The Refractor The Refractor - Eastbay Astronomical Society

The Refractor
Newsletter of the Eastbay Astronomical Society
Rho Ophiucus region by EAS member Frank Dibbell
Scorpio and Antares are prominent center-right. Shot with a Canon 60Da DSLR and 28mm lens @ f/5 and ISO 800. The
image is a composite of eight - 8 minute exposures. BackyardEOS (software) used for camera control and acquisition,
Adobe Bridge for RAW file pre-processing, Registar for registration and combining, and Photoshop CS6 for final processing.
July 2014 Volume 90, Number 10
www.eastbayastro.org
Volume 90
Number 9
July 2014
EAS Lecture Meeting for June
Topic: Star Formation
Guest Speaker: Aaron Lee, UC Berkeley
Date: July 19, 2014 Time: 7:30-9:00PM Location: Hauben Room, CSSC
A
aron Lee will provide a broad overview of star
formation that will encompass how stars of sizes
from the smallest brown dwarfs to the largest giants
form. He will also look
at how multiple star systems form and maintain
stability, and how they
can break apart.
Above photo: NASA/Hubble
Aaron Lee
First quarter moon and Rachel - David Shaw
Inside this issue:
- EAS Astrophotography Forum
- Moon & Saturn photos with Leah by Jim Ferreira
- NEO Stuff by Gerald McKeegan
- News & Views by Don Saito
- Sky Shots: Alan Roche and Bob Schalck
- Telescope Makers Workshop / EAS Solar Group
page 02
page 03
page 04
page 05
page 08
page 09
DINNER WITH
THE SPEAKER
5:30, Sat., July 19
Hunan Yuan
4100 Redwood Rd.
(next to Safeway)
No need to confirm,
Just show up!
EAS Astrophotography Forum
EASImaging is a Yahoo Forum for members of the Eastbay
Astronomical Society to post astrophotos of all variety, from
snapshots of a sunset to multi-channel color images of deep
sky objects. Photos by beginners to the most advanced are
welcome. Discussion of imaging equipment and techniques
is also encouraged. Since EAS has a number of advanced
astrophotographers, this is also the place for beginners to get
input on starting out in Astro-imaging. CCD cameras,
DSLRs, point & shoot, and various digital and analog video
cameras are of interest along with camera control software,
image processing software and telescope mount control systems.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EASImaging/
The EAS also has an ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY GROUP. For information on the groups activities contact
Jim Ferreira at [email protected]
Free telescope observing at Chabot Friday
and Saturday evenings from 7:30 to
10:30pm. Come on out and see the moon, planets and
more through Chabot’s historic telescopes, and various
amateur instruments on the observing deck.
Chabot also offers solar observing to center
visitors Saturday and Sunday afternoons
from 12:00-4:00pm. See sunspots, prominences
and occasional flares through several dedicated solar telescopes.
FUTURE CONJUNCTIONS 2014
July 6
10
19
Aug 3
14
23
EAS MOVN, 7pm-10pm, Wightman Plaza
EAS Board Meeting, Chabot, Library, 7:30pm
General Meeting Chabot, Hauben Rm, 7:30pm
EAS MOVN, 7pm-10pm, Wightman Plaza
EAS Board Meeting, Chabot, Library, 7:30pm
General Meeting Chabot, Hauben Rm, 7:30pm
EAS Loaner Scope Program has telescopes
available for rental by EAS members. Scopes include
60mm and 80mm refractors, a C-90, two 10 inch
Dobsonians, and, 4 and 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrains.
Scope rental is $15 a month, with a $50 deposit.
Monthly rental fee is waived if rented scope is
brought to outreach events. For information, contact
Barry Leska by E-mail at [email protected]
Chabot Space & Science Center Invites EAS Members to Volunteer with Us!
•
•
•
•
Share your knowledge of and passion for astronomy with thousands of CSSC visitors
Experience the unique opportunity to operate Chabot’s historical telescopes
Share your own telescope at Chabot*
Inspire young astronomers and future scientists by assisting students in our astronomy education programs
Explore these opportunities And find out about our next Volunteer Orientation!
http://www.chabotspace.org/adult-volunteers.htm
*EAS members who are only interested in sharing their own telescope at Chabot (not a full volunteer commitment) are required to attend a
volunteer orientation. After completion, you may join us on deck and share your own telescope any Friday or Saturday night!
Chabot Volunteers must make the regular volunteer commitment and pursue official placement through the Volunteer Manager.
Two photos from the EAS astrophotography demonstration: shot with an Imaging Source DMK21AU618 monochrome USB digital video camera with Wratten 25 red filter at
the 8” refractor’s prime focus. Video AVI file processed with Autostakkert and Photoshop.
NEO Stuff
by Gerald McKeegan
[CSSC/EAS Near Earth Object Program]
T
his coming October looks to be an exciting month
for astronomers. You are probably planning for the
two eclipses – the lunar eclipse on October 8, and the
partial solar eclipse on October 23.
But for astronomers and other scientists studying Mars,
the month’s big event will be the near miss of Mars by
comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) on October 19th.
Comet C/2013 A1 was discovered in January 2013 by
Robert McNaught’s team at Siding Spring Observatory
in Australia. It is a long period
comet, originating from far out in the
Oort Cloud, and likely making its
first trip through the inner Solar System.
from 80,000 – 88,000 kilometers). So there is a small
possibility that gas and particles in the coma may
sweep over Mars, and that could mean trouble for orbiting spacecraft.
A recent study by scientists at NASA-JPL in Pasadena
and the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona seems to
rule out the possibility of direct interaction between the
coma and Mars. They calculated that the ejection velocities and ballistic trajectories of particles coming off
the nucleus are not sufficient to extend the coma all the
way to Mars. Instead, orbital dynamics and the solar
wind will disperse the outer part of the coma into the
comet’s tail.
On October 19, at approximately
18:32 UT (11:32 am Pacific Time),
C/2013 A1 will pass Mars at a nominal distance of about 133,000 km
(83,000 mi.). The nucleus of the
comet is only 2-3 km wide, so there
is no chance of it hitting Mars.
But surrounding the nucleus will be
the comet’s coma, a huge cloud of
gas and dust ejected by the comet as
it nears the Sun. The size of the
coma varies depending on factors
such as the composition of the nucleus and its distance from the Sun.
But it’s not unusual for a coma to exceed 100,000 km in diameter.
For spacecraft orbiting Mars
(including MAVEN, which reaches
Mars in September), this close encounter presents both an opportunity and a concern.
Certainly these spacecraft will have a ring-side seat for
viewing and studying the comet as it passes by. That
will take some planning, since it means reorienting the
spacecraft to look away from Mars instead of toward it.
But science teams for all of the Mars orbiting spacecraft, as well as the rovers on the surface, are busy
making those plans.
The cause for concern is the coma. Its size at the time
of closest approach is not certain, and the exact close
approach distance is still uncertain (estimates range
So astronomers and scientists are cautiously optimistic
that the fleet of spacecraft and rovers at Mars will be
able to safely collect a ton of imagery and data as
comet C/2013 A1 cruises by.
That’s good news for us, because by October 19 Mars
will be setting in our skies just after dusk, so Earthbound telescopes won’t get much of a view. We’ll just
have to wait for cool photos to come back from Mars.
News & Views
by Don Saito
Howdy Astro Fans!
Happy Summer Solstice! Well, it would be happy, were
it not for the accursed "Daylight Squandering
Time" (something I never fail to grumble about around
this time of the year). But, DST or no DST, the nights
are shorter, so whaddarya gonna do? Plan for vacations! If any of you out there in the readership would
like to share any astro- and/or space-inspired vacation
adventures, please do let me know, or skip me altogether and send your material to our fabulous newsletter editor, Jim Ferreira. Trips to the southern hemisphere, sites of ancient civilizations, visits to observatories, or space museums, or whatever - these are always
popular.
We did a star party early last month. Outreach Coordinator Nate McKenna reports: All went swimmingly at
Amelia Earhart school on the night of Thursday, June
6, 2014, when EAS dished up a big slice of the night sky
for the third through fifth graders and their parents. About 200 people overall, probably two thirds of
them children.
The moon and
planets Saturn
and Mars figured
prominently in the
show. We were
so close to
Oakland international
Airport that at
least two children caught a
view through a
scope of jet
wash from a
plane disturbJim Solar shows kids faint fuzzies with his ing the image
huge Dob
o f
t h e
moon. The six
EAS volunteers were Clarence Underwood, David
Prosper, Jim Solar, Deborah Gomez, Nate
McKenna and a special guest appearance by none
other than Conrad Jung, Chabot's chief astronomer.
Nate's been busy this month! He has also designed a
few logo designs for some proposed EAS merchandise
that we plan to make available to you via
CafePress.com, a website that can print any logo or image onto shirts, mugs, caps, keychains, etc. Here's one
of the designs. Pretty cool,
huh? And besides that, he's
l i ai s i n g wi t h S T E M
(Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), a
coalition of government
agencies including the U.S.
Dept of Education, the Nat'l
Science Fdn, NASA, etc.,
for a rather large outreach
event coming mid-October. See his writeup of it elsewhere in this issue.
And finally, it's time to start planning for gettin' high
and seein' far: the 2014 Barcroft High Altitude Star
Party dates have
been
reserved
(Sun Sep 21 - Fri
Sep 26). For
those unfamiliar
with
Barcroft,
briefly: it's a research
station
that we rent out,
run by the University of California, located in
the White Mountains of eastern
California, and
sits at an altitude
of 12,450' above
Clarence Underwood sharing the views
sea level(!) The
with his 8" Celestron
night skies there
are nothing short of spectacular, and it's a particular
draw for serious astrophotographers, or anyone who
wants to see just how amazing the stars can possibly
look while yet still standing on Earth. The price this
year is $65 per person, per night. For full details, visit
our web page on it at http://www.eastbayastro.org/
index/Barcroft.htm.
That's it for this month!
"May the stars shine upon your faces!" - Lord Elrond,
J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
One more photo next page
for credit for the scouts.
There is a one hour+ training session held three weeks
in advance on Saturday Sept. 20th in the afternoon.
The Scouts are requesting (25) volunteers to accomplish our daytime tasks. We will be busy!
Lunch and dinner will be provided on site by the EAS.
View the the event website at:
http://www.sfbac.org/node/2294
E-mail Nate McKenna to participate.
[email protected]
ASP Annual Meeting:
Conrad Jung bringing down the photons to the common folk
- Amelia Earhart School outreach event
EAS at STEM
by Nate McKenna
On Oct 11th, EAS will be at the Alameda County Fairgrounds participating in the San Francisco Bay Area
Boy & Girl Scout's STEM Encampment. STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics. An aggregate of 3000 boy and girl scouts will go through
various stations to complete some very specific requirements. We come in under the Science heading. Saturday 10/11/14, all day approximately 300 of the scouts
will be going through our station to learn about Astronomy as a hobby and profession.
You don't need to bring a telescope to volunteer! If
you can do one of the following, you are in demand and
much needed.
1) Discuss with the scouts the difference between Escape Velocity, Orbital Velocity, and Terminal Velocity.
Then explain the following.
A) Why are Satellites launched towards the East, and
what is a Launch Window
B) How fast does something have to travel to escape
the Earth's gravity (Escape Velocity)
2) Bring a Solar equipped telescope and View the Sun
(We need at least (3) such equipped volunteers).
3) Discuss with scouts the science and technology used
in the Telescopes and Astronomy in general. We can
have scopes there in a safe mode indoors as props.
Lastly we will have a star party that night for the approximately 1000 scouts who camp out overnight. The
scouts have specifically requested satellite watching
and IDing as a sidelight. This star party is however not
If you teach astronomy or do any astronomy education
outreach, you may want to consider attending this
year’s ASP 2014 Annual Meeting: Putting Education
Best Practices to Work (Aug 4-6) happening in Burlingame, CA.
The meeting – the 125th in the ASP’s distinguished
history – will also feature the ASP Annual Awards
Banquet, an ASP Anniversary Party
(with dance music), and a public science event with
lectures by Geoff Marcy, Jill Tarter, and Chris McKay.
Here is a link to the website: www.astrosociety.org/
meeting
You can also contact Albert Silva
at [email protected] for more information or to
help you with registration.
ASP Universe 2014:
Beyond Earth: Planets, Life, and Intelligence in the
Cosmos
An Afternoon of Science & Scientific Speculation
Sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
(part of the Society’s Annual Meeting)
Sunday, August 3, 2014, 1:30 to 5:30 pm
Regency Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Burlingame,
CA.
Free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person
· Geoff Marcy (U. C. Berkeley), the world’s foremost planet hunter: Finding Habitable Worlds
Around Other Stars
· Chris McKay (Planetary Scientist and Astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Ctr.): The Search for
Life on Mars and the Moons of the Outer Planets
[continue Universe 2014, next page]
[cont. Universe 2014]
· Jill Tarter (Bernard Oliver Chair, SETI Institute):
SETI: Finding Aliens and Finding Ourselves
· A Panel with all Three Speakers: Planets and Life:
What Are our Next Steps? (Andrew Fraknoi, Foothill College, moderator)
To celebrate its 125th anniversary year of service to the
public understanding of the cosmos, the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific invites you to an afternoon learning and thinking about some of the most exciting questions in our exploration of the universe. What kind of
planets orbit other stars? Is there an Earth 2.0 out
there? Could life exist in strange environments, quite
different from our planet’s? And could there be intelligent life beyond Earth? If so, how could we find them
-- or even have a conversation with them? Only in the
last few decades have such questions moved from the
realm of science fiction to the realm of scientific experiment. Come hear from some of the most articulate
scientists in the Bay Area where we stand with our
quest to explore planets and life beyond our own world.
This special afternoon is free & open to the public, but
we hope you’ll make a voluntary donation of $10/
person to help with the costs of the meeting. We encourage you to bring students 13 or over, but ask that
you leave younger children home. Seating is first
come, first served, so we suggest you be there a little
early, just in case. Paid parking is available at the hotel
& at several nearby lots.
You can RSVP at:
www.astrosociety.org/universeRSVP
June’s EAS Meeting Review
By David Prosper
Dr. Bruce Macintosh and the Gemini Planetary Imager
In June we were lucky to have Dr. Bruce Macintosh,
chief investigator of the Gemini Planetary Imager
(GPI), join us for an eye-opening presentation on the
early results from the GPI, recently installed on the
Gemini South Telescope in Chile. We got to see amazing pictures of hot young planetary systems around
nearby stars. He showed us comparisons between the
pictures of planetary system imaged by GPI versus the
same systems imaged by other powerful telescopes,
such as Hubble and Keck. What could be accomplished
with hours of exposure time and days of processing
time on those other instruments was surpassed by a
mere 60 seconds of exposure time on the GPI, and that
was just by sneaking in a few pictures during its shakedown phase! (shhh!). The GPI also is excellent for imaging dust rings around other stars as well, and even
creates excellent images of Neptune! (It turns out that
Neptune is a very popular target for first light of new
powerful telescopes.
We had a lively Q&A at the end, and we wish Dr. Macintosh the best of luck in his team’s endeavor to image
as many planetary systems as they can!
Below: Dr. Bruce Macintosh’s June EAS lecture presentation on the Gemini Planetary Imager was very well attended. Photo by David Prosper
Photos of the day and night sky by EAS members using phone-cams, point & shoot cameras and DSLRs.
Submit photos of general sky phenomenon such as clouds, rainbows, sunsets, sun, moon, planets, stars
and conjunctions. Email photos to editor at [email protected] or message (925) 518-8988.
First quarter Moon shot from Las Vegas by Alan Roche with a 250mm lens on a tripod mounted DSLR.
Charming high noon halo around the Sun shot by Bob Schalck from the southern Oregon coast.
Sky Shots
TELESCOPE MAKERS’ WORKSHOP
Chabot Space & Science Center - Every Friday Evening!
Chabot’s TELLESCOPE MAKERS’ WORKSHOP (TMW) is one of only a handful of regularly scheduled telescope making workshops in the U.S., and probably the world. TMW meets every Friday evening
throughout the year, except Memorial Day weekend (which is the annual Riverside Telescopes Makers
Conference). It has been in operation since December of 1930,
founded by Franklin B. Wright, and is currently run by Richard Ozer
with help from EAS members Dave Barosso, Barry Leska and Wilson Yoshida-Ng.
The price of admission is FREE. All you have to do is show up, buy
a mirror blank and a “tool’ (typically $100-$200 depending on the
size of the mirror) and start ‘pushin’ glass!” TMW provides the instruction and optical testing expertise along with various grinding
and polishing compounds you’ll need. The mirror making process
involves first grinding a curve, then polishing the curve to a mirror
finish, and finally, figuring your mirror to optical perfection. Optical testing equipment is available to
check the progress of your mirror each step of the way.
With determination, and a bit of luck, you can wind up with a telescope that costs 1/3 to 1/4 that of a commercially built instrument, while optically superior! The process does take time - depending upon how
much effort you put into it, and other factors, it could takes weeks to several months to complete a mirror.
But, the process is fun, educational, and the camaraderie amongst fellow telescope makers in itself is
worth the price of admission. Telescope making is a great activity for kids of all ages.
For more information contact Richard Ozer at (510) 532-5477 or [email protected]
EAS / SOLAR OBSERVING GROUP (SOG)
The Solar Observing Group is intended for all EAS members interested in solar astronomy and solar astrophotography, from beginner to experienced to armchair aficionado. Topics of interest include: backyard solar observing (and
solar safety), recent and current solar activity, the Venus transit
and annular solar eclipse, high resolution solar astrophotography,
solar eclipse chasing and photography, solar astronomy history,
discussion of commercial solar observing equipment, building
equipment such as white light filters, spectroscopes and spectroheliographs, solar astrophysics and EAS public solar outreach
projects.
A SOG Yahoo forum has been established http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/eas_solar_obsv_group/
for discussion and to post photos. SOG members are encouraged to sign on to the Yahoo forum.
For more information contact Jim Ferreira at bakerst@comcast.
Eastbay
Astronomical
Society
At Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Boulevard Oakland, CA 94619
July 2014
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Eastbay Astronomical Society
President: Rod Simmons [email protected]
Vice President: Linda Lazzeretti (510) 633-2488
Treas: Richard Ozer (510) 532-5477 [email protected]
Membership Reg: Rod Simmons [email protected]
Secretary: Barry Leska [email protected]
Program Dir: David Prosper [email protected]
Articles and photos for The Refractor are encouraged. Deadline for the August 2014 issue is August 1st.
Items may be submitted by E-mail to: Editor - Jim Ferreira [email protected]
FUTURE CONJUNCTIONS 2014
July
6
10
19
Aug 3
14
23
EAS MOVN, 7pm-10pm, Wightman Plaza
EAS Board Meeting, Chabot, Library, 7:30pm
General Meeting Chabot, Hauben Rm, 7:30pm
EAS MOVN, 7pm-10pm, Wightman Plaza
EAS Board Meeting, Chabot, Library, 7:30pm
General Meeting Chabot, Hauben Rm, 7:30pm
Join the Eastbay Astronomical Society
Regular, $24/year Family, $36/year
Contributing, $40/year Student, $15/year (digital
news-letter, only)
Sustaining, $60/year or more
Contact: Richard Ozer, EAS Treasurer
Phone: (510) 532-5477 Email: [email protected]
Sign up online at http://www.eastbayastro.org/