Category: astronomy

A repost of the original at the Syracuse Astronomical Society website.

The SAS board is, once again, very happy to be having our non-observing society meetings for the next few months at the MOST, joining the other attendees for the second year of their Space Science Series.

The MOST lectures and our usual Friday/Saturday viewing schedules no longer coincide, a problem that may disappear in shorter order as winter (if we have one) sets in and we close the observatory for the season. As always, keep track of the "Who's Observing" page to see if anyone plans on going to Darling Hill.

MOST Space Science Series 2.0

From the official release:

"The four-part 2007-2008 meritorious science speaker series at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST), 500 South Franklin St. in Syracuse's historic Armory Square, will highlight Space Science. Our invited audience is citizens of Central New York with an interest in space – no experience with intergalactic space travel is necessary. It is our expectation to take you out there! Middle and high school students and their parents are also welcome.

The New York State NASA Space Grant at Cornell University, with support from the MOST, is pleased to offer the Central New York community this opportunity to explore and learn about our immediate neighbors to the most distant space matter."

2008 International Observer's Handbook

Click on the image for more information.

Until someone runs a cable line to the Observatory or we eventually get a decent cell phone signal for surfing the web at all hours of the night, reference books are de rigueur for any serious observing activity. With that in mind, Mike Brady sent off the following message announcing the release of the 2008 International Observer's Handbook from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

"A reminder that our friends to the north have just published their newest reference book, the 2008 International Observer's Handbook, which is now available at

www.rasc.ca/publications/index.shtml

This is the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's 100th year of publication. FYI, I've never seen more facts packed into a small sized reference work!"

Ant: Light Pollution

Prof. John McMahon sent off the youtube video embedded below as a fun little discussion about a very unfunny subject to amateur astronomers. The subject of light pollution has received recent attention both on the state political level (with the SAS and myself endorsing A7438/S4364) and, recently, an interesting New Yorker article noted in last month's message. The video below is intended to, dare I say, shed a little light on the topic.

Anatomy Of A Black Hole

The following demo came across digg.com last week (always a great place for notable space news as well). On the timescale of the Net, a demo still available from 2003 is nothing short of still having a pharaoh around to answer your Egyptology questions. Educational and animated, a tough pair to beat.

www.thinktechnologies.com/portfolio/demos/Blackhole.html

The First Photo From Space

From airspacemag.com. Click HERE for more information.

We've become accustomed to finding our cars on Google Earth, seeing "yet again" the most distance astronomical object ever photographed, and even real-time web streams from the ISS. As for the state-of-the-art just 61 years ago, check out the article from Air and Space Magazine from Oct/Nov 2006 (yes, a little late, but will make sense in a moment). Better still, the movie taken by strapping a video camera to a V-2 Rocket in New Mexico, also at airspacemag.com.

And, for a little before-and-after…

HiRISE Photo Gallery

From HiRISE. Click HERE for more information.

…or "How I spent my summer vacation and the government spent my tax dollars." The HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) site has put together a first gallery of color images taken as part of the planning stage for the Mars Science Laboratory. The technological progress is, to say the least, stunning, having started with grainy black-and-white just 65 miles above our own planet to now freely available color images taken high above in Martian orbit. You will note, for each, that many of these full-color images are available not in the kilobyte range but in the megabyte and, for the full versions, gigabyte regime, absolutely mammoth file sizes with stunning detail (stunning for now, anyway, until the NEXT camera settles into orbit).

"Cassini's new view of land of lakes and seas"

From The European Space Agency. Click HERE for more information.

Somewhere between the two extremes above lies the European Space Agency North Pole radar mosaic image from Cassini's visit to Titan, complete with fairly detailed views of the hydrocarbon lakes that made for numerous press releases when the Huygens probe fell through the Titan atmosphere and onto its surface way back in January 2005.

Space is the place,
Damian Allis, Ph.D.
sas@somewhereville.com

Links Used Above (Subject To Web Changes)

www.syracuse-astro.org
www.astro.cornell.edu/people/facstaff-detail.php?pers_id=104
www.cornell.edu
www.most.org
www.most.org/2_ee_calendar.cfm
www.syracuse-astro.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2
www.syracuse-astro.org/observatory.html
www.rasc.ca/handbook
www.rasc.ca
www.rasc.ca/publications/index.shtml
webserver.lemoyne.edu/~mcmahon/mcmahon.html
www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=skKpivApW7E
www.somewhereville.com/?p=83
www.selene-ny.org/bill.asp
www.newyorker.com
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen
www.syracuse-astro.org/index_september2007.html
www.digg.com
www.digg.com/space
www.thinktechnologies.com/portfolio/demos/Blackhole.html
earth.google.com
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
www.airspacemag.com/issues/2006/october-november/FEATURE-FirstPhoto.php
www.airspacemag.com
www.airspacemag.com/multimedia/video/V2%20Photography%20of%20Earth.php
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket
hirise.lpl.arizona.edu
hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/msl_color_oct_07.php
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
www.esa.int
www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZ262PL7F_index_0.html
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocarbon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini-Huygens

A late, and brief, post just after the 2007 Summer Seminar.

SAS Summer Seminar Note

The 2007 Summer Seminar started rough Friday evening (starting so-so and eventually clouding into an official no-no for Perseid Meteor Shower viewing) but turned into a wonderful, well-attended Saturday night. A number of the "usual suspects" engaged in the daytime festivities, which included my own reasonable (after many false starts) assembly of solar filters for my 25×100 binoculars (and, after all that work, only ONE Sun spot). I will say that having proper equipment for daytime and nighttime viewing certainly does extend the usable hours of the day for doing astronomy and, let's face it, if you had to start by being able to find one star in the sky, it might as well be the Sun. Prof. Gianfranco Vidali from the Syracuse University Physics Department served the doubly duty of presiding over the always chaotic prize raffle and providing a most wonderful presentation on the nature and chemistry of interstellar space (aspects of which are available on his website, physics.syr.edu/faculty/vidali.html). The sky Saturday night was near-flawless for viewing, with the Perseid show constantly turning too many necks ever-too late for catching the night's brightest streaks. Those of us content with stationary viewing through our scopes were also treated to the night's clear sky (and, perhaps, a bit too much dew).

A Nice Surprise from Oceanside Photo and Telescope

Oceanside Photo and Telescope (OPT for short) not only provided us the crown jewel of our prize raffle (for which the SAS Board and I are exceedingly grateful) but also sent us off our official SAS Rewards Card, which provides you, the SAS member (you mean you're not?!) our society-wide discount on purchases through OPT. The discount works by phone and online (even in person if you're around). All you need to do is let myself or any board member know so we can get you the club number (provided your membership is in good standing), after which OPT will provide you your own. For any questions, feel free to contact me or OPT (internetsales@optcorp.com, 1-800-483-6287).

Cafe Scientifique

Not only can you see Nature in action up at the Darling Hill Observatory, you can also hear all about it through the monthly meetings of Cafe Scientifique, "a place where scientists and scientifically interested non-scientists can come together informally to hear about interesting science, old and new, and discuss its implications in a friendly, cordial way, over drinks and snacks." Now entering its third year (and now at the Ohm Lounge, in case anyone missed the location change from Ambrosia), the school-year meetings (September to May, first Tuesday of every month) serve as a public introduction to many, many areas of science by professors at local universities (Syracuse, Rochester Medical Center, Upstate Medical). The discussions are always lively and the questions are never bad, making it a perfect place to learn a fair share more about the topic at hand with a guided hand(s) than you might while trying to put the proper keywords into google. The next meeting is set for early October. For more information, keep a random track of the Cafe Scientifique website,

physics.syr.edu/cafescientifique/The-Moon Wiki Website

While many credit the plough as responsible for human civilization, it is the Moon that provided the means for knowing when to use it! Our closest celestial neighbor and the easiest target of the night sky, the Moon now has its own information-filled wiki site, the-moon.wikispaces.com. From wikipedia, "A wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it." If you've paid attention to the news lately, you know this can be a double-edged sword. That said, The-Moon Wiki is being maintained by a small number of dedicated astronomers and, one can only imagine, all data is being checked, making this an excellent resource for lunar history and observing.The Dark Side of the New YorkerAn illuminating story about light pollution in the New Yorker (Aug. 20, 2007). John McMahon provided us the link to the article, now available online in its entirety (for now, anyway).

www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen

Additions to the Forster Collection

The images this month are being kept local, featuring, as always, the work of our own Stu Forster. It's always delightful to see just how much structure exists in astronomical objects that our vision (and the atmosphere above us) reveal only after many, many exposures.

The Brady Emails #1

The last two points of note to the SAS were provided by email by our own Michael Brady.

I am very pleased to announce that one of our more recent SAS guest speakers is one of just nine 2007 inductees being honored on October 7, 2007 by the National Woman's Hall of Fame.I will be attending this special ceremony and encourage anyone else interested in honoring the very real "Mother of the Spitzer Space Telescope" on this very special occasion. Judy's work in infrared astronomy is a foundation for current and future research.

From the greatwomen.org website:

"Dr. Judith L. Pipher (1940- ) Dr. Judith Pipher's research in the field of Infrared Astronomy began in graduate school with work on some of the first rocket-borne telescopes. Since 1971, Dr. Pipher has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, where she and her colleagues were the first U.S. astronomers to turn an infrared array toward the skies. Her experiments with ground-based and airborne telescopes culminated in development of a camera for, and infrared observations on, the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003."

For more information, see www.greatwomen.org/news.php?action=view&id=56

The Brady Emails #2

From the Night Sky Network (NSN):

Seeing in the Dark, a visually stunning HDTV documentary on the rewards of first-person, hands-on astronomy –exactly what you do in your outreach!– that will air Wednesday, September 19 at 8:00 p.m. over PBS stations nationwide (check local listings).

We are encouraging NSN members to utilize the local airing of the program as an outreach opportunity. For example, the Challenger Center in Tallahassee, Florida will project the live HD broadcast onto their planetarium dome and is inviting the public and astronomy groups in for a free screening. It can also be projected onto an auditorium screen. Please note that you cannot charge entry for this event. Such live screenings provide the opportunity to get people to your facility and further educational outreach by fielding questions after the program. You can contact your area PBS station to confirm the local air time and coordinate promotion of the event with their public information officer. A locator for PBS stations is available on the home page at www.pbs.org.

Find more details about the show, as well as links to resources here:

www.astrosociety.org/seeinginthedark.html

Space is the place,
Damian Allis, Ph.D.
sas@somewhereville.com

Links Used Above (Subject To Web Changes)
www.syracuse-astro.org/august2007_summerseminar.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids
www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/accessories/solar_acc/astrosolar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspot
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
physics.syr.edu/faculty/vidali.html
www.syr.edu
physics.syr.edu
www.optcorp.com
www.syracuse-astro.org/pdf/sas_brochure.pdf
www.syracuse-astro.org/observatory.html
physics.syr.edu/cafescientifique
www.ohmlounge.com
www.urmc.rochester.edu
www.upstate.edu
www.google.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon
the-moon.wikispaces.com
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen
www.newyorker.com
webserver.lemoyne.edu/~mcmahon/mcmahon.html
www.greatwomen.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitzer_Telescope
spider.pas.rochester.edu/mainFrame/people/pages_old/Pipher.html
www.greatwomen.org/news.php?action=view&id=56
nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov
www.astrosociety.org/seeinginthedark.html
www.pbs.org

A decidedly short post this month…

This will be a somewhat abbreviated monthly message as more work gets put into preparing for the Summer Seminar, for which an email and website will be sent out with all of the details in plenty of time for all not previously aware to change all their August 10th-12th plans. In the interest of having a modicum of celestial eye candy on the SAS site, however, I include a link below from the Cassini Imaging website (appropriately named CICLOPS, or Cassini imagine Central Laboratory for Operations) of the "odd world" Hyperion. It's spongy appearance is indicative of low-density, all the more reason to float above Saturn's active atmosphere.

Credit: CICLOPS. Click on the image for a larger view.

Hot (But Below Boiling) Off The Press, Number 245!From the "why didn't we start that one first" department, the The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (exoplanet.eu) reports that the study of exoplanet HD 189733b reveals water vapor in its atmosphere, the first conclusive evidence from among all the exoplanets thus studies for atmospheric content (atmospheric content being what we can currently measure when the planet passes in front of its neighbor star and the spectral fingerprint of the star changes as atmospheric contents absorb various frequencies of light). An interesting bit of news for the water cooler, with the addition of the website to the roster of sites to appear on in the SAS perhaps the more useful add-on as many, many, MANY more such exoplanets are reported. Quelle excitement!

From Across The Galaxy To Across The Pond…

While all websites are intrinsically global (and beyond!), it's not often that a website gets recognized as such! The SAS recently made an appearance in the browser of Graham Cliff of www.lightpollution.org.uk, a sister organization (of sorts) of SELENE-NY, of which our own John McMahon is an active member (who Cliff knows from the YAHOO Outdoor Lighting Forum). With a pleasant exchange passed, we now have someone we can get the official 5-hour warning from when the Sun begins to go nova.

From Across The Pond To Across The Street…

I'm very pleased to report that the SAS board has been/will be involved in a few public service/outreach programs for the year. Coming up this Friday (July 13) our own John McMahon will be giving an introductory astronomy lecture for Planting Knowledge: Summer of Exploration 2007, with our own Stu Forster taking duties for the 2nd semester August program. On December 7th of this year, the SAS will be giving a lecture at the DeWitt Community Library just in time for the Geminids meteor shower (which promises to be quite the display this year as Earth passes right through the center of the cosmic debris field of 3200 Phaethon). More info to follow for the public DeWitt Library lecture as the date begins to approach.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

This past June 28th I attended one of the yearly organizational meetings (as the SAS representative) of the Technology Alliance of Central New York (TACNY). I openly admitted to not even knowing of its existence before the email invitation but, as both a member of a local, technology-based society (certainly one of the sciences to benefit most from technological improvements) and a technologist of a sort myself, I thought it very good to know that there's an organization working to interface with all of the many societies in the area. Their mission, from the website…

The Technology Alliance of Central New York exists to enhance and facilitate the development, growth, and advancement of education, awareness and historical appreciation of technology within the Central New York Community. Through its programs and support efforts, the Technology Alliance seeks to further serve members, as well as educational groups and institutions with similar missions, and be the key link among technical societies in Central New York.

A number of interesting cooperative events that could include the SAS and its Observatory were mentioned and it is my hope that we find ourselves hosting a few society parties with a very narrow range of conversations going on between the numerous stargazes. If you're an SAS member, a member of any other society or organization in the area and don't know about TACNY, I highly urge you getting in contact with their organization. More info is available at their website, www.tacny.org.

Space is the place,
Damian Allis, Ph.D.
sas@somewhereville.com

Links Used Above (Subject To Web Changes)

www.syracuse-astro.org
ciclops.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_%28moon%29
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_%28planet%29
exoplanet.eu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_189733b
www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7150/abs/nature06002.html
www.lightpollution.org.uk
www.selene-ny.org
webserver.lemoyne.edu/~mcmahon/mcmahon.html
groups.yahoo.com/group/OutdoorLighting-Forum
www.dewlib.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminids
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3200_Phaethon
www.tacny.org