Newsletter of the Peterborough Astronomical AssociationThe ReflectorVolume 15 • Issue 9

November 2016ISSN 1712-4425peterboroughastronomy.comtwitter.com/PtbAstronomical

Just 25 years ago, scientists didn’t know if any stars — oth-er than our own sun, of

course — had planets orbiting around them. Yet they knew with certainty that gravity from massive planets caused the sun to move around our solar system’s center of mass. Therefore, they reasoned that other stars would have period-ic changes to their motions if they, too, had planets.

This change in motion first led to the detection of planets around pulsars in 1991, thanks to the change in pulsar timing it caused. Then, finally, in 1995 the first exoplanet around a normal star, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered via the “stellar wobble” of its parent star.

Ethan SEigEl

An artist’s conception of the exoplanet Kepler-452b (R), a possible candidate for Earth 2.0, as compared with Earth (L). Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle.

Is Proxima Centauri’s ‘Earth-like’ planet actually like Earth at all?

See “Proxima b” on page 12

Since that time, over 3000 exo-planets have been confirmed, most of which were first discovered by nasa’s Kepler mission using the transit method. These transits only work if a solar system is fortu-itously aligned to our perspective; nevertheless, we now know that planets — even rocky planets at the right distance for liquid water on their surface — are quite common in the Milky Way.

On August 24, 2016, scientists announced that the stellar wobble of Proxima Centauri, the clos-est star to our sun, indicated the existence of an exoplanet. At just 4.24 light years away, this planet orbits its red dwarf star in just 11 days, with a lower limit to its mass

of just 1.3 Earths. If verified, this would bring the number of Earth-like planets found in their star’s habitable zones up to 22, with “Proxima b” being the closest one. Just based on what we’ve seen so far, if this planet is real and has 130 percent the mass of Earth, we can already infer the following:

• It receives 70 percent of the sunlight incident on Earth, giving it the right tempera-ture for liquid water on its surface, assuming an Earth-like atmosphere.

• It should have a radius approximately 10 percent larger than our own planet’s, assuming it is made of simi-lar elements.

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President’s Message

The Reflector is a publication of the Peterborough Astronomi-cal Association (P.A.A.) Founded in 1970, the P.A.A. is your local group for astronomy in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

The Reflector

www.peterboroughastronomy.com • jaime.a.mb10@gmail.com Phone: 705.748.2038Club Mailing AddressJaime Morales, PresidentPeterborough Astronomical Association1587 Redwood DrivePeterborough, ON K9K 1N9

Enjoy astronomy inside your house!

N ovember is the cruelest month a poet once wrote. Cold, rain, clouds all conspire to hide the night sky

from us. On the other hand, when it’s clear, it’s and steady seeing, you jump at the chance, cold be damned.

This month Ken Sunderland reports on his first ever star party trip. He chose Fall ‘N’ Stars near Belleville, Ontario.

Jaime Morales reports on the finer details of Dr. Julie Banfield’s guest talk from last month’s club meeting, explaining Galaxy Zoo’s role in classifying galactic clusters.

John Crossen highlights November’s viewing targets worth checking out. In a pre-holiday bit of advice, he counsels newbies on why they should start out with binoculars rather than a telescope.

John Chumack graces us with a lovely im-age of the California Nebula.

I n the last Reflector issue, I wrote about moocs and in last paa meeting, we had Dr. Julie Bandfield’s presentation

via Skype. These tell you that you can enjoy astronomy in many different ways. Not only that, you do not need to have an expensive telescope or be a scientist to enjoy astrono-my. Anyone can participate in astronomy, in international astronomy projects and be recognized for your achievement. Galaxy Zoo, led by Dr. Banfield is a good example.

This past October 20, 2016, Jet Propulsion Laboratory from nasa published an article called “Martian ‘Spiders’ in Sharper Look, Thanks to Volunteers”. This article is about “spidery channels eroded into the Mar-tian ground”, this was the result of 10,000

And some thanks go to Rick Stankiewicz for preparing a for sale ad for a donated Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

Till next time, hope for clear nights.

Phillip Chee Editor, The Reflector

November’s Here

volunteers’ examination of lower-resolution images. Volunteers did this job through “Planet Four: Terrain Website”.

Have you heard about “Planet Hunters”? Planet Hunters is a project designed to search data from nasa’s Kepler to discover unknown planet candidates and to confirm others. 300,000 volunteers participate in this project.

Finally, with Slooh, you can control a ro-botic telescope, take photos and broadcast for a low cost. If you have a young astrono-mer at home, you can have a lot of fun.

These are good options to be engaged in astronomy, outdoors or indoors, you decide.Jaime Morales PAA President

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KEn SundErland

For several years now I’ve been trying to attend the Fall ‘N’ Stars star party but life kept intrud-

ing. Finally, this year, the stars aligned and I attended this annual September event hosted by the Belleville rasc chapter at Vanderwater Conservation Area. I’m very glad I did. Vanderwater is easily accessible, and a pleasant cross-country drive about 90 minutes east of Peterborough.

Upon arrival late Friday afternoon, I received a printed package of materials including suggested targets and finder maps — very nice! I drove my vehicle out onto the observing field, pitched my tent, set up my scope and settled in. In addition to tents, there were RV’s, pop-up trail-ers and kitchen shelters. The star-partiers (about 30 in number) socialized, inspected each others equipment, and waited for nightfall.

Saturday’s schedule included solar view-ing, a swap table, prepared talks, a banquet, and a prize draw followed by another ob-serving session … all night if need be!

Sunday morning was for packing-up and returning to regular life.

I came away from my first star party having; looked through different scopes, bagged a number of new objects, learned much from my fellow enthusiasts and slept under the stars. Without doubt, learning about the hobby is accelerated by the im-mersion experience of doing nothing but astronomy for a couple of days. I’m already planning to attend the 2017 event and hop-ing that life doesn’t get in the way.

In a Sky & Telescope article entitled “Star Parties in the 21st Century” veteran star-partier Rod Mollise suggests some reasons for attending star parties; dark skies, the chance to experience new equipment, the camaraderie, and to learn something. Let’s overlay this template on my Fall ‘N’ Stars experience.

My First Star PartyOn the subject of dark skies, Mollise

claims they’re the heart of any star party. Why? Because most people live with so much light pollution that they never see the real night sky. At the rural Vanderwater site, near Thomasburg, the structure of the arcing Milky Way was beautifully clear. It’s a reasonably dark site where I measured values approaching SQM-L 22. This pro-vides naked-eye limiting magnitude 6.5 conditions which is the limit for most, dare I say, older eyes. For this part of Ontario, it’s about as good as it gets. So, were the skies dark? Yes, dark enough.

By chance, three of us got observing together with our telescopes side-by-side; my 8” SCT, a 12” Dobsonian and a 4” refrac-tor. It was interesting to see how other people handle their telescopes and acces-sories. In a hobby where marketers make dubious claims about the performance of their equipment, it’s illuminating to actu-ally field test the stuff. Spec sheets are fine, but no substitute for hands-on experience with different scopes, eyepieces, etc. There is a danger, however, as it’s now clear I need my own large aperture Dobsonian with expensive wide-angle TeleVue eyepieces. Oh dear! So, was new equipment experienced? Check.

If dark skies are the heart of any star party, then surely the people with whom you share it are the soul. By 3:30 am Sat-urday morning you’ve exchanged a lot of practical information about equipment and technique with your fellow observers. By 3:30 am you’re getting to know these people, who were strangers just hours ago. Does camaraderie develop? Definitely.

Informal learning occurs unavoidably in the field while observing with others. For example, I had my best tour ever of the complete Veil Nebula with the guidance of the 12” Dob owner. Saturday afternoon

See “Fall ‘N’ Stars” on page 11

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JaimE moralES

Figure 1. Black Hole’s Jet of Material

Figure 3. C-shaped Galaxy Cluster (detail)

Figure 4. C-shaped Galaxy Cluster

Figure 2. Radio telescope

Saturday’s Clear Night Brought Out the Stars and More

On October 7, we were lucky to have, via Skype from Australia, a Peterborough astronomer, Dr. Julie

Banfield, from Research School of Astron-omy and Astrophysics, Australian National University.

If I need to describe her talk, I will call it “wonderful”. We had close to forty people in the audience, we had great questions from our members and the talk left a great “after taste”. If you were not able to attend, here is a quick summary of her presentation.

Julie studies super massive back holes. She mentioned that occasionally black holes will emit radio jets of star forming material (figure 1). These Jets are a sign that super massive black holes are nearby.

See “Banfield” on page 11

Volunteers from different countries have the responsibility to match pictures from radio and infrared telescopes with their host galaxies, a project led by Julie, called Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ).

One of the achievements of this project was the discovery of a C-shaped galaxy cluster, which are difficult to find. This C-shaped galaxy cluster was named Matorny-Terentev (figures 3 and 4), after the two Russian citizens that cross-matched the ra-

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John CroSSEn

Warm Up to Winter with November’s Night Sky

Double Cluster. Seen through binoculars or at low power in a telescope, the Double Cluster is nothing short of a treat. The stars sparkle like gemstones float-ing on the sea at night.

Y es, its coming, the blizzards, crummy road conditions, -40°C nights and shoveling, shoveling,

shoveling. So when you think about it, November ain’t so bad. You don’t have to bundle up like Bib the Michelin Man and you can still leave your Stanfield Long Johns or Lady Stanfield counterparts neatly folded in your dresser drawer. What you can do is dress sensibly, step outside and take a look at the winter’s preview of coming attrac-tions.

Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades are creep-ing up the eastern horizon with Auriga the Charioteer already ahead of them. The Great Square of Pegasus the Flying Horse is almost directly overhead. Even the Sum-mer Triangle is getting the hint that it has overstayed its welcome and is dipping into the western horizon.

The Andromeda Galaxy is also overhead and in its best position for both naked eye and telescopic viewing. You will need a dark rural location to see it naked eye, but it can be done. Given the fact that our sister galaxy is 2.5 million light years away, being able to spot it with no visual aids is an ac-complishment worthy of bragging rights.

Perseus is now moving overhead and that makes for a great opportunity for those with binoculars to check out another faint fuzzy, the Double Cluster. The name says it all, almost. It is indeed a double star cluster. What the name doesn’t (and can’t) say is that it’s a jaw dropper in a pair of binocu-lars. No matter how long you’ve been doing astronomy, you just keep coming back to the Double Cluster. Even seasoned astro-imagers who have scanned deep into our universe to image galaxies millions of light

years away are drawn back to image the Double Cluster, just one more time.

Moon-a-tics will enjoy viewing a waxing Thin Crescent Moon on November 4. It’s my favourite phase of the Moon to watch with-out a telescope or binoculars. To me and the folks who designed a lot of flags, it is the most beautiful lunar phase going.

The telescope brigade will be jostling in line for a look at the First Quarter Moon on November 7. That’s a great phase because the shadows cast across the Moon’s sur-face highlight the major features such as mountains and craters as well as small rills and minor impacts. Then the Moon gets brighter until November 14 it reaches Full Moon Phase.

The planets are a mix of morning, sunset and night time targets. Mercury is cooling his heels behind the Sun, so forget about seeing the fleet footed messenger. Venus is still visible at sunset as is Mars. Saturn is all but lost in the sunset’s glare.

Over night, Uranus and Neptune can be seen in the constellations Pisces and Aquar-ius respectively, while early risers can catch Jupiter hovering over the rooftops.

That’s what’s up in November. So get up, dress up and look up.

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John CroSSEn

Telescopes and binoculars Right and Wrong Choices

A telescope is no starting point for a beginning astronomer. There are books, apps, and a host of astro-

gear that’ll launch your space cadet into a rewarding life-long hobby.

But if it’s time to move up, binoculars should be the next step. What you want to look for is a pair of binoculars that aren’t too heavy to hold or so powerful that the only way to get a steady image is to mount them on a tripod. My advice is to pick up a pair of 7 × 50 or 10 × 50 binoculars. But what do the numbers mean? The first number is the power of magnifica-tion and the second is the distance across the front lens in millimetres, also known as the aperture. The magnification simply means the object will appear 7 or 10 times closer. The bigger the aperture, the brighter the object will appear. But 56mm is max otherwise you’ll need a tripod to hold them.

Telescopes are more complex. Portabil-ity is a prime concern for city dwellers to escape downtown’s light-polluted skies.

Country folks already have a dark sky so portability isn’t as important. They can handle a larger telescope with more aper-ture and greater light-gathering ability.

In the case of telescopes, their power is dependant on the eyepiece you put into the focuser. Just beware of companies that claim to deliver 600 power of magnifica-tion. That’s way beyond reality. My observ-ing is done at 100 to 150 power max. Only bright objects like the Moon or planets allow more magnification.

Check out the club web site www.peterbor-oughastronomy.com because it’s an excellent local resource. Google them and talk to one of the members. There are also commercial telescope makers with advice videos. So hit the Internet, email johnstargazer@nexicom.net or call 705-657-7717.

Vo l 1 5 • I s sue no. 9 • November 20 16 • 7 The ReflectorPHOTO GALLERY

The California Nebula

The California Nebula (NGC-1499) is an emission nebula in Perseus, (a.k.a. a Stellar Nursery). The California Nebula resembles the shape of the U.S. State of California, hence its name. The star formation region NGC-1499 spans 2.5 degrees of sky, thus not completely fitting in this 2 degree FOV. The California Nebula is located 1,000 light years from Earth.

Modified Vixen 5.5 inch Newtonian Reflector telescope, Baader Coma Corrector, Modified Canon Rebel Xsi dslr, iso 1600, 80 minutes exposure. Captured at the Okie-Tex Star Party on September 28, 2016.

Best Regards,John Chumack www.galacticimages.com

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FOR SALE$800

Meade – Model 2080 8” (203.2 mm) Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT)

FL = 2000 mm @ f/10Comes complete with:• LX Drive System (RA only), in fork mounts, with power cord• Original Manual• Dust caps for both ends of optical tube assembly (OTA)• Trunk locker style case for OTA in fork mount• Equatorial Wedge• Heavy-duty, 2” diameter legged metal field tripod• 8 × 50mm Finder-scope (upgraded from 6 X 30mm)• 1 ¼” diagonal• Celestron — 26 mm Plossl eyepiece• Tele Vue — 10.4 mm Plossl eyepiece• Illuminated (red light) RA & DEC setting circles (extra/bonus)• Dew Shield ($100 value)• “Telrad” Finder ($80 value)• “Thousand Oaks” (glass) solar filter (orange/white light) ($200 value)• Contact: Rick Stankiewicz (705) 295-6158 or stankiewiczr@nexicom.net

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The Sky this MonthMercury is well placed in the evening sky from the 13th to the 30th. Aphelion on the 11th.Venus continues to shine brightly in the western sky after sunset.Mars into Capricornus mid-month and sets in the early evening.Jupiter low in the morning sky in Virgo.Saturn vanishing into the evening twilight in the southwest.Daylight Savings Time ends on the 6th.South Taurid Meteors peak 12 AM on the 5th.North Taurid Meteors peak 12 AM on the 12th.Leonid Meteors peak 6 AM on the 17th.

Moon PhasesFirst Quarter 2:51 PM November 7Full Moon 8:52 AM November 14Last Quarter 3:33 AM November 21New Moon 7:18 AM November 29

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continued from page 4Banfield

continued from page 3Fall ‘N’ Starsbrought the attendees together for an in-tentional learning session. There were talks about Lord Rosse’s telescope at Birr Castle, another on star charts, and a third about meteorites. All the presentations were ex-cellent with lots of Q&A time. Was anything learned? Silly question.

And so, although Fall ‘N’ Stars isn’t a big star party at an exotic location, it neverthe-less meets the main criteria outlined by Mollise. My conclusion? It’s the real deal. Go.

References1. Fall ‘N’ Stars website http://rascbel-

leville.ca/fallnstars (The pro-posed 2017 date is Sep 22-24.)

2. Mollise, R., (2016, April), Star Parties in the 21st Century, Sky & Telescope, 34-39

dio and infrared sources with Radio Galaxy Zoo (figure 5).

According to Julie, there are more than 9,500 volunteers who have made 1.6 million classifications. One-third of these volun-teers are non-English speakers represent-ing 38 languages, including Russian, Greek, Korean, Turkish and Spanish.

At the end, Julie expressed her interest to visit our club in December 2017 and join us for an observation session.

Figure 5. RGZ interface

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ArticlesSubmissions for The Reflector must be received by the date listed below. E-mail submissions are preferred (Microsoft Word, OpenDoc, ASCII and most common graphic formats are accept-able). If your article contains photso or graphics, please provide a separate file for each. Typed or hand-written submissions are acceptable pro-vided they are legible (and not too long.) Copy-righted materials will not be published without written permission from the copyright holder. Submissions may be edited for grammar, brev-ity, or clarity. Submissions will be published at the editor’s sole discretion. Depending on the volume of submissions, some articles may be published at a later date. Please submit any ar-ticles, thoughts, or ideas to:phillip.chee@gmail.com

Next submission deadline:November 26 2016

Meetings The Peterborough Astronomical Association meets every first Friday of each month, except July and August, at the Peter-borough Zoo Guest Services and Rotary Educa-tion Centre (inside the main entrance at the north end of the Zoo) at 7 p.m. P.A.A. general annoucements will begin each meeting with the guest speaker starting at 7:30 p.m.

Proxima b• It is plausible that the planet would

be tidally locked to its star, implying a permanent “light side” and a perma-nent “dark side”.

• And if so, then seasons on this world are determined by the orbit’s elliptic-ity, not by axial tilt.

Yet the unknowns are tremendous. Proxima Centauri emits considerably less ultraviolet light than a star like the Sun; can life begin without that? Solar flares and winds are much greater around this world; have they stripped away the atmosphere entirely? Is the far side permanently frozen, or do winds allow possible life there? Is the near side baked and barren, leaving only the “ring” at the edge potentially habitable?

Proxima b is a vastly different world from Earth, and could range anywhere from actually inhabited to completely unsuitable for any form of life. As 30m-class telescopes and the next generation of space observato-ries come online, we just may find out!

Looking to teach kids about exoplanet discovery? nasa Space Place explains stellar wobble and how this phenomenon can help scientists find exoplanets: http://space-place.nasa.gov/barycenter/en/

This article is provided by NASA Space Place. With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson

plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology.

Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov to explore space and Earth science!

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