Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York

February 2016 Volume 65 Number 2; ISSN 0146-7662

An Astronomical Year for Astrophotography

By Rafael Ferreira

"2015 was one amazing year for astronomy photog-

raphy. We live in a really fortunate time," said Robert Nemi-

roff, as he introduced a presentation of NASA’s Astronomy

Picture of the Day website’s best images of the year at the

American Museum of Natural History on Jan 8 for AAA’s

2015-2016 Lecture Series. And he didn’t disappoint. 2015’s

photos were revelatory and awe-inspiring.

Nemiroff, who is now at Michigan Technological Uni-

versity, co-founded the website with Jerry Bonnell 20 years

ago, when they worked together at NASA’s Goddard Space

Flight Center. Their concept was simple, “Just feature a new

image each day.”

Back in 1995, they

and their colleagues

were privy to many

images of space,

emailed to each other

across the internet at a

rate comparable to

today’s high-speed

internet – another

NASA perk.

The site requires

a lot of work from Nemiroff and Bonnell, but it is a labor of

love. They select each featured image and post them with

proper credit and a brief description that they write them-

selves. They create the blurbs with a variety of viewers in

mind, from grade-school kids to professional astronomers.

Hyperlinks to definitions of terms and concepts are also pro-

vided. But APOD does not offer just one image. It allows

viewers to access the archive of its history, comprising some

of the greatest and most iconic images of our universe. Many

APOD images are supplied by amateur astronomers, and

Nemiroff encouraged us all to submit.

APOD is the second most visited NASA website, behind

the space agency’s homepage, with about a million views a

day. Nemiroff explained this was due to an army of volun-

teers around the world who translate the website into over 20

languages and link APOD with Facebook and Twitter. Some

THIS MONTH: AAA Lecture on Feb 5; Registration open for AAA Spring Astronomy Class, begins Feb 24

AAA LECTURE SERIES

NYC Company Leads in Space Tech: Honeybee Robotics on Mars

By Stanley Fertig

“It’s OK to touch it,” said John Abrashkin, Director of

Business Development at Honeybee Robotics. And with his

permission, I placed my hands on the Sprit and Opportunity

Mars Exploration Rovers’ Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT). Or

rather, I was able to feel and examine a model of a RAT dur-

ing a tour of Honeybee’s Brooklyn Navy Yard headquarters

on January 18. That day,

I was fortunate to be one

of only a 9-person group

allowed to visit to the

New York City compa-

ny’s facility for a presen-

tation and demonstration

of its current and future

space technologies.

Honeybee Robotics (www.HoneybeeRobotics.com) is a

cutting-edge developer of instruments for use in space explo-

ration and in other industries. Their customers include corpo-

rations like Boeing, Merck, and Con Edison, as well as the

U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the Jet Propulsion La-

boratory, and other space-related organizations. I first be-

came aware of Honeybee from its frequent mention on Plane-

tary Radio, the weekly podcast of the Planetary Society. But

many space enthusiasts are unfamiliar with the company, de-

spite the fact that most of us have certainly seen photos of

their tools at work on Mars, usually captured in spacecraft

selfies. So, allow me to introduce you to Honeybee, a leader

in space technology and planetary exploration that’s been

buzzing about in your own back yard.

Founded in 1983 by

two entrepreneurs, Ste-

phen Gorevan and Chris

Chapman, the company

was originally located on

the Lower East Side of

Manhattan. For the past

decade, it was based on

West 34th Street, but it

recently moved to its

Honeybee Robotics (cont’d on Page 4) Best of APOD 2015 (cont’d on Page 4)

OUT OF THIS WORLD

CalTech

Number 9? In January, scientists announced there may be a large planet in our Solar System lurking

beyond the Kuiper Belt.

Courtesy of Honeybee Robotics

Honeybee’s Rock Abrasion Tool on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers.

Courtesy of Honeybee Robotics

Mars Phoenix Lander with Honeybee’s Icy Soil Acquisition Device (ISAD).

AAA Member Stan Honda’s photo of the Mar 20, 2015 Total Solar Eclipse was fea-tured among the best APOD pics of 2015.

2

February’s Evening Planets: Neptune is in Aquarius

the Water Bearer until 7 PM, setting earlier every night until

6 PM by the end of February. Uranus is in Pisces the Fish

until 11 PM, setting earlier toward 9 PM through the month.

Jupiter will be between Virgo the Virgin and Leo the Lion as

of 8 PM, rising earlier every night toward 6 PM at the end of

the month.

February’s Evening Stars: The Winter Triangle will

be up until midnight this month: Sirius, the brightest star

viewed from Earth, is in Canis Major the Great Dog; Betel-

geuse is in Orion the Hunter; and Procyon is in Canis Minor

the Small Dog. Spot Rigel in Orion, Capella in Auriga the

Charioteer, Aldeberan in Taurus the Bull, and bright Castor

and Pollux in Gemini the Twins. Also find the stars of con-

stellations Cassiopeia, Perseus, Cepheus, Draco, Leo, Can-

cer, and Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big and Little Dip-

pers).

February’s Morning Planets: Venus will be moving

between Sagittarius the Archer and Capricornus the Sea-goat

from 5 AM until sunrise. Mars will be in Libra the Scales as

of midnight, lingering until sunrise. Jupiter can be seen be-

tween Virgo and Leo until sunrise. Mercury is between Sag-

ittarius and Capricornus around 6 AM. Saturn will be in

Scorpio the Scorpion as of 3 AM until sunrise.

February’s Morning Stars: For a couple hours before

sunrise, see the Summer Triangle of Vega in Lyra the Harp,

Deneb in Cygnus the Swan, and Altair in Aquila the Eagle.

Look for Capella in Auriga, reddish Antares in Scorpius,

Castor and Pollux in Gemini, Arcturus in Boötes the Herds-

man, and Spica in Virgo, along with the stars of constella-

tions Leo, Hercules, Libra, Cancer, Corona Borealis, Cassio-

peia, Cepheus, Draco, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor.

Feb 2 Mars 3° south of Moon, pre-dawn

Feb 6 Venus 3° south of Moon, pre-dawn

Feb 8 New Moon at 9:39 AM

Feb 10 Moon at perigee (226,400 miles away)

Feb 15 First Quarter Moon at 2:45 PM

Feb 23 Jupiter 1.7° north of Moon, pre-dawn

Feb 22 Full Moon at 1:20 AM

Feb 26 Moon at apogee (251,800 miles away)

Times given in EST.

WHAT’S UP IN THE SKY

February 2016

Cosmic Valentines

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be just an Earthly celebra-

tion this February 14. You can spread your love on a univer-

sal scale with beautiful nebulae in the spirit of the holiday –

the red rose of the Rosette Nebula, and the glowing heart of

the Heart Nebula.

The Rosette Nebula About 5,000 light-years

from Earth lies Caldwell

49, the flower-shaped

Rosette Nebula. Its

“petals” are formed by

stellar wind from the cen-

tral open star cluster

Caldwell 50, or NGC

2244. Those hot young stars are only a few million years

old. The surrounding nebula glows red from H II emissions,

lit by radiation from the young stars. The Rosette itself is

actually defined by four nebulae designated NGC 2237, NGC

2238, NGC 2239, and NGC 2246, which were discovered at

different times. They were charted visually over the past 200

years before astronomers realized they were part of one neb-

ula. The Rosette is famous for its numerous newborn stars.

The star-forming region in the petals is estimated to host

2,500 young stars. This stellar nursery is about 10,000 solar

masses and 50 light-years in diameter.

Can I see the rose? The Rosette Nebula is not visible to the naked eye, but you

can see it with binoculars towards the constellation Monocer-

os the Unicorn.

The Heart Nebula IC 1805, or Sharpless 2-

190, is known as the Heart

Nebula. 7,500 light-years

away in the Perseus Arm

of the Milky Way galaxy,

it is also an emission neb-

ula, glowing with red light

emitted by atomic hydro-

gen. The intense color and distinctive shape of the Heart is

produced by radiation from a small group of massive, hot,

young stars near its center, open cluster Melotte 15. The

Heart Nebula has a companion to its east, the Soul Nebula –

together they are known as the Heart and Soul. Sometimes

called the Embryo Nebula, the Soul complex is designated as

Westerhout 5, Sharpless 2-199, or LBN 667, but it is com-

monly referred to as IC 1848, a star cluster embedded inside.

Can I see the heart?

The Heart Nebula is too faint to be seen by naked eye.

You’ll need a telescope to view it. The Heart can be found

between constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus.

Sources: atlasoftheuniverse.com; nasa.gov.

Follow veteran sky watcher Tony Faddoul each month, as he points our minds and our scopes toward the night sky.

AAA Observers’ Guide

By Tony Faddoul

February “Skylights”

Andreas Fink-Wikimedia

Caldwell 49, the Rosette Nebula.

Wikimedia

IC 1805, the Heart Nebula.

3

Astrophotography:

It’s All in the Planning

By Stan Honda

Fortunately for stargazers and astrophotographers, the

movements of the universe are fairly regular. Star charts and

online planetarium programs can give you an idea of what

will be present in the sky on a given night. Barring clouds or

other obstructions, you should be able to see most objects as

predicted, whether they be a planetary conjunction, satellite

transit, eclipse, or other celestial event.

Thankfully, such charts and programs can make plan-

ning a shoot pretty straightforward. For the January align-

ment of the crescent Moon, Venus, and Saturn, I started with a

chart on the Sky & Telescope Magazine website in the “This

Week’s Sky at a Glance” feature. It showed that the pre-dawn

Moon on Jan 6 would be above the planets, but it would be

within just a few degrees of them the next morning. The

Moon and the brighter planets are easy to see and photograph

in our light-polluted New York City, so I decided to plan a

shoot for Jan 7. But, I needed to do a bit more research.

Available online is the free planetarium software Stellar-

ium (www.stellarium.org). Stellarium showed that the Moon-

Saturn-Venus trio would be rising in the southeast. Applying

the altitude-azimuth grid overlay and setting the program’s

clock to the early morning of Jan 7, I saw that the Moon

would be positioned in the southeastern sky at five degrees

above the horizon at 5:24 AM. Venus was three degrees high-

er than the Moon and just six degrees toward south. Saturn

would be between the two, slightly higher than the Moon and

slightly lower than Venus, creating a nice triangle.

I then compared those measurements to the angular view

of telephoto lenses and found that a 200mm lens on a full-

frame digital camera takes in a view of seven degrees on the

short side of the frame and 10 degrees on the long side. The

rising trio would fit into this frame easily, with room to spare!

Next, I turned to my favorite photo planning software,

The Photographers Ephemeris (photoephemeris.com), or TPE,

and searched for a good shoot location in the city. It is also

important to consider a photo’s composition when searching

for the right spot. A nice foreground for night sky objects

February 2016

adds some perspective and interest for a viewer. The running

track around the Central Park reservoir provides clear views

of either the east or west side of Manhattan – looking from

across the reservoir, many buildings extend only about five

degrees above the horizon. The TPE showed that the Moon

would rise in the southeast directly across from any position

along the west side of the reservoir.

Now to check the weather. The Clear Sky Chart

(www.cleardarksky.com/csk) indicated only 10% cloud cov-

erage from 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM on Jan 7. It sounded like a

good time for a shoot! I arrived at the reservoir at 5:00AM,

and the sky was quite clear, with just some thin clouds in the

south. As I set up my camera and tripod, Venus was already

up, and the Moon began peeking through the buildings across

from me. About 20 minutes later, the Moon cleared the roof

of a Fifth Avenue apartment building where I had aimed my

camera. As the charts predicted, the crescent Moon, Saturn,

and Venus were shining low on the horizon. I decided to set

the zoom lens slightly wider at about 180mm to take in more

of the foreground buildings.

On my Sony a7S camera, exposure was 1 sec, f5 at ISO

6400. This overexposed the lit crescent of the Moon, but al-

lowed the planets to shine brightly. I could also pick up the

“earthshine” on the unlit portion of the Moon – the orb

seemed to glow in the images. A bank of very thin clouds

passed over the trio, creating a slight halo around the Moon

but not obscuring Venus or Saturn. This added a nice element

to the photo, reflecting the yellow-orange city lights. Some of

the brighter stars nearby appeared in the photo; wider views

captured Antares and part of Scorpius.

This type of planning is pretty typical for the astropho-

tography I do, and for amateur astronomers, it’s really an ex-

tension of information gathering for a general observing ses-

sion. Of course, it’s hard to plan a way to recover lost sleep

from an early morning shoot. There’s no software for that!

FOCUS ON THE UNIVERSE

Explore more night sky photography at

www.stanhonda.com.

Submit your photography questions to stanhonda@gmail.com.

Stan Honda is a professional photographer. Formerly with Agence

France-Presse, Stan covered the Space Shuttle program. In his

“Focus on the Universe” column, he shares his night sky images and

explores his passions for astronomy and photography.

Stellarium

The Stellarium graphic for the early morning sky on Jan 7.

Stan Honda

The Moon-Saturn-Venus conjunction over Manhattan, taken from the Central Park reservoir.

4

February 2016

have even designed APOD apps for mobile devices.

Nemiroff first revisited classic APODs from prior years.

He shared a video from Jan 30, 2013 of a real-time Moonrise

in New Zealand, where people were silhouetted by the enor-

mous orb. The photographer was positioned on one hill with

the foreground people atop another hill in the distance. The

next image dated back to Jul 14, 2014 and featured a spectac-

ular display of the Aurora Borealis in northern Canada.

Turning to 2015, Nemi-

roff showed images of the

Total Solar Eclipse on Mar

20, including a shot of ob-

servers witnessing the event

in the sky above from Sval-

bard, Norway, taken by

AAA’s Stan Honda. He also

shared Thierry Legault’s

“double eclipse,” a time-

lapse composite of the Inter-

national Space Station silhouetted as it crossed the Sun, while

the Moon was still in the partial stage of the Solar Eclipse.

ESA’s Rosetta entered

orbit at Comet 67P/

Churyumov-Gerasimenko in

2014, and Nemiorff showed

how its increasingly resolved

photos revealed the comet’s

odd double-lobe nucleus.

But in 2015, things got really

interesting. As 67P neared

the Sun in its orbit, it came

alive. Rosetta caught images of sublimating ice jetting out

gas and dust. Meanwhile last year, the Dawn spacecraft en-

tered orbit around giant asteroid Ceres and spotted some

strange white spots. The pixilated spots became more re-

solved throughout the year, and scientists determined they

may be a magnesium sulfate called hexahydrate, otherwise

known as Epsom salt. In 2015, Rosetta and Dawn gave us all

the first up-close-and-personal views of these little understood

primitive bodies from the early Solar System.

Finally, Nemiroff turned to

the most anticipated images of

the evening, summed up in one

word, “Pluto!” Before 2015, we

could only dream of what it

looked like – and nothing could

have prepared us for the reality.

Images from the New Horizons

spacecraft showed large, flat

areas that are absent of craters. With a young surface, is there

geologic activity on Pluto? Elsewhere, there is snakeskin-like

terrain, and mountain ranges cascade upwards of 11,000 feet.

Images will continue to pour in, and we can’t wait!

Nemiroff ended with the video “Wanderers,” by Erik

Wernquist, featuring a voiceover recording of Carl Sagan

describing the potential of humanity. Thanks to APOD, we

have a beautiful record of our astronomical achievements.

Best of APOD 2015 (cont’d from Page 1)

Brooklyn home. Honeybee also has satellite offices in Long-

mont, CO and Pasadena, CA, with the bulk of its planetary

exploration work taking place out of the Pasadena facility.

The RAT, which grinds

holes and brushes away dust,

was the fist machine to ex-

plore the interior of rocks on

a different planet. Still in

operation since Opportunity

landed on Mars in 2004, it is

controlled today by Honey-

bee from its Brooklyn head-

quarters. The company also developed the Icy Soil Acquisi-

tion Device (ISAD), a scoop instrument on the 2008 Phoenix

lander that was used to excavate dirt on the Martian surface.

Honeybee’s Sample Manipulation System (SMS) and the Dust

Removal Tool (DRT) are essential components of the Mars

Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, as it continues its explora-

tion of the Red Planet. Currently, Honeybee is develop-

ing tools for future Mars and other

planetary body exploration, including

the PlanetVac and the Planetary Deep

Drill, both recently featured on epi-

sodes of Planetary Radio. PlanetVac

is an instrument for surface sampling

of regolith or dirt using pneumatics. A

puff of one gram of compressed gas

can recover up to 5,000 grams of soil. The Planetary Deep Drill is a tethered

robotic drill designed to bore thou-

sands of feet below a planetary surface and deliver instru-

ments into the borehole for in-situ analysis. Amazingly, it can

do all this using only 250 watts of power. It is also specially

designed to drill through water ice at low temperatures, a sur-

face type that can be found at the Martian polar caps and on

Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. This

represents a qualitative leap in planetary exploration, as exist-

ing planetary drills, including that currently on the Mars rover

Curiosity, are capable of drilling only a few centimeters. To

advance the search for life in the Solar System and the study

of planetary geology, a deep drilling capability is essential. Another Honeybee robot in

design is the Asteroid Water Ex-

tractor, intended for a potential

mission to water-rich asteroids. It

would be able to drill and acquire

icy soil samples from asteroids,

extract the water for later use, and

dispose of the dry soil to prepare

for another round of sample collection. Its architecture gener-

ates additional downforce to operate in microgravity, where

drills require sufficient force to penetrate material that may be

as hard as concrete.

The future of planetary exploration, and maybe the dis-

covery of life beyond Earth, will have Honeybee Robotics to

thank – and I’m proud to know the Big Apple is a part of it.

Honeybee Robotics (cont’d from page 1)

Courtesy of Honeybee Robotics

Artist’s image of a future Asteroid Water Extractor.

Courtesy of Honeybee Robotics

Honeybee’s Planetary Deep Drill.

Courtesy of Honeybee Robotics

PlanetVac by Honeybee Robotics.

ESA/Rosetta/MPS

On Nov 18, 2015, APOD posted an photo by orbiting Rosetta

spacecraft of a jet on Comet 67P, becoming active near perihelion.

NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS/DLR/IDA

APOD’s Sep 16, 2015 highly re-solved photo of mysterious spots on asteroid Ceres, now believed

to be deposits of Epsom salt.

NASA, Johns Hopkins U. APL, SwRI

The mountains and plains of Pluto, APOD Dec 14, 2015.

5

February 2016

sites of ancient craters and lunar lava plains, but one of the

Earth rising over a desolate Moon.

NASA hadn’t requested

these photos – after all, why take

images of what we already knew

from so far away? But when as-

tronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lov-

ell, and Bill Anders saw the strik-

ing, colorful, living Earth rising

beyond the dead, gray Moon, they

couldn’t help but try to capture it

in photos and share them with the

rest of humanity. “The vast lone-

liness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you

have back there on Earth,” said Lovell, displaying Bill Anders’

photo during the crew’s live broadcast that Christmas Eve.

What he expressed was a sensation referred to as the

“Overview Effect,” a profound, life-changing shift in aware-

ness of the preciousness and fragility of Earth, experienced

upon seeing it firsthand from space. The Apollo 8 crew gave

humans the opportunity to feel the Overview Effect, which for

many influenced their appreciation of Earth. The photo is of-

ten credited with inspiring the start of the environmental move-

ment. In 2015, NASA operators had the Lunar Reconnaissance

Orbiter take an up-to-date Earthrise photo from lunar orbit to

refresh our memories and reinvigorate interest in our planet. Had robots been sent to the Moon on Apollo 8 instead of

humans, they would have taken their pre-programmed lunar

photos and humanity would have been deprived of this iconic

image. Aesthetics are lost on machines. Only people know

what can appeal visually to other people. Since the 1960s,

robotic probes are relied on to explore the far-away celestial

objects in our Solar System. And while they are not designed

to collect data about Earth, scientists have programmed them to

image the Earth from time to time.

But the images of Earth as a fuzzy dot, taken from far-

flung regions of the Solar System cannot match the beauty of

photos from the Moon and nearby satellites. They may not

provoke the same sense of wonder about Earth, but they can

serve to capture the pub-

lic's imagination and

interest in scientific

study and exploration.

In January 2014, the

Curiosity rover snapped

a photo of Earth from the

surface of Mars. On the

Red Planet, Earth looks

like a featureless bright

star in its night sky. Yet

the idea that our nearest

neighbor planet can see us, and that a robot we built is looking

back at the home world of its human creators, continues to play

on our conceit. The images of the Martian surface taken by

rovers and landers reveal wonders of a planet we continue to

explore, but the photos they take of Earth remind us of the sig-

nificance of that exploration.

As our space probes venture further and further away

from Earth, we still want to have a snapshot of home. Why

stop at Mars? Carolyn Porco, leader of the Imaging Team for

Snapping Space Selfies

By Richard Brounstein and Amy Wagner

Our instant selfie-loving culture has come a long way

since portrait sitters trembled during the minutes-long expo-

sures of the first daguerreotypes in the 1800s. But even those

early photographers knew they had a hit on their hands, a

technology that feeds that conceited streak in the human psy-

che. We love to see ourselves on camera, and this remains

true in the space age. We send spacecraft to the far reaches of

our Solar System, equipped with cameras that not only image

celestial objects for exploration, but also turn their lenses back

to Earth. Those distant cameras may not be able to pick out

individuals, but we get the chance to see the planet that repre-

sents all of humanity. We may have to wait hours or days for

these photos, but no matter where we explore, we are drawn to

look back at our home and take a picture.

The first Earth

selfie was taken before

there were even satel-

lites. The image was

captured with a motion

picture camera aboard a

V-2 missile, launched

from White Sands in

New Mexico. The sci-

entists and soldiers there

were thrilled with their (classified) accomplishment. After the

U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik, and the public space age began,

U.S. weather satellite TIROS-1 was launched to analyze cloud

systems on Earth and to prove the value of spacecraft to mete-

orologists. It also snapped another black and white photo of

Earth in 1960. Since then, thousands of satellites have been

placed into Earth orbit, many collecting valuable data while

also photographing our planet.

Few images are more prized than those of our beautiful

blue marble, a detail that later became apparent with color

cameras. And while it may be conceited, Earth is arguably the

most attractive planet out there. But even if it were not, it

would still be a favorite of space paparazzi. Humans will al-

ways relate to Earth more than to the alien landscapes of other

worlds, no matter how magnificent they may be. This was certainly true on December 24, 1968 during the

first manned mission to orbit the Moon. Astronauts aboard

Apollo 8 were the first to see the far side of the Moon, always

hidden from Earth’s view. That side faces away from us, be-

cause the Moon’s rotation

is synchronized with its

orbit. With this new op-

portunity, NASA made

sure the Apollo 8 crew

had cameras ready to

document that undiscov-

ered half of the lunar sur-

face. Yet, the most popu-

lar photo taken from that

mission was not of new

WHAT IF???

NASA/Bill Anders

The “Earthrise” photo taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders in1968.

NASA/Goddard/Arizona State Univ.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbit-er updates “Earthrise” in 2015.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/TAMU

The Curiosity rover took a photo of Earth from the surface of Mars in 2014.

White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Lab

The first photo of Earth from space taken October 24, 1946.

6

the Cassini Spacecraft orbiting

Saturn, decided to organize a

selfie from a billion miles

away. This time, we would

have a chance to pose for the

camera. Porco created a cam-

paign that called on people to

look up to the sky at the exact

moment the image would be

taken, and smile. At 5:30 PM

EDT on July 19, 2013, “The

Day the Earth Smiled,” mil-

lions said “cheese” for Cassini.

“After much work, the mosaic

that marks that moment the inhabitants of Earth looked up

and smiled at the sheer joy of being alive is finally here. In its

combination of beauty and meaning, it is perhaps the most

unusual image ever taken in the history of the space pro-

gram,” said Porco. Despite the many astonishing images that

Cassini has captured of Saturn and its fascinating moons, we

will always treasure the photo of that smiling point of light

between that planet’s rings. The Cassini photo was inspired by “The Pale Blue Dot”

image of Earth taken by Voyager 1 in February 1990 from

beyond the orbit of Neptune. That selfie was proposed by

Carl Sagan, but it was not intended to prove our space tech-

nology, inspire environmentalism, promote scientific explora-

tion, or celebrate humanity, but rather to offer a more hum-

bling perspective. “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast

cosmic arena,” Sagan wrote, “Our planet is a lonely speck in

the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this

vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere

to save us from ourselves...There is perhaps no better demon-

stration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image

of our tiny world. To me it underscores our responsibility to

deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cher-

ish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” Like

the tiny planet of Whoville in that speck of dust that only Hor-

ton can hear, we must come together as one to call out and

work toward the preservation of our species.

Are we fin-

ished taking space

selfies? With Voy-

ager 1 now in inter-

stellar space, have

we reached the lim-

its of resolution to

image Earth? It isn’t

even a speck from

the Kuiper Belt or

Oort Cloud. We will have to look for the bright Sun to repre-

sent us in any images. And if we ever send a spacecraft to

another star system to explore and image its planets and

moons, we might still see the dim light of our home star.

Along with images of other systems that may harbor life, a

photo of our own star would be a great accomplishment. By

then, we may have found that life exists on other worlds in our

Solar System. One of the most exciting selfies we take in the

future could be a photo not of Earthlings, but of Solarians. Sources: nasa.gov; space.com; planetary.org; universetoday.com.

February 2016

...Now it's time to leave the capsule

if you dare.

This is Major Tom to Ground Control

I'm stepping through the door

And I'm floating in a most peculiar way

And the stars look very different today

For here

Am I sitting in a tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do.

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles

I'm feeling very still

And I think my spaceship knows which way to go...

...That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive.

There's a starman waiting in the sky

He'd like to come and meet us

But he thinks he'd blow our minds

There's a starman waiting in the sky

He's told us not to blow it

'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile

He told me

Let the children lose it

Let the children use it

Let all the children boogie.

Goodbye to a Space Oddity

and Starman.

David Bowie, 1947-2016

NASA/JPL/SSI/CICLOPS

Earth from Saturn’s orbit, taken by Cassini on “The Day the Earth Smiled, July 19, 2013.

NASA/JPL

The “Pale Blue Dot” photo of Earth taken from beyond Neptune by Voyager 1 in 1990.

7

Down to Earth The Warmest Year Ever, Again

In January, analyses by NASA and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) revealed that 2015 set the record for Earth’s warmest year

ever in modern times. Not only were average global sur face temperatures warmer

than in 2014, the prior record-setting year, but the increase was also a staggering 0.23°F, or

0.13°C. Only once before has the record been shattered by that much. NOAA’s National

Centers for Environmental Information concurred with the findings of NASA’s Goddard

Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Earth’s average surface temperature has now risen 1.8°

F, or 1°C since then. This change is mostly driven by carbon dioxide and other human-

made emissions into the atmosphere. The central goal of the World Climate Agreement in Paris last year was “holding the in-

crease in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels,” with efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C,

“...recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.” Rising temperatures will impact food

and water security, infrastructure, ecosystems, health, and the risk of conflict, according to the International Panel on Climate

Change. “Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and NASA’s vital work on this important issue affects every person

on Earth,” said Administrator Charles Bolden. Both analyses rely on global weather data from NOAA’s archives that go back to

1880. Global temperature has been taken methodically since 1850, but it didn’t initially cover enough of the surface. GISS data

comes from 6,300 weather stations around the world, research stations in Antarctica, and ships and buoys at sea. An algorithm

factors in the spacing of those locations and urban heating effects, and estimates differences from a baseline period between 1951

to 1980. Most global warming occurred in the past 35 years; 15 of the 16 warmest were recorded since 2001. And while El Niño

helped to warm the tropical Pacific Ocean during 2015, “...it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the

record warming that we are seeing,” said GISS’s Gavin Schmidt. AMW Sources: nasa.gov; noaa.gov; climate.gov; ipcc.ch; npr.org.

From the Ground Up Record-setting Supernova is a Head Scratcher

In January, astronomers announced they had seen

the brightest supernova ever, shining with the light of 570

billion suns. 3.8 million light-years away, it was 200 times

more powerful than typical supernovae and twice as bright as

the brightest seen before. They believe it is a “superluminous

supernovae,” a recently discovered, rare type of stellar explo-

sion. “Scientists are frankly at a loss, though, regarding what

sorts of stars and stellar scenarios might be responsible for

these extreme supernovae,” said Subo Dong of Peking Uni-

versity, who first spotted the event in June last year. He ob-

served it with the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae

(ASASSN) in Chile. ASASSN uses Nikon long-lens tele-

scopes to search the sky for sudden bright events. The star,

dubbed ASASSN-15lh, may have been 50-100 times the mass

of the Sun but not much larger than the Earth when it explod-

ed. Its afterglow is fading, and astronomers must learn what

they can before the light goes out. It is similar to hydrogen-

poor Type I supernovae, but it is bigger, brighter, and hotter.

Its host galaxy is also bigger and brighter than those of a typi-

cal Type I. The supernova may have been supercharged by a

highly magnet-

ized, rapidly

spinning object

formed during

the explosion.

This magnetar

is small but

very dense,

spinning at

1,000 times a

second. As it slows, its rotational energy transfers into the

expanding cloud of gas and dust from the explosion.

AMW Source: earthsky.org; bbc.com; nationalgeographic.com.

February 2016

Celestial Selection of the Month Zeta Ophiuchi

460 light-years away

in the constellation Oph-

iuchus, a runaway star

speeds through space,

creating a hauntingly

beautiful bow shock in

infrared light. Zooming

along at an unusually high

velocity of 24 km/sec, Zeta

Ophiuchi is thought to

have been ejected from a

binary star system when its

companion exploded in a

supernova. Runaway stars

are typically hot, massive O-type stars with surface tempera-

tures of up to 50,000°C and sizes of up to 100 solar masses.

They are also extremely bright. A hot, young star at only 3

million-years-old, Zeta Ophiuchi is 20 times more massive

than the Sun and 65,000 times more luminous. It should be

one of the brightest objects in our night sky, but this lumi-

nous, blue-white star, appears only dim and red to us in visi-

ble light, because it is obscured by clouds of gas and dust. Its

strong stellar wind compresses the gas and dust that lies ahead

of its path as it races through space, curving them into a bow

shock shape. Zeta Ophiuchi, which is halfway through its

evolution into a red supergiant, is losing mass though its

strong stellar wind. The star will ultimately end its short life

in a supernova, like its ex-companion, leaving behind a neu-

tron star or a pulsar. Based on its age and the direction it

moves, Zeta Ophiuchi is considered to be a member of the

nearby Scorpius-Centaurus Association, a club of O- and B-

type stars which all share a common origin site. AMW

Sources: nasa.gov; spritzer.caltech.edu; daviddarling.info.

NASA, JPL-Caltech, Spitzer Space Telescope

Stellar wind from bright, massive runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi (center) curves the gas and dust ahead of it.

The Dark Energy Survey / B. Shappee / The ASASSN Team Bright blue supernova ASASSN-15lh (right) out-

shines its yellow host galaxy, imaged before (left).

Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center

Global temp in 2015 was 1.62°F warmer than the average for the 20th century.

Measurements go back to 1880.

8

A Message from the AAA President

Hello AAA Members,

I hope you all stayed safe and sound during Winter Storm

Jonas last month. Earlier in January, we had a very successful

AAA Winter Party in the Speakeasy Room at the Gin Mill, and it

was great seeing so many of you there. I look forward to speaking

with our members again at the many AAA events planned through-

out the year.

Winter is a slow season for observing, so be sure to catch the

next installment in the AAA Lecture Series at AMNH on Feb 5

with Alexander Hubbard’s presentation “Asteroids: Rubble on the

Road from Stardust to Planets.” Find the full schedule of 2015-

2016 lectures at: www.aaa.org/lectures.

Please remember to renew your AAA membership as soon as

you can either with the form you have received by mail or online at

www.adminaaa.org, which helps us save on costs for a follow-

up mailing. As always, a donation with your renewal dues is great-

ly appreciated.

The AAA calendar updates frequently with events through-

out New York, so be sure to check it at www.aaa.org/calendar.

Marcelo Cabrera

President, AAA

February 2016

Eyepiece Staff February 2016 Issue

Editor-in-Chief: Amy M. Wagner Copy Editor: Richard Brounstein

Contributing Writers: Richard Brounstein, Tony Faddoul, Rafael Ferreira, Stanley Fertig, Stan Honda, and Amy Wagner

Eyepiece Logo and Graphic Design: Rori Baldari

Administrative Support: Joe Delfausse

Printing by McVicker & Higginbotham

FEBRUARY 2016

WED, Feb 3 & 10

AAA Winter Astronomy Class at Cicatelli Center – Manhattan, M

@ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The final classes of David Kiefer’s advanced course, “Measuring Distanc-

es in Space,” will explore standard candles and Hubble’s Law.

Registration is closed.

FRI, Feb 5 Next: Mar 4

AAA Lecture at the American Museum of Natural History, P

@ 6:15 pm – 8 pm

“Asteroids: Rubble on the Road from Stardust to Planets” presented by

Alexander Hubbard from the American Museum of Natural History. Free

admission; open to the public. (In the Kaufmann Theater; Enter at 77th St)

WED, Feb 24 Continued in Feb

AAA Spring Astronomy Class at Cicatelli Center – Manhattan, M

@ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The first class of David Kiefer’s intermediate course, “The Physics of

Astronomy,” will explore Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and Newton’s

laws of force and motion, as well as universal gravitation, circular motion,

orbits, and centripetal force. Registration is open. Sign up today at

www.aaa.org/education/classes/.

M: Members only; P: Public event; T: Bring telescopes, binoculars; C: Cancelled if cloudy.

For location & cancellation information visit www.aaa.org.

AAA Events on the Horizon

The Amateur Astronomers’ Association of New York Info, Events, and Observing: president@aaa.org or 212-535-2922

Membership: members@aaa.org Eyepiece: editor@aaa.org

Visit us online at www.aaa.org.

Other Astronomy Events in NYC

THU, Feb 4

@ 9:30 pm Astronomy on Tap at Videology (308 Bedford Ave) – Brooklyn, F

“Unafraid of the Dark” Join the lovable and irreverent AoT scientists and

surprise guests for a screening of the final episode of the COSMOS TV se-

ries. Learn behind-the-scenes secrets and enjoy music, games, prizes, and

Astrotainment over cocktails and popcorn. (astronomyontap.org)

SUN, Feb 7

@ 6 pm Astronomy at Central Park (N. Great Lawn) – Manhattan, F

Urban Park Rangers guide observing; equipment provided. (nycgovparks.org)

MON, Feb 8

@ 7:30 pm AMNH Frontiers Lecture (Hayden Planetarium) – Manhattan, X

“The Pluto Encounter.” Discover the latest scientific findings and images

with the New Horizons’ Deputy Project Scientist Cathy Olkin and AMNH

Director of Astrovisualization Carter Emmart. (amnh.org)

SUN, Feb 14

@ 6&9 pm Romance Under the Stars (Hayden Planetarium) – Manhattan, X

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a unique date night at the American Museum

of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium. (amnh.org)

FRI, Feb 19

@ 7 pm Columbia Stargazing/Lecture Series at Pupin Hall – Manhattan, F

“Ripples in Spacetime” with Jillian Bellovary. Observing follows, weather

permitting. (outreach.astro.columbia.edu)

SAT, Feb 20

@ 6 pm The Night Sky at Fort Totten Visitors Center – Queens, FT

Urban Park Rangers guide naked-eye observing. (nycgovparks.org)

TUE, Feb 23

@ 7 pm AMNH Astronomy Live (Hayden Planetarium) – Manhattan, X

“A Brief History of the Universe.” Learn about quasars, galaxy clusters, dark

energy and dark matter as Emily Rice and Brian Levine take you back in time

to the Big Bang to understand how it shaped the universe. (amnh.org)

F: Free; X: Tickets required (contact vendor for information); T: Bring telescopes, binoculars.

AAA Around Town Supporting our Vets with Stargazing

On November 24, AAA Members visited the James J. Peters

VA Hospital in the Bronx to share the night sky with veterans and

their families. On that cold evening, the vets and their kids en-

joyed observing the Moon through two telescopes set up by AAA’s

John Benfatti and Joseph White. The VA observing session was co-

ordinated by Erika Likar, a recreational therapist who met John at an

AAA event in August at the Intrepid Museum. The next VA observ-

ing session is on Wednesday, June 1 at 8:00 PM. A waning cres-

cent Moon that night will make for nice, dark skies. AAA members

are welcome to join and bring their telescopes. Visit www.aaa.org/

observing/james-j-peters-va-hospital/ for location information. To

learn more, contact John at john.j.benfatti@gmail.com.