farther than Pluto's, which is why it hasn't been seen so far.

But scientists now believe the proof of its existence has already been gathered by a Nasa space telescope, Wise, and is just waiting to be analysed.

The first tranche of data is to be released in April, and astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think it will reveal Tyche within two years. "If it does, John and I will be doing cartwheels," Professor Whitmire said. "And that's not easy at our age."

Once Tyche has been located, other telescopes could be pointed at it to confirm the discovery.

Whether it would become the new ninth planet would be decided by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The main argument against is that Tyche probably formed around another star and was later captured by the Sun's gravitational field. The IAU may choose to create a whole new category for Tyche, Professor Matese said.

The IAU would also have the final say about the gas giant's name. To the Greeks, Tyche was the goddess responsible for the destiny of cities. Her name was provisionally chosen in reference to an earlier hypothesis, now largely abandoned, that the Sun might be part of a binary star system with a dim companion, tentatively called Nemesis, that was thought responsible for mass extinctions on Earth. In myth, Tyche

of dirty ice at temperatures much closer to absolute zero (-273C). A few of these are dislodged from their orbits by the galactic tide – the combined gravitational pull from the billions of stars towards the centre of the Milky Way – and start the long fall into the inner solar system.

As these long-period comets get closer to the Sun, some of the ice boils off, forming the characteristic tails that make them visible.

Professors Matese and Whitmire first proposed the existence of Tyche to explain why many of these long-period comets were coming from the wrong direction. In their latest paper, published in the February issue of Icarus, the international journal of solar system studies, they report that more than 20 per cent too many of the long-period comets observed since 1898

was the good sister of Nemesis. Tyche will almost certainly be made up mostly of hydrogen and helium and will probably have an atmosphere much like Jupiter's, with colourful spots and bands and clouds, Professor Whitmire said. "You'd also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them," he added.

What will make it stand out in the Wise data is its temperature, predicted to be around -73C, four or five times warmer than Pluto. "The heat is left over from its formation," Professor Whitmire said. "It takes an object this size a long time to cool off."

Most of the billions of objects in the Oort Cloud – a sphere one light year in radius stretching a quarter of the distance to Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the southern constellation – are lumps

arrive from a band circling the sky at a higher angle than predicted by the galactic-tide theory. No other proposal has been put forward to explain this anomaly since it was first suggested 12 years ago. But the Tyche hypothesis does have one flaw. Conventional theory holds that the gas giant should also dislodge comets from the inner Oort Cloud, but these have not been observed.

Professor Matese suggests this may be because these comets have already been tugged out of their orbits and, after several passes through the inner solar system, have faded to the point that they are much harder to detect. So if it is real, Tyche may not only be disrupting the orbits of comets, it may also overturn an established scientific theory.

www.independent.co.uk

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.

Up telescope! Search begins for giant new planet

The solar system is littered with natural debris—asteroids, comets and pieces of the same that occasionally wind up in the steamrolling path of one of the planets. When a piece of debris encounters the friction of Earth's atmosphere, it flares up as a meteor, or shooting star, and pieces of the object may survive the heat of re-entry to reach the surface as meteorites.

Record-setting "near miss" of Earth dramatically shifted tiny asteroid's orbit

Many more objects whiz past Earth without striking the atmosphere, perhaps returning for another pass some years later. Many of those go undetected, especially the small asteroids that are harder to spot with the relatively modest telescopes that keep watch for near-Earth objects. But sky monitors did spot one small asteroid, called 2011 CQ1, less than a day before it buzzed Earth at the smallest distance ever recorded. On February 4, the

meter-size rock flew over the Pacific at an altitude of about 5,500 kilometres—about one-seventieth the distance between Earth and the moon and well below the orbit of some high-flying satellites. But even though 2011 CQ1 skirted immolation in Earth's atmosphere, it did not escape from the encounter unmolested. Earth's gravity gave the asteroid a good tweak, redirecting its trajectory by about 60 degrees in much the same

way that interplanetary spacecraft use the gravity of the planets for course corrections or speed adjustments. "Prior to the Earth close approach, this object was in a so-called Apollo-class orbit that was mostly outside the Earth's orbit, following the close approach, the Earth's gravitational attraction modified the object's orbit to an Aten-class orbit where the asteroid spends almost all of its time inside the Earth's orbit." Just what is in store for the tiny asteroid is unclear—faint as 2011 CQ1 is, it was visible only briefly, when it was very close to Earth, and its newly adjusted orbit is not well understood.

www.scientificamerican.com



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But that bonanza has been a headache for theoreticians, he said, because many of the newly discovered star systems defy existing models of how planets form. Current theory holds that planets are made from disks of gas and dust left over after star birth.

In our solar system, it's long been thought that the large, gassy planets such as Jupiter and Saturn initially took shape in the far reaches and then migrated inward, as gravitational drag from leftover gas and dust eroded their orbits. The migration process halted when most of the gas and dust had been swept up to make various objects, leaving the planets more or less where we find them today.

In theory, other stars with planets should have gotten similar starts. But according to Marcy, theory has implications not born out in reality.

Implication #1: All planetary orbits should be roughly circular.

rotate around newborn stars. Models are based on the notion that gravitational drag in these disks is the main influence on planets as they migrate. Based on this theory, planets should stay in the ecliptic and continue to follow their stars' rotations.

However, about one in three exoplanets' orbits are "misaligned." Some orbit in the opposite directions as their stars' rotations, and others are tilted out of the ecliptic, like weather satellites crossing over Earth's Poles rather than the Equator. "Orbital inclinations are all over the map," Marcy said.

Implication #3: Neptune-size planets should be rare across the universe. Theories of gas drag also say that planets between three times Earth's mass and Jupiter's mass should be relatively rare. That's because models suggest that migration speed is proportional to the mass of a p lanet, said astronomer Alessandro Morbidelli of the Laboratoire Cassiopee in Nice, France.

Planets smaller than Earth can easily survive in the disk because they migrate slowly. Planets between an Earth mass to Uranus mass migrate so fast that they should be engulfed by the central star. Planets that grow fast enough to become gas giants eat up all the gas around them, slowing their migration speeds and giving them a chance to survive.

Based on what planet-hunters are finding, though, UC Berkeley's Marcy argues that there are too many Neptune-size worlds for theory to be right.

The size range where there should be the fewest planets—3 to 15 times the size of Earth—are actually the most common. Planets substantially smaller than this are still too hard to detect for accurate statistics. "Theory has struck out," Marcy said last month at a meeting

It's possible some planets are born with eccentric orbits, moving around their stars in elongated ovals. But as a migrating planet sp i ra ls c loser toward i t s star, gravitational drag should smooth out its orbit, like an object circling a drain, Marcy said.

The eight planets of our solar system all have roughly circular orbits, and models of planet-forming disks suggest most other star systems should be the same. In reality, though, only about one in three of the known exoplanets has a circular or near-circular orbit.

Implication #2: With minor exceptions, everything in a star system should orbit in the same plane and in the same direction. The eight planets of our solar system orbit in the same direction along what's called the ecliptic, a flat plane that's nearly aligned with the sun's equator. This makes sense if planets take shape inside the flat disks of material that

of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Washington.

New Finds Will Continue to Boggle Theory Marcy thinks part of the problem is that theoreticians have paid too much attention to interactions with gas and dust and not enough attention to interactions between planets.

"This might be the dominant source of migrations, slingshot[ing] them into eccentric orbits and high inclinations," he said.

Meanwhile, he said, the next generation of planet-hunting instruments will probably add a plethora of weird new exoplanets "that will give the theoreticians yet more reasons to tear out their hair."

Theory May be Fine, But Models Need Work Still, some experts aren't quite ready to give up on current theories.

"I agree wholeheartedly that the statistical distribution of planets that... models produce is different from the population that we see," said Hal Levison, a planet-formation theorist from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The problem, he said, is that the theory is so math-intensive that a single detailed simulation can take months of computer time. "You can only do a small number of simulations" in the time allotted, Levison said.

To run enough simulations to get a meaningful distribution of possible results, he said, it's necessary to use stripped-down versions of these models. But the "quicker" models come at a price, and their failure to match exoplanet reality doesn't necessarily mean theory is wrong.

"The only thing we can say for sure is that those models don't work," Levison said. "Those are crappy models. I don't think it says anything yet about our basic concepts of planet formation."Tyche may not only be disrupting the orbits of comets, it may also overturn an established scientific theory.

www.nationalgeographic.com

the star Kepler 11 also means that the planets are perturbing each others’ orbits. While having a multi-planet system makes it difficult to untangle the signals from each planet, it has the added benefit of providing more information about each of the worlds.

“In a system where the planets are tugging on one another, that means we can weigh the planets. We have found they are low density planets; some are fluffy, sort of like marshmallows. But they are not all gas, so maybe like a marshmallow with a little hard candy at the core. We really were just amazed at his gift that nature has given us. With six transiting planets, and five so close and getting the sizes and masses of five of these worlds, there is only one word that adequately describes the new finding: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

Kepler finds planets by using the transit method. The planets’ orbits are edge-on as seen from Earth, so when they pass in front of their star they block a small portion of its light. That dip in brightness is

Using data from the Kepler space te l escope , s c ien t i s t s have discovered a horde of six planets o r b i t i ng a s un - l i k e s t a r , approximately 2,000 light years from Earth. This is the largest group of planets detected so far around another star. The planets in this newly found solar system are relatively small – they range from 2.3 to 13.5 times the mass of the Earth – and are amazing mix of rock and gases. All six planets are crowded within an orbit the size of Venus’ orbit around our Sun; however, the inner five are closer to their star than any planet in our solar system.

“This is a surprisingly flat and compact system of six transiting planets,” said Jack Lissauer, co-investigator on the Kepler mission. “The five inner planets are espec ia l l y c l ose toge the r , something we didn’t think would happen for worlds of this size. This discovery forces us to go back and look at formation models of planets.”

Lissauer added that the close proximity of the six worlds around

what Kepler detects. The time between transits provides the orbital period. To determine the planets’ masses, the scientists analysed slight variations in the orbita l per iods caused by gravitational interactions among the planets.

“The timing of the transits is not perfectly periodic, and that is the s igna tu re o f the p lane ts gravitationally interacting,” said Daniel Fabrycky, a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz, who led the orbital dynamics analysis. “By developing a model of the orbital dynamics, we worked out the masses of the planets and verified that the system can be stable on long time scales of millions of years.”

Five of the planets’ orbital periods are all less than 50 days, and the sixth planet is larger and farther out, with an orbital period of 118 days and an undetermined mass. Finding a large multiplanet system has many people wondering when Kepler will discover an Earth-like world. The scientists on the panel today estimated it will take three years of Kepler data to find another Earth. “No one is more eager to get to the point of an Earth-like planet than the Kepler team. That will require at least 3 years of Kepler data and painstaking follow-up observations from ground-based before those types of discoveries will emerge from the data.”

It should be noted that the first 15 years of exoplanet searches from

ground-based observing produced about 500 planets, and that last year the Kepler team announced 750 exoplanet candidates from just the first three months of Kepler observations. With the release of more Kepler data there are now more than 1,200 planet candidates.

“The key thing to remember about every planet candidate is that every time we see in data evidence of a signal, there is required analysis and follow-up data and observations to determine it is actually planet and not something masquerading as a planet.”

Translation: this takes time and won’t happen overnight, but with the release of more data, the Kepler team said they wants to harness the horsepower of the whole planetary community, as well as citizen scientists to scour through the data. The Planet Hunters program from Galaxy Zoo has been a successful project that allows anyone to contribute the science of finding extrasolar planets.

The public has made over 1.3 million classification using just the first 30 days of publicly released Kepler data,” said Debra Fischer, professor of Astronomy at Yale University who heads up the Planet Hunters project. “We are real ly excited and appreciative that NASA and the Kepler mission has essentially quadrupled the amount of public data with the early release of their latest data.”


Above: Kepler's planets displayed by size comparison. The six new planets around Kepler 11 are on the bottom.

The more new planets we find, the less we seem to know about how planetary systems are born, according to a leading planet hunter. With the tally of confirmed planets orbiting other stars now more than 500, planet hunters are heading for a golden age of discovery, said Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley.

Three theories of planet formation busted, expert says

Using data from the Kepler space telescope, scientists have discovered a horde of six planets orbiting a sun-like star, approximately 2,000 light years from Earth. This is the largest group of planets detected so far around another star. The planets in this newly found solar system are relatively small – they range from 2.3 to 13.5 times the mass of the Earth – and are amazing mix of rock and gases. All six planets are crowded within an orbit the size of Venus’ orbit around our Sun; however, the inner five are closer to their star than any planet in our solar system.

Kepler Discovers 6-Planet Exo-Solar System

Above: Kepler-11 is a sun-like star around which six planets orbit. At times, two or more planets pass in front of the star at once, as shown in this artist's conception.

Above: Geoffrey Marcy is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered, along with Paul Butler and Debra Fischer.



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themselves up, or are set up by the user, they can access and track and many thousands of stars or objects with just a simple touch of a button. These features have made GoTo scopes are very d e s i r a b l e w i t h m a n y astrophotographers.

Manual telescopes are not automatic or driven by motors as GoTo scopes are. They are predominantly used for observing (using your eyes instead of a camera) and the scope is moved by hand or by levers by the user to find different objects in the

e y e p i e c e . M a n u a l t e l e s c opes u s u a l l y have a f i n d e r scope, red dot finder or laser finder to aid in f i n d i n g

objects in the eyepiece. They are unable to track objects, which can make them u n s u i t a b l e f o r photography.

GoTo Vs Manual Compared to GoTo telescopes, manual telescopes are much more economical as you are basically buying a very simple mount and an optical tube assembly (the telescope tube, or OTA). With GoTo you

are adding electronics a n d c o n t r o l mechanisms to drive the scope, which can

Do you really need a GoTo or would a manual telescope suffice? In order to make a good decision on what telescope to buy, you need to decide on what you want to use the telescope for — observing, photography, or both and does it need to be portable or not? This will help you make the best decision for the mount of your telescope.

GoTo telescopes are usually advertised as being fully automatic and once they have set

add heavily to the cost. A small GoTo telescope could cost the same as a lot larger manual Dobsonian telescope.

Good GoTo telescopes make astrophotography very accessible and enjoyable, especially with the addition of cameras and other kits. As opposed to manual scopes, GoTos can be used f o r l o n g e x p o s u r e astrophotography. Be aware t h o u g h , t h a t m u c h astrophotography is done with very expensive imaging equipment, but good results can be achieved with web cams and DSLR cameras.

Manual telescopes are brilliant at helping you discover and learn the sky as you have to actually hunt or star hop for different objects. I once met a person who had been using a GoTo telescope heavily for a year, and at a star party I asked her to show some kids where a well known star was with my laser pointer, she didn’t know because she was used to her GoTo scope taking her to objects.

So which one should you buy? I would recommend for pure visual observing a manual telescope such as a large Dobsonian or Newtonian telescope. The human eye needs as much light to enter it as possible to see things in the dark, so a big aperture or mirror means greater light gathering and more light entering your eye, so you can see more. What you saved by not having GoTo, you can spend on increasing the size of your telescope.

If you want to add photography or imaging capabilities then I would definitely recommend a good quality GoTo scope or mount. You will get a smaller aperture compared to the manual scope for the same money, but the scope will track for astro-imaging and can also be used for visual observing. Be prepared to spend a lot more money, though.

Consider how you want to use your telescope and the size of your budget. Avoid buying low end, cheap, budget, or what is known as “department store” telescopes to

avoid disappointment. Save up a little longer and get a good telescope. Visit your local astronomy store or telescope distributor and before you buy ask an astronomer, they will be glad to help.


Choosing a New Telescope – GoTo or not GoTo Astronomers are often asked by people “I’m a beginner, so what telescope should I buy?” Or more often, what GoTo telescope would you recommend for someone starting out in astronomy? When venturing out and buying your first telescope, there are a number of factors to consider, but because of glossy advertising and our current digital age, the first telescope that people think of is a GoTo.

To help find your way around the night sky, Skymaps.com makes available for free each month a map of the night sky.

The Evening Sky Map is suitable for all stargazers including newcomers to astronomy and will help you to:

• identify planets, stars and major constellations.

• find sparkling star clusters, wispy nebulae & distant galaxies.

• locate and follow bright comets across the sky.

• learn about the night sky and astronomy.

The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche (pronounced ty-kee), would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth's, and 375 times farther than Pluto's, which is why it hasn't been seen so far.

But scientists now believe the proof of its existence has already been gathered by a Nasa space telescope, Wise, and is just waiting to be analysed.

The first tranche of data is to be released in April, and astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think it will reveal Tyche within two years. "If it does, John and I will be doing cartwheels," Professor Whitmire said. "And that's not easy at our age."

Once Tyche has been located, other telescopes could be pointed at it to confirm the discovery.

Whether it would become the new ninth planet would be decided by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The main argument against is that Tyche probably formed around another star and was later captured by the Sun's gravitational field. The IAU may choose to create a whole new category for Tyche, Professor Matese said.

The IAU would also have the final say about the gas giant's name. To the Greeks, Tyche was the goddess responsible for the destiny of cities. Her name was provisionally chosen in reference to an earlier hypothesis, now largely abandoned, that the Sun might be part of a binary star system with a dim companion, tentatively called Nemesis, that was thought responsible for mass extinctions on Earth. In myth, Tyche

of dirty ice at temperatures much closer to absolute zero (-273C). A few of these are dislodged from their orbits by the galactic tide – the combined gravitational pull from the billions of stars towards the centre of the Milky Way – and start the long fall into the inner solar system.

As these long-period comets get closer to the Sun, some of the ice boils off, forming the characteristic tails that make them visible.

Professors Matese and Whitmire first proposed the existence of Tyche to explain why many of these long-period comets were coming from the wrong direction. In their latest paper, published in the February issue of Icarus, the international journal of solar system studies, they report that more than 20 per cent too many of the long-period comets observed since 1898

was the good sister of Nemesis. Tyche will almost certainly be made up mostly of hydrogen and helium and will probably have an atmosphere much like Jupiter's, with colourful spots and bands and clouds, Professor Whitmire said. "You'd also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them," he added.

What will make it stand out in the Wise data is its temperature, predicted to be around -73C, four or five times warmer than Pluto. "The heat is left over from its formation," Professor Whitmire said. "It takes an object this size a long time to cool off."

Most of the billions of objects in the Oort Cloud – a sphere one light year in radius stretching a quarter of the distance to Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the southern constellation – are lumps

arrive from a band circling the sky at a higher angle than predicted by the galactic-tide theory. No other proposal has been put forward to explain this anomaly since it was first suggested 12 years ago. But the Tyche hypothesis does have one flaw. Conventional theory holds that the gas giant should also dislodge comets from the inner Oort Cloud, but these have not been observed.

Professor Matese suggests this may be because these comets have already been tugged out of their orbits and, after several passes through the inner solar system, have faded to the point that they are much harder to detect. So if it is real, Tyche may not only be disrupting the orbits of comets, it may also overturn an established scientific theory.

www.independent.co.uk

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.

Up telescope! Search begins for giant new planet

The solar system is littered with natural debris—asteroids, comets and pieces of the same that occasionally wind up in the steamrolling path of one of the planets. When a piece of debris encounters the friction of Earth's atmosphere, it flares up as a meteor, or shooting star, and pieces of the object may survive the heat of re-entry to reach the surface as meteorites.

Record-setting "near miss" of Earth dramatically shifted tiny asteroid's orbit

Many more objects whiz past Earth without striking the atmosphere, perhaps returning for another pass some years later. Many of those go undetected, especially the small asteroids that are harder to spot with the relatively modest telescopes that keep watch for near-Earth objects. But sky monitors did spot one small asteroid, called 2011 CQ1, less than a day before it buzzed Earth at the smallest distance ever recorded. On February 4, the

meter-size rock flew over the Pacific at an altitude of about 5,500 kilometres—about one-seventieth the distance between Earth and the moon and well below the orbit of some high-flying satellites. But even though 2011 CQ1 skirted immolation in Earth's atmosphere, it did not escape from the encounter unmolested. Earth's gravity gave the asteroid a good tweak, redirecting its trajectory by about 60 degrees in much the same

way that interplanetary spacecraft use the gravity of the planets for course corrections or speed adjustments. "Prior to the Earth close approach, this object was in a so-called Apollo-class orbit that was mostly outside the Earth's orbit, following the close approach, the Earth's gravitational attraction modified the object's orbit to an Aten-class orbit where the asteroid spends almost all of its time inside the Earth's orbit." Just what is in store for the tiny asteroid is unclear—faint as 2011 CQ1 is, it was visible only briefly, when it was very close to Earth, and its newly adjusted orbit is not well understood.

www.scientificamerican.com



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Sure, that may just look like another full Moon picture, but it’s much more extraordinary than that: it’s one of the highest resolution pictures of the entire near side of the Moon ever compiled!

This is actually a mosaic of about 1300 separate images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera — the total size is a whopping 24,000 x 24,000 pixels, producing a resolution of about 145 meters/pixel. The full-size version is a monster 550 Mb TIF file (seriously, don’t grab that one unless you really need it!), and you can get a more palatable 1400 x 1400 pixel version with labels, too.

The images were taken over the course of two weeks in December 2010. LRO is in a polar orbit around the Moon — think of it as moving in a north/south direction over the

and brains look to shadows to sense the topographical relief — the ups and downs in the surface. But this image shows those shadows, making it a unique view of the full Moon.

But it’s also one of the highest resolution image ever made too! You can appreciate that if you look at the full-res 145 meters/pixel zoom-and-panable version, which is simply extraordinary. From the Earth, the sharpest view we can get when taking pictures of the Moon is limited by the roiling air above our heads; the smallest features we can see are roughly a kilometre or so across (sometimes it can be better when the air is steady, but not by a whole lot). Even if we pointed Hubble at the Moon the best it can do is about 200 meters. And even then it would take a lot of images to cover the entire lunar surface.

The only way to get better pictures is to go to the Moon! And that’s why these LRO images are so cool. Other missions have gone to the Moon, such as Clementine, the Lunar Orbiters, and Chandrayaan-1. These all produced high-resolution images as well, comparable and in some ways superior to what LRO has done. But it’s actually a bit difficult to find images from those missions put together into one,

surface instead of east/west. Over time, as the Moon rotates underneath it, LRO can see the entire surface of the Moon. As it does this, the angle of sunlight changes, so care had to be taken when creating this mosaic to make it appear seamless; otherwise shadows would appear to jump suddenly from point to point. If you look carefully you’ll see where shadows point in different directions, but it still looks pretty natural.

But it’s not: when you see the full Moon from Earth, that means the Sun is shining straight down on the Moon — the Earth is essentially directly between the Moon and Sun. That means you don’t see any shadows on the surface when the Moon is full. Pictures of it taken from Earth look flat in that case, because our eyes

easy-to-view picture, though. I downloaded the ginormous TIF image, and wow, scanning it is amazing. I saw crater chains (like in the image inset above; I suspect that actually formed from material ejected from an impact just off the frame to the upper right), cliffs, rilles, and tons of other amazing details. I’ve spent a lot of time at the eyepiece looking at the Moon, but I’ve never seen it like this. The detail is amazing, and the shadowing provides a sense of depth you just can’t get when observing the full Moon from home. It’s beautiful.

And if your brain is still intact after all that, I’ll note that the camera used to take this mosaic weighs only 900 grams — 2 pounds! And it would fit in the palm of your hand.

Amazing. And that’s all it took to get — wait for it, wait for it — the full Moonty. So my advice: take a little time and peruse the zoomable version online, and pretend you’re floating over the lunar surface*. And remember: one day people will get to see this not on their computers, but by the simple act of turning their heads and looking out their window.

www.discovermagazine.com

different mechanism than other g l o b u l a r c l u s t e r s . S ome astronomers speculate it may be the remains of a separate dwarf galaxy absorbed by the Milky Way billions of years ago.

The cluster is one of the few of its kind visible to the unaided eye. Which brings us to its name. R ena i s s a nc e a s t r o n ome r s catalogued the cluster as a star, and at the time, stars were labelled roughly in order of brightness with Greek letters Alpha to Omega. Since the massive cluster looked like a dim star, it was listed as the star Omega Centauri. Not until John Herschel turned a large telescope on the “star” was its true appearance revealed.

And what an appearance! Even in binoculars, the c luster is magnificent. Its misty glow spans a nearly a full degree of sky, twice the span of the full Moon.

We begin our bucket list for backyard stargazers with the dazzling star cluster Omega Centauri. Found in the deep southern sky, this globular cluster is an easy target for southern-hemisphere observers from March through October. But in May and early June, some northern stargazers get their best chance to spot the cluster as it peeks just above the southern horizon.

And it’s well worth a look. So breath taking is this swirling mass of stars in a small telescope that astronomy writer Stephen James O’Meara says “observing Omega Centauri is like peering into the working mind of the Creator.”

Omega Centauri is the 800-pound gorilla of our galaxy’s globular clusters. Like other “globs”, Omega Centauri is a gravitationally-stable sphere of 12-billion-year-old stars that formed not long after the universe itself.

And like other globs, it orbits the centre of our galaxy in a halo of some 180 similar ancient star clusters.

But Omega Centauri is far bigger than the rest. It packs 5-10 million stars into a diameter of 150 light years, a density some 10,000 times greater than we see in our own night sky. By some estimates, it’s at least 5-10x more massive than any other globular cluster in the Milky Way.

Omega Centauri is exceptional in another way. It seems to have formed more slowly than other globs, with two episodes of star formation over two billion years. This suggests it formed by a

Turn a 3 or 4-inch telescope on this cluster and it becomes a shimmering ball of stars, glowing like a frosted light bulb against a rich background of closer-by stars.

Even in a small scope, individual stars are visible around the edge; a slightly larger scope resolves the 12-billion-year-old stars right to the core. When you have this object in your sights, look carefully and don’t rush. Examine the colour and pattern of the stars, and enjoy watching for shapes and streams and gaps in the rich stellar tapestry of this magnificent cluster. Use low magnification to make sure the cluster fits in your field of view.

To see Omega Centauri at all, you need to be south of 43ºN latitude, roughly. It’s easy to see south of 30ºN latitude. Ideally, you can venture south of the equator, where the cluster is high in the sky and well placed for viewing from March to October. But a diligent few have seen it from as far north as Point Pelee, the sou the rnmos t po in t i n Canada. From there, the cluster appears to skim the surface of Lake Erie for a few clear spring nights.

In southern latitudes, you can find Omega Centauri about 13 degrees– a little more than the width of your fist held at arms length– northeast of gamma Crucis, the top star of Crux, the Southern Cross. The cluster lies some 16,000 light years from Earth.

Find it, enjoy it, and tick one object off your celestial “bucket list”.

www.oneminuteastronomer.com

Seen the full Moon lately? Maybe you have, but I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never seen it like this...

The extraordinary face of the Moon

Bucket List Object #10: Omega Centauri

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: Hubble Space

Telescope image of the core

of Omega

Centauri.

Above: The star cluster Omega (ω) Centauri, upper left, about 13 degrees northeast of the star Gacrux at the top of the Southern Cross

On February 13, 2011, sunspot 1158 let loose the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, a blast of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation

and located in approximately the middle of the Sun’s disk. The eruption also produced a loud blast of radio waves, and coronagraph data from STEREO-A and SOHO agree that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright coronal mass ejection.


Sun unleashes biggest flare of the current cycle


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Observatories, Hawaii. On Sunday night, they confirmed that two of the asteroids were near-Earth asteroids before snow on Mauna Kea forced the telescopes to close. On Monday night, they confirmed nine more before fog set in.

On Tuesday night, they searched for four, but found only one. After T u e s d a y , t h e r e m a i n i n g unconfirmed near-Earth asteroids had moved too far to be found again.

Telescopes in Arizona, Illinois, Italy, Japan, Kansas, New Mexico, and the United Kingdom, and the

Faulkes Telescope on Haleakala also helped to confirm seven of the discoveries.

Two of the asteroids, it turns out, have orbits that come extremely close to Earth’s. There is no immediate danger, but a collision in the next century or so, while unlikely, cannot yet be ruled out. Astronomers will be paying close attention to these objects.

Next time you view M81 and M82, perhaps you’ll see them in a new light?


The Pan-STARRS PS1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, discovered 19 near-Earth asteroids on the night of January 29, the most asteroids discovered by one telescope on a single night.

times within 12-72 hours to define their orbits, otherwise they are likely to be “lost.”

Denneau and colleagues quickly sent their discoveries to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., which collects and disseminates data about asteroids and comets, so that other astronomers can re-observe the objects.

“Usually there are several mainland observatories that would help us confirm our discoveries, but widespread snowstorms there closed down many of them, so we had to scramble to confirm many of the discoveries ourselves,” noted Institute for Astronomy astronomer Richard Wainscoat.

Wainscoat, astronomer David Tholen, and graduate student Marco Micheli spent the next three nights searching for the asteroids using telescopes at Mauna Kea

“This record number of discoveries shows that PS1 is the world’s most powerful telescope for this kind of study,” said Nick Kaiser, head of the Pan-STARRS project. “NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s support of this project illustrates how seriously they are taking the threat from near-Earth asteroids.”

Pan-STARRS software engineer Larry Denneau spent that Saturday night in his University of Hawaii at Manoa office in Honolulu processing the PS1 data as it was transmitted from the telescope over the Internet. During the night and into the next afternoon, he and others came up with 30 possible new near-Earth asteroids.

Asteroids are discovered because they appear to move against the background of stars. To confirm asteroid discoveries, scientists must carefully re-observe them several



New Record: Telescope finds 19 Near-Earth

Asteroids in one night

Two planets found sharing one orbit

The two planets are part of a four-planet system dubbed KOI-730. They circle their sun-like parent star every 9.8 days at exactly the same orbital distance, one permanently about 60 degrees ahead of the other. In the night sky of one planet, the other world must appear as a constant, blazing light, never fading or brightening. Gravitational "sweet spots" make this possible. When one body (such as a planet) orbits a much more massive body (a star), there are two Lagrange points along the planet's orbit where a third body can orbit stably. These lie 60 degrees ahead of and 60 degrees behind the smaller object. For example, groups of asteroids called Trojans lie at these points along Jupiter's orbit.

In theory, matter in a disc of material around a newborn star

Buried in the flood of data from the Kepler telescope is a planetary system unlike any seen before. Two of its apparent planets share the same orbit around their star. If the discovery is confirmed, it would bolster a theory that Earth once shared its orbit with a Mars-sized body that later crashed into it, resulting in the moon's formation.

could coalesce into so-called "co-orbiting" planets, but no one had spotted evidence of this before. "Systems like this are not common, as this is the only one we have seen," says Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California.

The moon is thought to have formed about 50 million years after the birth of the solar system, from the debris of a collision between a Mars-sized body and Earth. Simulations suggest the impactor, dubbed Theia, must have come in at a low speed. This could only have happened if Theia had originated in a leading or trailing Lagrange point along

Kid’s�Korner�

Robots that explore other planets must be able to see where they are going. Just like people, robots make good use of two eyes. Why are two eyes so much better than one?

Try an experi-ment. Cover or shut one eye and try to thread a nee-dle. Even a BIG needle. Now try it with both eyes open. Isn't it a lot easier with both eyes?

Or, using only one eye, try pouring water from one container into another--especially into one with a narrow opening. Better have a mop ready! Now try it with both eyes.

Shut one eye and the world looks flat--2-dimensional. Keep both eyes open, and the world takes on a whole new dimension! 3-D, or stereo, vision helps us tell how far

away things are.

Human stereo vision is a good thing for engineers to try to copy in making robots that can get around on their own.

Because your eyes are separated by a few centimetres (a couple of inches), each eye sees a

slightly different image. Your brain, however, combines the two images into one, using the extra information to tell you how close or far away things are.

Roving robots, too, must be able to tell how far away things are. Otherwise the robot will bump into things and have a hard time reaching its target.

"Urbie" is a Tactical Mobile Robot. Urbie was designed to navigate city

terrain. It will be useful for dangerous military missions, and it will also be useful to police and emergency rescue workers.

Urbie can see and navigate by itself, with no help from humans. Urbie would also make an ideal space explorer.

For a robot, exploring an asteroid, comet, or another planet will be a lonely job. It takes minutes or hours for a message (such as an image) from a robot on a distant planet to reach a human on Earth and for a message to be sent back to the robot. By that time, the little

"one-eyed" robot could have fallen into a hole or got ten s tuck somewhere. Like Urb ie , space exploring robots have got to be clever enough to take care of themselves.

Be glad your

http://www.marcsobservatory.com

not a Cyclops! Above: Richard Wainscoat (left) and Marco Micheli study one of the near- Earth asteroids found on January 29. The asteroid is the roundish dot near Wainscoat’s finger.

Earth's orbit. The new finds "show the kind of thing we imagined can happen".

Will KOI-730's co-orbiting planets collide to form a moon someday? Simulations at Princeton suggest the planets will continue to orbit in lockstep with each other for the next 2.22 million years at least.

www.newscientist.com


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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 New Record: Telescope finds 19 Near-Earth Asteroids in one night ........................................................................ 3

Two planets found sharing one orbit .................................... 3

The extraordinary face of the Moon ...................................... 4

Sun unleashes biggest flare of the current cycle .................... 4

Choosing a New Telescope – GoTo or not GoTo .................... 5

Three theories of planet formation busted, expert says.......... 6

Kepler Discovers 6-Planet Exo-Solar System .......................... 7

Up telescope! Search begins for giant new planet.................. 8

Record-setting "near miss" of Earth dramatically shifted tiny asteroid's orbit .............................................................. 8

Bucket List Object #10: Omega Centauri .............................. 9

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

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

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

Front cover image: A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major.

This sharp view of the gorgeous island

universe shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk. Dust lanes, small, pink star

-forming regions, and young blue star clusters are embedded in the patchy, tightly

wound spiral arms.

NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky Way, but this close-up Hubble image spans about 34,000 light-years along the galaxy's

inner region.

Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage

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. Which of the following

celestial bodies is not classified as a dwarf

planet?

� Eris � Pluto � Nix � Ceres

2. What asteroid measures

21 miles long and sometimes approaches

as close as 75 light seconds from Earth?

� Wild 2 � Ida � Eros � Titania

3. In a straight line, which

of these planets is the closest to Earth?

� It varies depending upon the date and time

� Mercury � Venus � Mars

4. What was the first successful fly-by mission

to Mars?

� Mars 2 � Mariner 4 � Viking 1 � Phobos 2

5. What joint American-

G e rman l a u n c he d satellite studied solar

flares and the solar wind?

� Solar Maximum Mission � Pioneer 5 � Helios 1 � Pioneer 9

6. One of Venus's most

distinct features is Maat Mons. Which of the

following statements about Maat Mons is

false?

� It is named for the Roman goddess of fire.

� It rises approximately 5 miles from Venus's

surface.

� It is the largest volcano on Venus.

� There is evidence of recent volcanic activity.

7. Less than a thirty light

minute trip from Earth, what are Ida and

Dactyl?

� Two independent asteroids

� An asteroid and its satellite

� Moons of Saturn � Large pieces of space junk

8. What is Wild 2?

� Oort Cloud � Asteroid � Comet � Centaur

9. Neptune's moon Triton is expected to break

apart or collide with Neptune in the next ten

thousand years.

� True � False

10.What is a Centaur?

� Type of comet � Type of planetoid � Type of asteroid � All of these

2 5

6 5

7 9 1

9 3 4 2

1 9 4 2 8 5

5 4 6 1

3 2 9

3 2

4 8

SUDOKU

Check your answers

Answer 1: The correct answer was Nix. Many scientists believe that several

hundred objects might be classified as dwarf planets once the technology

exists to better study the Kuiper belt. Nix will not be one of these as it is a recently (2005) discovered moon of

Pluto.

Answer 2: The correct answer was Eros. In terms of the size of the

asteroids in the inner portion of our solar system, Eros is huge,

approximately ten times the size of the asteroid thought to have impacted Earth and killed off the dinosaurs.

Answer 3: The correct answer was It

varies depending upon the date and time. Earth and the other planets are

in a constant state of flux. In fact, during much of the early 21st Century,

Mercury has been the closest planet to us and Venus has been the furthest of those listed, even further away than

the sun itself.

Answer 4: The correct answer was Mariner 4. NASA's Mariner 4 flew by

Mars in 1965. The Soviet probe Mars 2 was the first to land on the surface of Mars in 1971, but contact was lost

within seconds.

Answer 5: The correct answer was Helios 1 which studied the sun from an

orbit just outside of Mercury.

Answer 6: The correct answer was it is named for the Roman goddess of fire.

Answer 7: The correct answer was An

asteroid and its satellite. Ida is 52 mile wide asteroid and an inhabitant of the

Asteroid Belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Dactyl is a satellite of Ida.

Answer 8: The correct answer was a

Comet. Before 1974, Wild 2 lived among the gas giants until a near impact with Jupiter hurled it into the

inner solar system. Its current orbit will bring it to within 25 light seconds of

the sun.

Answer 9: The correct answer was false. Triton's orbit is currently degrading but not that rapidly. Current

estimates predict that its orbit will collapse within the next ten million

years. Scientists are unsure, however, if Triton will break apart or impact its

host planet.

Answer 10: The correct answer was All of these. Centaur is the name given to planetoids located between the orbits

of Jupiter and Neptune. Comets and asteroids are subclasses of planetoids.


Page - 12

Midlands Astronomy Club Magazine

Issue 22- March, 2011

Latest Astronomy and Space News

Kids Astronomy

Quizzes and Games

Monthly Sky Guide

Sky Guide - Beginner’s targets for March Telescope Targets Orion and the rest of the winter constellations are still placed well for early evening observing. See December's, January's and February's picks for targets in these. March marks the beginning of Spring Galaxy season. Most galaxies will appear as small grey blobs through amateur equipment. The thrill (at least for me) of looking at these is the vast distances and the fact that you're looking at something not of this galaxy. There's something about actually seeing a remote galaxy first hand that cannot possibly be felt by simply looking at pictures in a book. Granted, the pictures in the book are very nice to look at, but viewing them with your own scope gives you the feeling of "being" there. We'll start off in Ursa Major with a very nice pair of galaxies, M81 and M82. M81 and M82 are usually visible in the same low powered field of view, which makes for a fascinating site. Be sure to use your lowest power eyepiece for this pair. It also shows what 2 different types of galaxies will look like in your scope (an irregular, M82 and a spiral, M81). To find M81 and M82, start with the first star that forms the bowl of the big dipper from the handle (Phecda). Draw a line diagonally to the opposite corner

star (Dubhe), now, follow this im-aginary line the same distance out, then move slightly North (toward Polaris, the North Star), scan the area slowly, and you should find 2 smudges, one slightly elongated (M81) and one rounded (M82). This particular pair of galaxies were the first I found, the only description I wrote in my log book was "wow." M81 and M82 are located approximately 7 - 8 million lightyears from us. While in the area of the Big Dipper, there's a nice double star to be glimpsed as well. The second star of the handle (Mizar) is a naked eye double (Mizar and Alcor). While not a binary star system still a treat. Point your scope at it and Mizar itself splits into a double star, this one is a true binary system with a rotational period of several thousand years. Moving on to Leo, which is easy to find by looking for the backwards question mark we have another pair of galaxies which will fit into the same field of view in a low powered eyepiece. M65 and M66 can be located by finding the hindquarters of Leo which is a right triangle to the left (east) of the question mark. The star at the bottom right of the triangle is known as Chort. A dimmer star can be seen down and to the left of Chort (South and East). M65 and M66 can be found halfway between

these 2 stars. M65 and M66 are located about 20 million lightyears away. There are tons of galaxies in the Leo area, scan around the area with a low powered eyepiece and see how many you can detect. One note, you'll need good dark skies to start looking for galaxies so head out to your favourite country observing spot and begin your galaxy hunting there. Planets Mercury can be best seen on the 23rd and this month in the evening sky. It is visible after the first week of the month and sets around 19:30. Venus is low in the south-east dawn sky but returns to our skies in the autumn. Mars is not observable this month as it is too close to the Sun. Jupiter is moving rapidly towards the Sun, becoming lost in the western evening twilight around mid-month. Saturn is visible as an evening object during the month, rising at

21:10 at the start of the month. It can be located in the constellation Virgo this month. Uranus and Neptune is not observable this month. General notes Always keep an eye out f o r A u r o r a e . C h e c k o u t w w w . s t r o n g e . o r g . u k /spaceweather.html for the most up-to-date information on the aurorae. Other interesting naked eye phenomena to look out for include the Zodiacal Light and the Gegenschein. Both are caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles which are present in the solar system.

Finally check out www.heavens-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: Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognised asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures.

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

mac march 2011 magazine

Documents

north star

nice double star

dimmer star

nice pair of galaxies

binary star system

particular pair of galaxies

tons of galaxies

leo area