1. No category

ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
THE GALACTIC GAZETTE
THE NEWSLETTER OF
The Astronomical Society of Southern New England
“To Educate and Inspire”
http://assne.org
Next Meeting
Club Officers for 2014-2016
Bruce DiDucca
Tom Hannigan
George Huftalen
Spence Blakely
November 8, 2014 7 p.m
Carpenter Museum
4 Locust Ave. Rehoboth, Mass.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
This month’s feature
TBA
Letters to ASSNE
To submit your comments or questions of general interest about ASSNE or
to learn more about our public outreach programs, please send an email
to ASSNE Secretary.
Please direct personal club-related business or concerns to the appropriate club officer.
News & Announcements
Content may be edited for clarity.
New members
ASSNE welcomes Cassidy
and Rebecca Madeira.
Update from October meeting’s
presenter Alan Hirshfeld
I have confirmation from
Lick Observatory that the mirror
in the Crossley reflector is indeed
the original Mirror B made by
page 1 of 14
Calver for Andrew Common in
1879!
A 40-inch replacement mirror slated to go into the Crossley
during the 1970s instead became
the basis of Lick's new Nickel
telescope.
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
Calendar of Events
Your support at these events is greatly appreciated. Even if you don’t own
a scope, you are always welcome to drop by to lend a hand and show
your enthusiasm. You may be surprised at how much fun you can have.
ASSNE thanks Rebekah Bartlett for the Club Event Listings.
ASSNE events
Other events
Club Event Listings
TBA
ASSNE Members’ Advice and Help
Galileo's Gabfest
Observing Reports and Astro Images
Observing is often more enjoyable if it is a shared experience. Everyone
benefits from the exchange of knowledge, tips, and camaraderie. Several ASSNE members observe regularly and send out emailed invitations to those requesting them. If you would like to receive such invitations from someone living near you, please contact a club officer.
Visitors to this site who just want to see what it’s all about should also
contact an officer.
Informal Observing Sessions
Current Observing Reports
The Imager's Studio
page 2 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
For Sale and Wanted
ASSNE Trading Post
Club Loaner Telescopes
The following telescopes and accessories are available to qualifying
members for one-month loans. If you are interested, contact Bruce
DiDucca beforehand, so he can arrange to have the one you want at the
meeting.
For more information about an item or to check availability, go to
Loaner Equipment.
ASSNE thanks the generous donors.
✯ Meade 8-inch LX-200 GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain (donated by Frank Gosland)
✯ Meade 80 mm, f/5, refractor
✯ Edmund Astroscan rich-field reflector.
✯ Coronado PST solar telescope
✯ Meade Digi Eyepiece (donated by Paul Faria)
✯ Astrovid Stellacam (donated by Wayne Prado)
✯ Laser collimator (donated by Ed Couture)
Astro Links
For Kids: Where does the sun's energy come from?
Earth's Water Existed 135 Million Years Earlier than Thought
Greg Stone’s Prime Time for November
page 3 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Where does the sun’s energy come from?
!
November 2014
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Every 1.5 millionths of a second, the sun releases more energy than all humans consume
in an entire year. Its heat influences the environments of all the planets, dwarf planets,
moons, asteroids, and comets in our solar system.
And that light travels far
out into the cosmos—just
one star among billions and
billions.
Create a ‘solar wind’ that
pushes against the fabric of
interstellar space billions of
miles away.
Allows gases and liquids to
exist on many planets and
moons, and causes icy
comets to form fiery halos.
Powers the
chemical reactions
that make life
possible on Earth.
That Heat...
Convective
Zone
Sunspots
Photosphere
Chromosphere
How does a
big ball of hydrogen create all that heat? The short answer
is that it is big. If it were smaller, it would be just be a sphere of hydrogen, like
Jupiter. But the sun is much bigger than Jupiter. It would take 433,333 Jupiters to fill it up!
That’s a lot of hydrogen. That means it’s held together by a whole lot of gravity. And THAT means there is
a whole lot of pressure inside of it. There is so much pressure that the hydrogen atoms collide with enough
force that they literally meld into a new element—helium.
Sub-atomic
particles
Energy
Nuclear Fusion
w w w.nasa.gov
The energy travels outward
through a large area called the
convective zone. Then it travels
onward to the photosphere,
where it emits heat, charged
particles, and light.
This process—called nuclear
fusion—releases energy while
creating a chain reaction that
allows it to occur over and
over and over again. That
energy builds up. It gets as
hot as 15 million degrees
Fahrenheit in the sun’s core.
For more articles, games, and activities, visit spaceplace.nasa.gov
page 4 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
AAVSO Writers’ Bureau
Welcome to the AAVSO Writers’ Bureau Blog. Here we have collected,
from our talented and gracious partners, some of the finest content
available on the Internet each month. These writers have given explicit permission for these articles to be reprinted on other websites
and newsletters.
Meet My Variable Friend SS Cygni
by Bob King, Sky & Telescope.com
Get acquainted with SS Cygni, the
sky's brightest cataclysmic variable star.
It's guaranteed to keep you on your toes.
I got hooked on variable stars in
the '80s when I bought a new, expensive
telescope and promised myself I'd "do
some science" with the thing instead of
just poking around the sky. Not that
there's anything wrong with poking
around the sky.
I soon joined the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
and discovered I was drawn to stars with
wild, unpredictable swings in brightness.
So-called cataclysmic variable stars soon
became my focus and one in particular,
SS Cygni, an all-time favorite.
Cataclysmics, also known as dwarf
novae, are binary stars in close orbit
about one another. One of them is Sunlike, the other a compact white dwarf star
with an appetite. Their embrace is so
tight — 100,000 miles for SS Cygni according to some estimates — that the
dwarf's powerful gravity strips material
from its companion and feeds it into a
spinning whirlpool of glowing hydrogen
gas called an accretion disk.
Changes in the rate of flow of material into the disk can cause it to sud-
denly burn much hotter and brighter. Not
only does the disk radiate more light, but
it can heat the surface of the companion
star, causing it to glow more brightly, too.
Some dwarf novae such as U
Geminorum can jump from magnitude 15
to 9.5 in just 1-2 days. After an outburst,
the star slowly returns to its original
quiet state and then flares up again
weeks or months later.
SS Cygni's two stars whirl like stellar Tilt-A-Whirls around their center of
gravity once every 6.5 hours. Most
In a typical dwarf nova, a Sun-like star orbits a
planet-sized but massive white dwarf which
draws material from the companion into a
spinning accretion disk. NASA
page 5 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
nights, the system simmers away at magnitude 12, but during an outburst its light
increases 40-fold to about magnitude 8,
bright enough to spot in 50-mm binoculars! In the same way we're drawn to the
beautiful symmetry of Orion's Belt stars,
many of us are captivated by SS Cygni's
striking and unpredictable moods.
After all, it has everything going
for it. This temperamental star is bright
enough to follow in a from minimum to
maximum in a scope as small as 4.5
inches, it's relatively easy to find, and it
undergoes an outburst every 4 to 10
weeks with a duration of a week or more.
Seeing SS Cygni in outburst after
several weeks of quiescence makes for a
delicious thrill. It's as if the star has been
transformed from a lump of coal into a
diamond. And to think you're witnessing
this vampire-like interaction between
!
!
!
!
November 2014
two distant stars from your own front
yard.
You don't need ideal skies or even
good seeing. Heck, it can be mostly
cloudy. Variables aren't picky. I've popped
the scope out to catch my favorites between cloud banks. I make a quick
brightness estimate for the AAVSO using
one of their free, online charts, note the
time and get in before the rain starts falling.
Of course you can observe for fun
and not worry about making brightness
estimates, but if you'd ever like to contribute a bit to our scientific understanding of the inner workings of cataclysmic
variables, the AAVSO welcomes your observations.
Last year, amateur astronomers'
careful monitoring of SS Cygni's brightness proved crucial in helping an international team of radio astronomers fi-
Amateur astronomer Bob Modic captured SS Cygni in both quiescent and outburst states in
photos taken August 28, 2010 (left) and and nine nights later on September 6th. Bob Modic
page 6 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
nally determine an accurate distance
(372 light-years) to the star.
The previous estimate of 520
light-years made with the Hubble Space
Telescope didn't jibe with our understanding of the brightness of accretion
disks. The new distance resolves the issue while showing how amateurs can
make a difference.
As I write this, SS Cygni only days
ago underwent a brief outburst to magnitude 8.4. It's since dropped to the midnines as it returns to quiescence. Or will
it? That's what makes this star so fun —
it's predictable to a degree but doesn't
always perform as expected.
page 7 of 14
!
!
!
November 2014
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
AstroShorts
The University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HIPACC), based at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is
a consortium of nine University of California campuses and three Department of Energy laboratories (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory).
UC-HiPACC fosters collaborations among researchers at the various
sites by offering travel and other grants, co-sponsoring conferences,
and drawing attention to the world-class resources for computational
astronomy within the University of California system. More information appears at http://hipacc.ucsc.edu .
Without a Trace—Almost
It was a classic
case of serendipity.
While investigating how supermassive
black holes formed in the
early universe, UC Santa
Cruz postdoctoral researcher Ke-Jung Chen
stumbled on the unanticipated discovery that
some primordial supermassive stars could explode without leaving
any black hole or other
stellar remnant behind.
Chen had been
fascinated by supermassive black holes since
grad school at the University of Minnesota. Every
big galaxy has one of
these voracious monsters
at its center: a black hole
millions or even billions
of times more massive
than the sun.
This image is a slice through the interior of a supermassive
star of 55,500 solar masses along the axis of symmetry. It
shows the inner helium core in which nuclear burning is
converting helium to oxygen, powering various fluid instabilities (swirling lines). This snapshot shows a moment one
day after the onset of the explosion, when the radius of
the outer circle would be slightly larger than that of the
orbit of the Earth around the sun. Credit: Ken Chen, UC
Santa Cruz
page 8 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
The big mystery long puzzling astrophysicists is: how did supermassive
black holes form? The ones that exist at
the centers of some very ancient galaxies
that shine brightly as quasars formed
when the universe was less than 800 million years old. But no ordinary-sized
stellar-mass black holes could have
grown that gigantic that fast. So the conclusion seemed inescapable: supermassive black holes had to
have started life already monstrous at
cosmic dawn. But how?
Monster stars
Just as ordinary black holes are the
stellar remnants left by supernova explosions of stars more than 20 solar masses,
supermassive black holes could have
originated from supernova explosions of
supermassive stars—ones having tens of
thousands of solar masses.
Today, the highest-mass stars top
out at about 100 solar masses (Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in our
Milky Way galaxy, is about 90). But recent
cosmological simulations suggest the
possibility that in the early universe truly
gargantuan stars could exist. So Chen began exploring this with two different
computational simulations, called KEPLER and CASTRO, using resources at the
National Energy Research Scientific
Computing center (NERSC) at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
KEPLER is 1-dimensional (meaning it assumes that stars are spherical, so
physical quantities such as temperature
or density can depend only on radius).
KEPLER follows how gas turns into stars
and how supernovae feed back energy
into surrounding gas; it also traces how
!
!
!
!
November 2014
convection—movement of gas inside a
star—affects mixing and nuclear burning.
CASTRO allows more complexity: it recreates a multidimensional section
through a star, modeling internal gravitational forces and tracking the masses of
specific atomic elements that are synthesized from nuclear fusion.
Most importantly, both simulations were run at high spatial resolution
to explore fine details of an explosion.
The supermassive star Chen modeled had
a radius of about 103 million miles—about 10% larger than Earth’s orbit—with
a resolution of 30,000 miles, only 0.03%
of the radius.
Live fast, die young…leave no corpse
The simulations revealed that a
supermassive star burns hydrogen at a
furious rate for under 2 million years—a
mere blink of a cosmic eye (the Sun is
about 5 billion years old) before beginning to collapse. Then what happens internally depends critically on its mass. If
it is less than 55,000 or more than 56,000
solar masses, the supermassive star explodes and leaves behind a supermassive
black hole.
But if it is between those masses—
say, 55,500 solar masses—special processes in the star’s ultrahot low-density
core trigger a general relativity instability that triggers an explosion so violent
that it “completely unbinds the star and
leaves no compact remnant,” write Chen
and his five coauthors in Astrophysical
Journal. Indeed, the explosion “at ~9 x
1054 erg is the most energetic thermonuclear SN [super-nova] known.”
Okay, that’s what the simulations
predict. Did such exotic primordial ex-
page 9 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
plosions happen in the real Universe? Future wide-field infrared telescopes in orbit—such as the proposed Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST)—might be able to directly detect
such explosions at the very edge of the
universe a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
!
!
!
!
November 2014
http://astrobites.org/2014/03/21/a-new-wa
y-to-die-what-happens-to-supermassive-st
ars/.
Moreover, the volume of “metals”—chemical elements heavier than helium—that a generalrelativity–instability supernova explosion (GSNe) expels into space would be
100 times greater than that from a regular supernova. But it would have a different chemical composition, consisting
only of lighter elements from carbon to
silicon rather than heavier ones such as
iron. “Traces of GSNe might therefore be
found in early galaxies that are 56Fe
[iron] deficient but enhanced with 12C
[carbon] and 16O [oxygen],” Chen and his
coauthors conclude.
Stay tuned! – Trudy E. Bell, M.A.
Further reading
The paper “The General Relativistic Instability Supernova of a Supermassive
Population III Star” in the August 1, 2014
issue of Astrophysical Journal by Ke-Jung
Chen et al is at
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/790/2
/162/. See also the press release “Simulations Reveal Unusual Death for Ancient
Stars” at
http://www.nersc.gov/news-publications/n
ews/science-news/2014/simulations-reveal
-unusual-death-for-ancient-stars/ and
http://news.ucsc.edu/2014/09/unusual-sup
ernova.html, and the Astrobites story “A
New Way to Die: What Happens to Supermassive Stars?” at
page 10 of 14
Moon near Aldebaran (morning sky) at 21h UT.
8
Hyades
I
ER
page 11 of 14
DA
NU
S
na
d
ide
ey
e
(2
CE
FA
.5
.B
n
All sales support the production and free distribution of The Evening Sky Map.
• Star Charts & Astro Posters
• Telescopes & Binoculars
MA
X
SCU
LPT
OR
Cir
cle
t
Gre at Squ are
of Peg asu s
if
En
GRUS
5
M2
M1
PISCIS AUSTRINUS
Fomalhaut
7293
AQUARIUS
PEGASUS
PR
09
CA
70
IC
N
OR
US
IU
S
Symbols
Galaxy
TA
Double Star
IT
W
G
S
A
S
A
Variable Star
n
io
at S IT
l
Diffuse Nebula
l
A
te
s
o n ZO N
Planetary Nebula
I
ec
Th -HOR
Open
Star Cluster
O
T
ON
Globular Star Cluster
RI Z
HO
R
SKY MAP DRAWN FOR
A LATITUDE OF 40°
NORTH AND IS
SUITABLE FOR
LATITUDES UP
TO 15° NORTH
OR SOUTH
OF THIS
MAY FREELY DISTRIBUTE PRINTED HANDOUTS. FULL DETAILS AT http://Skymaps.com/terms.html
Star Magnitudes
P T P egas
M
u
OF
f.
I ND s , T h e
F RO
Alnair
Eni
Win
SKY
AB
st a r
ged
HT
RIG
the
G
y
I
H
SOUTH
b
o
-1 0 1 2
3 4
HT S
r se , f
RE N
arke d
li e s u p
TAR
se is m
E NT I
si d e d o w n a
PATT
THE
lmost overhead. His no
E RN I
S
Copyright
©
2000–2014
Kym
Thalassoudis.
All
Rights
Reserved.
W
O
N THE S
AP S H
KY.
INSTRUCTIONS: THE SKY M
* TERMS OF USE: FREE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL EDUCATIONAL USE. ASTRONOMY EDUCATION GROUPS
S
• Star Atlases & Planispheres
• Books for Sky Watchers
A
ars
).
ES
KY
ye
TH
ht
NG
l ig
US
I
io
γ
SAVE ON RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS • http://Skymaps.com/store
More sky events and links at http://Skymaps.com/skycalendar/
All times in Universal Time (UT). (USA Eastern Standard Time = UT – 5 hours.)
il l
8
BY
m
a
Mir
IN
ES
A
EG
RN
Pleiades
FO
253
SC
hda
Dip
PI
SKY MAP SHOWS HOW
THE NIGHT SKY LOOKS
EARLY NOV 8 PM
LATE NOV 7 PM
NOVEMBER 2014
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
!
29 First Quarter Moon at 10:06 UT.
E
7
S
6
27 Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 23h UT (369,827 km; angular
size 32.3').
Aldebaran
TU
26 Moon near Mars (evening sky) at 8h UT. Mag. +1.0.
CE
22 New Moon at 12:31 UT. Start of lunation 1137.
a
!
19 Moon near Spica (33° from Sun, morning sky) at 19h UT.
S
!
18 Saturn at conjunction with the Sun at 9h UT. The ringed
planet passes into the morning sky.
IE
17 Leonid meteor shower peaks at 16h and 22h UT.
Arises from debris ejected by Comet Tempel-Tuttle in
1533. Produces very fast meteors (71 km/sec). Expect
10 to 15 meteors per hour under dark skies. Best
viewed after midnight.
W
AR
15 Moon near Regulus (morning sky) at 8h UT.
W
Hamal
15 Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 2h UT
(distance 404,336 km; angular size 29.6').
14 Last Quarter Moon at 15:17 UT.
14 Moon near Jupiter (90° from Sun, morning sky)
at 15h UT. Mag. –2.1.
13 Moon near Beehive Cluster (morning sky) at 10h UT.
12 Moon near Pollux (morning sky) at 6h UT.
12 Taurid (north) meteor shower peaks. Meteors
often appear slow moving (28 km/sec) with the
occasional very bright fireball.
Full Moon at 22:22 UT.
Moon near Uranus (evening sky) at 18h UT. Mag. +5.7.
4
Moon near the Pleiades (morning sky) at 1h UT.
Mercury 4.2° NNE of Spica (18° from Sun, morning sky) at
16h UT. Mags. –0.7 and +1.0.
4
8
Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 0h UT (367,879 km;
angular size 32.5').
3
6
Mercury at greatest elongation, 19° west of Sun (morning sky) at
13h UT. Mag. –0.5.
Get Sky Calendar on Twitter
http://twitter.com/skymaps
1
Sky Calendar – November 2014
FREE* EACH MONTH FOR YOU TO EXPLORE, LEARN & ENJOY THE NIGHT SKY
γ
The Evening Sky Map
9
M3
K
qu
s
N AI S
Nu
ES
os B
RO AL
AP ila r
nk
Cr
CUL
CO E
O
i
R
P
n
EA e p r e
HER
BO
e r IAL
IC 4665
RS
se
th
nt
or LES T
O
s
N
α
M2
E
th
eN
CE
5
e e M22
t h N. C
R
M
M
T
a
1
ed
AI
7 16
I ZO
all
N D g le t
sc
OR
A
T ES h a t c
m e HE H
arr
e ti
OPHIUCHUS
T
A
i
N
e
som E IS
d
D
t
T
h
L
, is
IM
e
t
h
E
w a n R C I RC
u
S. T
nde
he S
E
r
H
b
E
o
WEST
lt s
us , T
O UT
C
E
o
N
f
Cyg n
t
TE
he
TH E
G
R
r
e
l la tio n
e
O
k
g od Z eus.
A ND
F T HE
T h e co ns te
I T H)
MA P I
D ( ZE N
S THE PA
RT OF THE SKY DIRECTLY OVERHEA
6633
M
CYGNUS
CO
Deneb
61
in
am
Et
yr
χ
M27
S.
Albireo
3
M1
.S
W
AP
M57 β
S
l
IN
M33
PH
M9
2
RA
LY
LA
LI
Algo
ir
γ
DE
L
a
Veg
RL
ε
S
le
ub ter
Do lus
C
DA
US
AUR
S
Cr 399
η
AR
C
ED
U
IO
OP
GA
OM
Alta
SS
EL
TI
L I PM
EC
1
δ
CA
P
EI
A
M
M3
μ
P
H
EU
S
CA
eH
Polaris
M3
CE
β
NCP
U
CE
5
YO
T
u
NT y ade
AT
he
s
ER
o t N TH
(J U li e i n
t
le
IO
ST
th e
i sib REC T
AS
co n
tv
YO
DI
st e
je c
ORIO
b
E
UA
o
l
H
N
l
at
nt
RE
ST
ist a
DOI i o n o f
EA
st d
Taur
NG
SAM
u s, T
e mo
NOW
EAST
THE
he Bu
is t h
,
S
) SO
1
I
3
ll.
P
y, M
THE
E MA
The Great Andromeda Galax
C OM P
OF TH
ASS DI
OTTOM
RECTION TH
AT APPEARS ALONG THE B
th
Little
Dipper
URSA
MINOR
E
d
O
N
IT
S
an
AC
X
M3
EU
DR
UI
ν
DR
M82
M3
RS
M31
M11
S
es
RI
PE
AN
!
rs
TE
YM
Ö
AU
!
AQ
O
Ca
pe
ll
!
SER
(CA PENS
UDA
)
B
“ TO P O L A R I
S ” T H E N O R T H S TA R
!
η
W
N
ND
Thub
an
N
be
M81
ei
LY
Pl R
JE c a u s
e
C
e
th P A
T
o
S
as MA
AR f i t
s
E
Miz
w n KY
L
S
& A ar
no
OC p r o m
lcor
AT
s k THE
in
e
E
t er
nt
D
The Big
RN
lus
BE
c
M5
ro
Dipper
TU
rc
T
1
s
W
s
s ta H” ) .
-s
E
E
h
ar
N
a
p
RT
T
cul
e
HE
.
ct a
URSA MAJOR
“NO
Z
EN
s pe
LE
I
T
MP
The
H
U
s
A
EXA
e
ND
th e
NORTH
F OR
T
B
i
H
g
E
D ip
LE (
S t ar .
H
p
e
O
r
(
RI Z O
o
r
C IR C
Plough) to find Polaris, the North
N . CO
R IZ O N
MPASS
THE HO
DIRECTIONS AR
E INDICATED ALONG
OU
ad
!
Ma
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
November 2014
Brightest star in Aquila. Name means "the flying eagle". Dist=16.7 ly.
The 6th brightest star. Appears yellowish in color. Spectroscopic binary. Dist=42 ly.
Cepheid prototype. Mag varies between 3.5 & 4.4 over 5.366 days. Mag 6 companion.
Brightest star in Cygnus. One of the greatest known supergiants. Dist=1,400±200 ly.
Semi-regular variable. Magnitude varies between 3.1 & 3.9 over 90 days. Mag 5.4 companion.
The 5th brightest star in the sky. A blue-white star. Dist=25.0 ly.
Famous eclipsing binary star. Magnitude varies between 2.1 & 3.4 over 2.867 days.
Brightest star in Piscis Austrinus. In Arabic the "fish's mouth". Dist=25 ly.
The Seven Sisters. Spectacular cluster. Many more stars visible in binoculars. Dist=399 ly.
Large V-shaped star cluster. Binoculars reveal many more stars. Dist=152 ly.
Brightest star in Taurus. It is not associated with the Hyades star cluster. Dist=66.7 ly.
The North Pole Star. A telescope reveals an unrelated mag 8 companion star. Dist=433 ly.
And
Aqr
Aql
Aur
Aur
Aur
Cep
Cet
Cyg
Cyg
Dra
Her
Her
Lyr
Lyr
Oph
Oph
Peg
Per
Sgr
Scl
UMa
Vul
The Andromeda Galaxy. Most distant object visible to naked eye. Dist=2.5 million ly.
Resembles a fuzzy star in binoculars.
Bright Cepheid variable. Mag varies between 3.6 & 4.5 over 7.166 days. Dist=1,200 ly.
Stars appear arranged in "pi" or cross shape. Dist=4,300 ly.
About half size of M38. Located in rich Milky Way star field. Dist=4,100 ly.
Very fine star cluster. Discovered by Messier in 1764. Dist=4,400 ly.
Herschel's Garnet Star. One of the reddest stars. Mag 3.4 to 5.1 over 730 days.
Famous long period variable star. Mag varies between 3.0 & 10.1 over 332 days.
Long period pulsating red giant. Magnitude varies between 3.3 & 14.2 over 407 days.
May be visible to the naked eye under good conditions. Dist=900 ly.
Wide pair of white stars. One of the finest binocular pairs in the sky. Dist=100 ly.
Best globular in northern skies. Discovered by Halley in 1714. Dist=23,000 ly.
Fainter and smaller than M13. Use a telescope to resolve its stars.
Famous Double Double. Binoculars show a double star. High power reveals each a double.
Semi-regular variable. Magnitude varies between 3.9 & 5.0 over 46.0 days.
Large, scattered open cluster. Visible with binoculars.
Scattered open cluster. Visible with binoculars.
Only globular known to contain a planetary nebula (Mag 14, d=1"). Dist=30,000 ly.
Double Cluster in Perseus. NGC 869 & 884. Excellent in binoculars. Dist=7,300 ly.
Bright cluster located about 6 deg N of "teapot's" lid. Dist=1,900 ly.
Fine, large, cigar-shaped galaxy. Requires dark sky. Member of Sculptor Group.
Good eyesight or binoculars reveals 2 stars. Not a binary. Mizar has a mag 4 companion.
Coathanger asterism or "Brocchi's Cluster". Not a true star cluster. Dist=218 to 1,140 ly.
page 12 of 14
!
!
The Evening Sky Map (ISSN 1839-7735) Copyright © 2000–2014 Kym Thalassoudis. All Rights Reserved.
!
Attractive double star. Bright orange star with mag 5 blue companion. Sep=9.8".
Saturn Nebula. Requires 8-inch telescope to see Saturn-like appendages.
Helix Nebula. Spans nearly 1/4 deg. Requires dark sky. Dist=300 ly.
Impressive looking double blue-white star. Visible in a small telescope. Sep=7.8".
Yellow star mag 3.4 & orange star mag 7.5. Dist=19 ly. Orbit=480 years. Sep=12".
Beautiful double star. Contrasting colours of orange and blue-green. Sep=34.4".
Attractive double star. Mags 5.2 & 6.1 orange dwarfs. Dist=11.4 ly. Sep=28.4".
Appear yellow & white. Mags 4.3 & 5.2. Dist=100 ly. Struve 2725 double in same field.
Eclipsing binary. Mag varies between 3.3 & 4.3 over 12.940 days. Fainter mag 7.2 blue star.
Ring Nebula. Magnificent object. Smoke-ring shape. Dist=4,100 ly.
Omega Nebula. Contains the star cluster NGC 6618. Dist=4,900 ly.
Wild Duck Cluster. Resembles a globular through binoculars. V-shaped. Dist=5,600 ly.
Eagle Nebula. Requires a telescope of large aperture. Dist=8,150 ly.
Crab Nebula. Remnant from supernova which was visible in 1054. Dist=6,500 ly.
Fine face-on spiral galaxy. Requires a large aperture telescope. Dist=2.3 million ly.
Beautiful spiral galaxy visible with binoculars. Easy to see in a telescope.
Close to M81 but much fainter and smaller.
Dumbbell Nebula. Large, twin-lobed shape. Most spectacular planetary. Dist=975 ly.
!
And
Aqr
Aqr
Ari
Cas
Cyg
Cyg
Del
Lyr
Lyr
Sgr
Sct
Ser
Tau
Tri
UMa
UMa
Vul
!
γ Andromedae
7009
7293
γ Arietis
η Cassiopeiae
Albireo
61 Cygni
γ Delphini
β Lyrae
M57
M17
M11
M16
M1
M33
M81
M82
M27
!
Telescopic Objects
M31
M2
η Aquilae
M38
M36
M37
μ Cephei
Mira
χ Cygni
M39
ν Draconis
M13
M92
ε Lyrae
R Lyrae
IC 4665
6633
M15
Double Cluster
M25
253
Mizar & Alcor
Cr 399
!
Conjunction – An alignment of two celestial bodies such that they present the least
angular separation as viewed from Earth.
Constellation – A defined area of the sky containing a star pattern.
Diffuse Nebula – A cloud of gas illuminated by nearby stars.
Double Star – Two stars that appear close to each other in the sky; either linked by
gravity so that they orbit each other (binary star) or lying at different distances from
Earth (optical double). Apparent separation of stars is given in seconds of arc (").
Ecliptic – The path of the Sun’s center on the celestial sphere as seen from Earth.
Elongation – The angular separation of two celestial bodies. For Mercury and Venus
the greatest elongation occurs when they are at their most angular distance from the
Sun as viewed from Earth.
Galaxy – A mass of up to several billion stars held together by gravity.
Globular Star Cluster – A ball-shaped group of several thousand old stars.
Light Year (ly) – The distance a beam of light travels at 300,000 km/sec in one year.
Magnitude – The brightness of a celestial object as it appears in the sky.
Open Star Cluster – A group of tens or hundreds of relatively young stars.
Opposition – When a celestial body is opposite the Sun in the sky.
Planetary Nebula – The remnants of a shell of gas blown off by a star.
Universal Time (UT) – A time system used by astronomers. Also known as Greenwich
Mean Time. USA Eastern Standard Time (for example, New York) is 5 hours behind UT.
Variable Star – A star that changes brightness over a period of time.
Aql
Aur
Cep
Cyg
Her
Lyr
Per
PsA
Tau
Tau
Tau
UMi
Easily Seen with Binoculars
Altair
Capella
δ Cephei
Deneb
α Herculis
Vega
Algol
Fomalhaut
Pleiades
Hyades
Aldebaran
Polaris
Easily Seen with the Naked Eye
!
Astronomical Glossary
When observing the night sky, and in particular deep-sky objects such as star clusters,
nebulae, and galaxies, it’s always best to observe from a dark location. Avoid direct
light from street lights and other sources. If possible observe from a dark location
away from the light pollution that surrounds many of today’s large cities.
You will see more stars after your eyes adapt to the darkness—usually about 10 to
20 minutes after you go outside. Also, if you need to use a torch to view the sky
map, cover the light bulb with red cellophane. This will preserve your dark vision.
Finally, even though the Moon is one of the most stunning objects to view
through a telescope, its light is so bright that it brightens the sky and makes many of
the fainter objects very difficult to see. So try to observe the evening sky on
moonless nights around either New Moon or Last Quarter.
Tips for Observing the Night Sky
Listed on this page are several of the brighter, more interesting celestial objects
visible in the evening sky this month (refer to the monthly sky map). The objects are
grouped into three categories. Those that can be easily seen with the naked eye (that
is, without optical aid), those easily seen with binoculars, and those requiring a
telescope to be appreciated. Note, all of the objects (except single stars) will
appear more impressive when viewed through a telescope or very large
binoculars. They are grouped in this way to highlight objects that can be seen using
the optical equipment that may be available to the star gazer.
About the Celestial Objects
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
NOVEMBER 2014
CELESTIAL OBJECTS
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
November 2014
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
for the
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND, INC. (ASSNE)
The Astronomical Society of Southern New England, Inc. is an amateur astronomy club
organized as a nonprofit corporation. ASSNE is composed of members who share a common interest in astronomy, science, and space. Since being founded in January, 1995, our mission has
been to educate and inspire our members and the general public. We provide schools and other
public venues with educational programs that may foster an awareness of astronomy and an appreciation of the night sky. Our annual Rehoboth Skies event, held each October, is a wonderful
opportunity to share our knowledge and enthusiasm with the public. We also organize member
star parties as well as tours to events and places having relevant astronomical presentations or
programs.
At our monthly meetings, members may participate in discussions and presentations
given by members or by guest speakers, witness demonstrations, and observe the heavens with
other members after meetings.
ASSNE has a constitution and a set of bylaws, so that all members may become aware of
the workings and direction of the club. This club was formed to promote the following goals:
•
Educate members and the general public in the various aspects of astronomy.
•
Allow members to come together and share their astronomical interests with others.
•
Encourage amateur participation in astronomical observing programs and research.
•
Organize, administer, and fund astronomy educational programs within the community.
Our motto: To Educate and Inspire
____________________________________________________________
Membership (be it family or individual) is $20/year. Membership fees shall be pro-rated
for new members by quarter, with no fee to be charged for the quarter in which the member/
family joins. (For example, a family joining in April would pay $15 instead of $20. And an individual joining in November would pay $5.)
Your dues also entitle you to club discounts on subscriptions to Sky & Telescope Magazine, reduced membership dues for the Astronomical League, and access to the assets of ASSNE,
which include books, videos, and free “loaner” telescopes. Be sure to get your S&T discount
coupon from George at the next meeting.
Our monthly newsletter and other information about us can be found on the Internet at
http://www.assne.org. To save costs, the preferred method of communicating with members
(apart from our meetings) is through the web using the club bulletin board at
http://assne.org/board , or by e-mail (please no broadcast emails or BCC’s). Interested members
and nonmembers who do not have Internet access may elect to receive a paper version of our
newsletter, which will be prepared and mailed for the cost of doing so.
page 13 of 14
ASSNE Vol. 20, No. 11!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
November 2014
APPLICATION FOR ASSNE MEMBERSHIP
Please complete member info:
Date: _____________
Name(s): _______________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Telephone: (______) ________________
Email:___________________________
Please check membership type as appropriate: (includes emailed monthly newsletter)
___ Single $20.00/yr
___ Donor $30/yr
___ Family $20.00/yr
___ Supporting $50/yr
Optional services:
___ Mail the newsletter to me (Additional $12/year for costs)
___ Add discounted Astronomical League membership ($7.50/yr)
$_______ TOTAL AMOUNT PAID
ASSNE meets on the 2nd Saturday of every month, but members observe together informally throughout the month whenever the sky is clear. Would you like to receive invitations to
observe with those members who regularly issue invitations to observe at their homes? (Even if
you don’t make it, you’ll be emailed a copy of the night’s observing log.)
___Yes ___No
If paying by check, please make it payable to ASSNE, Inc. And if mailing, please mail to:
ASSNE, Inc.
c/o George Huftalen
231 Metacom Ave.
Warren, RI 02885
Or pay dues by PayPal: Go to www.PayPal.com, and follow the instructions. The address
to use for dues or other ASSNE payments is [email protected]
page 14 of 14