Download December 2016 - Astronomical Society of South East Texas

ASSET NEWSLETTER
STARGAZER
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH EAST TEXAS
P O BOX 654
GROVES, TEXAS 77619
Vice-President - Kyle Overturf
[email protected]
Newsletter Editor - Howard Minor
[email protected]
Treasurer - Eddie & Cat Trevino
[email protected]
of the parkdALE MALL
on access road
ASSET Minutes November 11,
2016
Our December meeting will be on the
9th at 6:30 p.m. at Habaneros. There will be
a gift exchange. If you choose to participate,
bring a gift worth $10-$15 for each person in
your party. Don’t forget dues are due--$30/
year. Will showed some El Dorado star party
videos/pictures that he took using his drone.
There will be a star party at King Middle
School on December 5, 5 p.m. Come help if
you can. The Beaumont Children’s Museum will
have a star party December 8th, set up at
5:15 p.m. at River Front Park.
Brenda Tantzen
January refreshments:
ASSET Secretary
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM JANE AND HOWARD
ASSET Meeting
Location
BISD
PLANETARIUM
NORTH ST.
WILL’S WORDS
BRENDA’S MINUTES
Attendance: 22
Moi
asset-astronomer.org
I - 10
Friday Dec. 9th 6:30 pm
at Habaneros, Just north
NEW
TELESCOPE
AND
ACCESS0RY
TIME
ACCESS RD
CHRISTMAS DINNER MEETING
THE CLUB WEB SITE:
OVERFLOW
PARKING
DECEMBER 2016 ISSUE
Secretary - Brenda Tantzen
[email protected]
19TH ST
President - Will Young
president@asset-astronomer. org
Everyone wave as 2016
says goodbye and 2017 takes
its place! What a year! If you
made it to some star parties, then you probably had a great time. All of them had good
nights. Speaking of, the skies have been
extremely nice here in the Beaumont area
lately. If you get the chance get out and
observe! Our December meeting will be at
Habanero's in Beaumont. We will meet
at 6:30pm for some food and fun!! If you
want to participate in the gift exchange
bring a wrapped astronomy related gift of
about $10 or so and we will exchange those
after the meal. It's always a lot of fun. If
you can please help us with the upcoming outreach parties: December 5th at King Middle
School and December 8th at River Front
Park for the Beaumont Children's Museum.
More details on that will be coming soon.
Watch for the emails!
See you at the December Meeting. Will
PAGE 1
OBSERVERS’ PAGE
CLUB NEWS - 2017 DUES CAN BE PAID TO Eddie & Cat, our Treasurers.
They are still $30 and mail in checks should be sent to PO BOX 654, GROVES, TX
77619 and made out to ASSET. And the club will take any extra donations, for we are
a non-profit organization. We would love to have some of our old members rejoin or just
drop by once in a while. It would be nice to see you guys.
1. We are still looking for observing sites and preparing loaner telescopes for you all.
2. There are 2 star parties and Christmas Dinner Meeting the same week, in December.
The 1st is at King Middle school and will start just after dark. We are planning to arrive at
about 5 to 5:15pm or so and the date is Monday December the 5th. The 2nd is the same arrival time, as well, 5 to 5:15. This one will be at the Amphitheater at River Front Park in
Beaumont on Thursday December the 8th. Watch for emails for more details. This one is
important, as the public is invited, and a flyer is being prepared send out now. Will, should
have more info on that soon. We are ready for you all to jump in and make 2017 GREAT.
How long to orbit Milky Way’s center?
-
Our solar system orbits around the sun.
One orbit of the Earth takes one year. Meanwhile, our entire solar system – our Sun with its family of
planets, moon, asteroid and comets – orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Our Sun and solar system moves at about 500,000 miles an hour in this huge orbit. So in 90 seconds, for example, we all
move some 12,500 miles in orbit around the galaxy’s center. Our Milky Way galaxy is a big place. Even
at this blazing speed, it takes the sun approximately 225-250 million years to complete one journey
around the galaxy’s center. (from earth/sky.org)
2017 Texas Star Party – Sign up now! Yes it is time! -
Those who would
like to attend need to open the TSP web site and sign up. As stated below they have only room
for 500, so they have a drawing for the 1st 500. Will is already signed up!
The great tradition of dark sky observing continues with the 39th Annual TEXAS STAR PARTY, May
21-28, 2017,near Ft Davis, Texas Staying on the Ranch in housing, RV, or camping? Staying off-site in
other accommodations? Everyone needs to enter the TSP drawing, held in late January. You should
submit a Registration/Reservation Request Form to ENTER THE TSP DRAWING before January 20,
2017. This will provide you the highest possible chance of being selected as one of the 500 people
who will be able to attend TSP this year.
ARMCOLRITTER
INE SAB- + TRAN-
An Astronomy Team
To Take Care Of All
Your Astronomical
Needs
Clayton 713-569-7529
Ron 979-702-0258
PAGE 2
TWO METEOR SHOWERS FOR DECEMBER
NORTH, NE
7PM TO MORNING
The Geminids and Ursids,which is lesser known, but may be the
best because of a full Moon during the Geminids. In 2016, the Geminids are expected to peak on the night of December 13 and early
morning hours of December 14. A Full Moon may make viewing conditions difficult. Unlike most other meteor showers, the Geminids are
associated not with a comet but with an asteroid: the 3200 Phaethon.
The Geminids are considered to be one of the more spectacular meteor shower during a year. The annual Ursid meteor shower always peaks near the time of the December winter solstice. In 2016, look for some possible activity over the next several days, that is Wednesday evening Dec. 21st thru the morning hour of Dec. 22nd, so this is the peak period. The radiant
is circumpolar, so you want to view to the north. In the morning hours the 3rd quarter Moon will start to
rise, but before then will be best.
Messier 33 is the 2nd-closest spiral galaxy
Triangulum galaxy, aka Messier 33 is 2.7 million light-years away, and the third-largest member of
our Local Group, after the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. With a diameter about half that of
our Milky Way, it’s face on to us and thus has a low surface brightness in our sky. Although theoretically visible to the unaided eye under dark skies conditions, it’s not easy to spot in binoculars or
even a telescope. It’s well known that the Andromeda galaxy is moving toward our Milky Way and
that a collision between the two galaxies will occur some 4 billion years from now. Meanwhile, the
fate of the Triangulum Galaxy isn’t known for certain. It might someday be torn apart and absorbed
by the Andromeda galaxy. It might participate in the collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Two other possibilities are a collision with the Milky Way before Andromeda arrives or
an ejection from the Local Group. It’s safe to say that the fate of these great galaxies is beyond
human knowledge at this time! (info from earth/sky)
WHAT IS THE ASTEROID BELT
The vast majority of asteroids in the solar system are
found in a region of the solar system out beyond Mars.
They form the Asteroid Belt. Others orbit in near-Earth
space and a few migrate or are thrown out to the outer soEARTH JUPITER
lar system by gravitational interactions. The four largest
asteroids in the belt are Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea.
MARS
ASTEROID
They contain half the mass of the entire belt. The rest of
BELT
the mass is contained in countless smaller bodies. There
was a theory once that if you combined all the asteroids they would make up the missing “Fifth”
rocky planet. Planetary scientists estimate that if you could put all that material together that
exists there today, it would make a tiny world smaller than Earth’s moon. The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and
3.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. The belt is about 1 AU thick. The average distance between objects in the Asteroid Belt is quite large. If you could stand on an asteroid and look
around, the next one would be too far away to see very well.
Vast Underground Water Ice on Mars
Water ice makes up half or more of an underground layer, in a large region of Mars about halfway from
the equator to the planet’s north pole, scientists say. The amount of water in this deposit is about as
much as in Lake Superior. The presence of water underground in this region may have implications for
future human explorations of Mars. Scientists used data from a ground-penetrating radar instrument on
the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine this region on Mars. (earth/sky.org)
PAGE 3
SOUTH TROPICL ZONE
Dimming stars, erupting plasma, and beautiful nebulae
By Marcus Woo
Boasting intricate patterns and translucent colors, planetary nebulae are among the
most beautiful sights in the universe. How they got their shapes is complicated, but
astronomers think they've solved part of the mystery—with giant blobs of plasma
shooting through space at half a million miles per hour.
Planetary nebulae are shells of gas and dust blown off from a dying, giant star. Most nebulae aren't
spherical, but can have multiple lobes extending from opposite sides—possibly generated by powerful jets erupting from the star.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers discovered blobs of plasma that could form some
of these lobes. "We're quite excited about this," says Raghvendra Sahai, an astronomer at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Nobody has really been able to come up with a good argument for why
we have multipolar nebulae."
Sahai and his team discovered blobs launching from a red giant star 1,200 light years away, called V
Hydrae. The plasma is 17,000 degrees Fahrenheit and spans 40 astronomical units—roughly the
distance between the sun and Pluto. The blobs don't erupt continuously, but once every 8.5 years.
The launching pad of these blobs, the researchers propose, is a smaller, unseen star orbiting V Hydrae. The highly elliptical orbit brings the companion star through the outer layers of the red giant at
closest approach. The companion's gravity pulls plasma from the red giant. The material settles into
a disk as it spirals into the companion star, whose magnetic field channels the plasma out from its
poles, hurling it into space. This happens once per orbit—every 8.5 years—at closest approach.
When the red giant exhausts its fuel, it will shrink and get very
hot, producing ultraviolet radiation that will excite the shell of gas
blown off from it in the past. This shell, with cavities carved in it
by the cannon-balls that continue to be launched every 8.5
years, will thus become visible as a beautiful bipolar or multipolar
planetary nebula.
The astronomers also discovered that the companion's disk appears to wobble, flinging the cannonballs in one direction during
one orbit, and a slightly different one in the next. As a result, every other orbit, the flying blobs block starlight from the red giant,
which explains why V Hydrae dims every 17 years. For decades,
amateur astronomers have been monitoring this variability, making V Hydrae one of the most well-studied stars.
Because the star fires plasma in the same few directions repeat- This four-panel graphic illustrates how
the binary-star system V Hydrae is
edly, the blobs would create multiple lobes in the nebula—and a
launching balls of plasma into space.
pretty sight for future astronomers.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI
If you’d like to teach kids about how our sun compares to other stars, please visit the NASA Space
Place: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-compare/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!
A Big Reminder For Next Year! Your Dues For 2017 can be paid at the
December Meeting or mail them to PO Box 654, Groves, TX 77619
PAGE 4
A THROUGHT IN THE NEWS - THE HIDDEN PLANET X
In the far reaches of the solar system, a hidden planet larger than Earth may be lurking
Something very odd seems to be going on out beyond Pluto. Astronomers have known for
more than two decades that the tiny former planet is not alone at the edge of the solar
system: it is part of a vast cloud of icy objects known collectively as the Kuiper belt. But
unlike most of their fellow travelers, and unlike the planets and most asteroids, which orbit between Mars and Jupiter, a small handful of Kuiper belt objects, or KBOs, have orbits that are decidedly weird. For one thing, they take unusually elongated paths around
the sun, unlike the roughly circular orbits of most planetary bodies. (Scientific American)
Asteroid formed moon's Imbrium Basin?
And if it did, it may have been protoplanet-sized
Grooves and gashes associated with the Imbrium Basin on the
moon have long been puzzling. New research shows how some
of these features were formed and uses them to estimate the
size of the Imbrium impactor. Around 3.8 billion years ago, an
asteroid more than 150 miles across, roughly equal to the
length of New Jersey, slammed into the Moon and created the
Imbrium Basin -- the right eye of the fabled Man in the Moon.
This new size estimate, published in the journal Nature, suggests an Imbrium impactor that was two times larger in diameter and 10 times more massive than previous estimates.
(Science Daily)
A REMINDER ON WHAT A CHAIN OF CRATERS IS CALLED
A crater chain is a line of craters along the surface of an astronomical body. The descriptor term for crater chains is catena.
Crater chains seen on the Moon often radiate from larger craters,
and in such cases are thought to be either caused by secondary
impacts of the larger crater's ejecta or by volcanic venting activity
along a rift. You can see them in your telescope.
SOLAR CYCLES AND WHAT’S HAPPENING
The sun goes through a natural solar cycle approximately every 11 years. The cycle is marked by
the increase and decrease of sunspots which are visible dark regions on the sun’s surface and
cooler than its surroundings. We are in Solar Cycle #24, and the Sun Spot peak is over, so we are
in a waning situation. This goes on for the next couple of years till our next Solar Cycle #25,
starting in 2020 and peaking in 2025, and it is expected to have fewer Sun Spots than our current cycle that peaked in 2013. But that does not mean there won’t be good spots to view, just
somewhat fewer. Also, they are continuing studies on how solar cycles govern our solar system's
climate. With #24 waning, this could propel us into a period of some global cooling, and 24 continues its recent trend of weakening, since solar cycles that began with solar cycle 22, that peaked
around 1990. However, a weak solar cycle does suggest strong solar storms will occur less often,
but it does not rule them out. In other words, there can still be a chance for significant solar
activity in the months and years ahead.
PAGE 5
DECEMBER 2016
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
CHRISTMAS DINNER AND GIFT EXCHANGE
DEC. 9th at 6:30 p.m. at Habaneros
1
Fri
2
Sat
3
6685 Eastex Fwy, (just north of mall)
4
11
18
5
King Middle
School SP on
Dec. 5, 5 p.m.
12
19
Moon
Closest
to Earth,
Perigee
6
7
1ST
13
14
GEMINIDS METEORS
PEAK 13TH, 14TH
20
FULL
21
3RD
25
26 Moon
27
HALLOWEEN
farthest
JOHANNES
MERRY
from
KEPPLER
Earth,
CHRISTMAS
BORN 1571
Apogee
8
9
10
Christmas
Children’s Mus. SP
Dinner Meet
Dec. 8, 5 p.m.
6:30 PM
River Front Park.
15
16
17
22
23
24
29
30
31
LONGEST
NIGHT OF
THE YEAR
28
NEW
NEW
YEAR’S
EVE
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE
SOLAR SYSTEM?
WHERE ARE THE PLANETS?
Well here we go for all you VENUS fans! December VENUS is getting higher each week. For
quite a while it has been too near the Sun for viewing. Now the planets and Moon are slipping by it,
making a beautiful evening grouping. Venus is very noticeable, our “evening star”. MERCURY is visible the 1st couple of weeks in December, but is much lower than Venus. It will take binoculars to find
it. The highest elongation from the Sun happens on Dec. the 10th and is 60% lit in the telescope.
MARS is also in the southwest and moving toward Venus. Mars is now fading faster and too small for
any detail in the telescope. Mars and Venus are on opposite sides of the constellation, Capricornus,
as they are closing on each other. URANUS is in Pisces and in good position for viewing. If you have
an opportunity to be a good dark sky site, you may, with good eyes, have a chance to see it naked
eye. NEPTUNE is also in good position to see, but in a telescope, of course. This 8th magnitude
object is in Aquarius and will be occulted by the Moon on Dec. 6th. You will need to get on the internet
to get times for you and your telescope if you want to see it. PLUTO is too close to the Sun to view in
Dec. SATURN is also too close to the Sun, as it has slipped down in the western sky. But by January it will be peaking up before the Sun in the morning sky. That brings us to the “Morning Sky”.
JUPITER is ready to observe for you early risers. In Virgo, it is up high enough to put the telescope
on by 3 AM. It is almost back to –2 magnitude and 32” in diameter. Check out the bands and see if
they changed since it slipped around the back side of the Sun and is now emerging in the morning.
Remember the Meteors, the Geminids and the Ursids on the 13th and the 21st. Also watch the
Moon as it goes through its phases during the month.
PAGE 6