COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Teaching modern astronomy with planetarium equipment that was built before astronauts landed on the moon is a tricky venture.
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Category Archives: Astronomy
Astronomy: Astronomy: The Crescent Nebula
Jul 17 2012 By David Moulton - North Wales Astronomy Society
Crescent Nebula
Without doubt it has been a difficult summer for Astronomy, not only the light nights, but the dreadful weather has put the handbrake on my pursuit of Astrophotography.
I did however manage just one night under the stars in the middle of June during a gap in the fronts coming in for m the Atlantic. The skies cleared that evening and stayed clear until dawn so I took full advantage and was up imaging until the dawn chorus.
The target for the night was a wide field view of NGC 6888 common name The Crescent Nebula. This object is located in The heart of the milky way in the constellation of Cygnus, I imaged this target in Natural colour several years ago now in close up (see image), but I have also been aware that the area is worth looking at in wide field as there is plenty going on. This wide field image was taken using my ED80 Refractor telescope using Narrowband filters in a cooled QSI 583 Astro camera. The resulting data on the night totalled 2.5hrs of exposure and has been colour mapped to the Hubble palette colours to produce the image
The Crescent is estimated to be 5000 light years distant and is an estimated 400,000 years old. The Nebula itself has been formed from material expelled from a dying Red Giant star; this material has fallen under the spell of the stellar wind emitting from a neighbouring Wolf- Rayet star, this interaction has resulted in the dramatic shock fronts seen in the Crescent Nebula. The wide field view does however illustrate just how active whole region is, showing large swirls of emission nebulosity that are present in the area.
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Indian astronomy satellite to study universe at multi-wavelengths
Calcutta News.net Monday 16th July, 2012
Astrosat, the $50 million astronomy satellite India will put in polar circular orbit in 2013, will study the universe at multi-wavelengths for the first time, a senior space agency official said.
"The Astrosat mission will study for the first time the cosmic sources of the vast universe at optical, ultraviolet and X-ray wavebands simultaneously," state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientific secretary V. Koteshwar Rao told IANS here.
The 1.6-tonne satellite will be launched from the Sriharikota spaceport off the Bay of Bengal coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 90km northeast of Chennai, onboard a 300-tonne rocket with five scientific instruments to study at multiple wavelengths.
The instruments include a soft X-ray telescope, an ultraviolet imaging telescope, an imager and a sky scanning monitor.
"Unlike astronomical satellites of other countries, Astrosat will study visible to high-energy X-ray emissions from celestial objects on a single platform, take the highest angular resolution imaging in ultraviolet and measure short-term variation of X-ray emissions," Rao said at a space summit here, about 150 km from Karnataka capital Bangalore.
A five-year delay has escalated the mission cost to Rs.270 crore (nearly $50 million), including the satellite to Rs.180 crore and the rocket Rs.90 crore.
A wavelength is a unit of measurement indicating the distance between the peak of one wave and the next. As forms of electromagnetic radiation, they make unique patterns in shapes and lengths as they travel through space.
"Most astronomical objects emit radiation spanning the electromagnetic spectrum from long wavelength radio waves to very short wavelength gamma rays. Simultaneous observation of the multi-wavelengths will enable us to understand the physical processes behind the phenomenon," Rao pointed out.
Orbiting at 650 km from the earth with a five-year lifespan, the satellite will conduct major investigations across visible, UV, soft and hard X-ray bands to find out the source of radiation, study magnetic fields on neutron stars, search for sources of black holes and scan the farthest regions of the universe.
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Indian astronomy satellite to study universe at multi-wavelengths
African Art Inspired By the Cosmos on Display at DC Museum
A new art exhibit highlights the fascinating link between astronomy and culture, exploring how cosmic wonders, such as the sun, moon and stars, inspired ancient and contemporary art in Africa.
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Roger A. Bell, astronomy professor
He played key role in developing University of Maryland's astronomy program into its own department Roger Alistair Bell, a University of Maryland professor of astronomy who specialized in the discovery of physical properties and compositions of stars, died July 1 of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Dove House in Westminster. The Ashton resident was 76.
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BAFacts: Halfway there! | Bad Astronomy
On January 4, 2012, I posted my first BAFact: a short astronomy fact that was brief enough to put on Twitter but informative enough to be interesting. I posted the first one on perihelion the point in Earths orbit when its closest to the Sun and the last one will be a year later.
Because 2012 is a leap year with 366 days, July 5th was the 184th day: the first day of the second half of the year. That means Im more than halfway done!* Appropriately enough, heres the July 5 BAFact:
I post the BAFacts on Twitter, Google+ (where I can flesh them out a bit more and add pictures since theres no character limit), and have a complete archive of them on the blog as well. With 180+ already in the bag, reading those should keep you busy for a while!
I generally link them to previous blog posts dealing with the topic in question, but not always. Ive actually been surprised at how difficult it can be to reduce a topic to 100 or so characters (leaving room for the leading "#BAFact: " and shortened link, plus room for retweets), and how that limits some topics. I have also been surprised to find out I havent written about some topics! For example, I was thinking recently of making a BAFact about the nearest known black hole, Cygnus X-1, and discovered I had literally never even mentioned it in a blog post! Thats weird but by coincidence that got fixed just this last weekend.
So this exercise in brevity has given me new things to write about. Ill note that there have been arguments over the accuracy of some of the BAFacts, too. Sometimes thats just due to having to be so brief that the description might be misleading if you dont click the link; I struggle with those but usually make them as clear as possible, and hope people actually read the post to clarify. And once I really did just make a mistake; as I recently mentioned I didnt know that recent research had found that zodiacal light is mostly from comet dust and not asteroid collisions, and had to post an immediate correction! But thats OK; I love learning new things, too.
So as we enter the second half of these, I hope you keep up with them and enjoy them. And if you have a beef with them, find a mistake, have something to add, or know of a good picture or story relating to them, follow it up with a tweet of your own! The whole point here is to have fun and learn things. Which, when it comes to science, are exactly the same.
* Well, kinda. Perihelion is actually on January 2, 2013, roughly a day earlier than usual because we have an extra calendar day this year. The Earth orbits the Sun not caring at all for our calendrical contrivances, so when the time comes Ill decide whether to post the last BAFact based on the Earths orbit our roughly-hewn measurement of it.
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Shooting Venus
Astronomy fans waiting to catch the Venus in transit
Not a bad effort: The Venus in the form of a black dot against the sun
FOR as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by astronomy. As a strapping young lad, I joined the Astronomy Club in my school, Sekolah Menengah Sultan Abdul Samad in Petaling Jaya, enduring jests by friends who warned of an impending descent into geekdom if I joined.
Well I guess its their loss then a part of their childhood that they will never regain.
This fascination with stellar objects permeated into my adult life and although I was never even close to becoming a serious astronomy buff, once in a while I found myself staring at supermoons, eclipses and other assorted celestial phenomena over the years.
VENUS TRANSIT
Recently, the transit of Venus piqued my interest and I found myself climbing the stairs up the National Planetarium located on a hill in the Lake Gardens.
In case you missed the media brouhaha, the transit of Venus happens very rarely and wont happen again until Dec 11, 2117. So its unlikely that any of us will be around for that next photo opportunity. But for those of you who felt left out, rejoice as a transit of Mercury will take place on May 9, 2016.
The National Planetarium on that day was a hub of activity, packed with schoolchildren as well as adults.
Astronomy buffs were out in full force, setting up their telescopes all over the planetarium grounds. I met Jong Tze Kian, one of the science officers at Angkasa and requested for an opportunity to fix my camera to one of the planetariums eight-inch Mead telescopes which had been conveniently set up outside. He gladly consented, but unfortunately, clouds decided to congregate over the sky and block our view of the sun.
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Sky watching
Photo by Suzanne Thompson
Suzanne Thompson/Special to the Commercial Appeal James Rickman went to Shelby Farms where members of the Memphis Astrological Society set up telescopes to view Venus' transit across the sun.
Recently, when Venus made its transit across the Sun, it drew the attention of people around the world to astronomy.
People gathered on the lawn of the Pink Palace Museum and at Shelby Farms Park to view this rare occurrence, which takes place once every 105 years.
Members of the Memphis Astronomical Society, brought telescopes, both modern and traditional, and let people use them to observe Venus as it passed in front of the sun.
John Smith, who joined MAS about a year ago, said he has had an interest in stargazing for some time, but has just taken his interest to the next level, and now considers astronomy a hobby.
"I've always wanted a telescope and finally I decided to break down and buy one."
Smith's telescope is a modern one, called a "Go To Telescope," which contains a database, and tracks the movement of stars as the earth rotates.
By entering GPS coordinates the telescope will automatically move to the desired location, which can be adjusted by remote control.
This was convenient when Venus made its transit across the sun, because the planet was slowly moving, and Smith could easily change the telescope's direction to keep the best view.
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OCEANSIDE: Eye on the sky
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Summer astronomy program begins in Glacier National Park
July 12, 2012 Visitors invited to experience Glaciers day and night skies
WEST GLACIER Glacier National Parks summer astronomy program begins July 11 with day and evening ranger-led activities held on the east and west side of the park. Visitors have the opportunity to experience evening telescope viewing of deep space objects like galaxies, star clusters, planets, and nebulae. Dedicated volunteer astronomers will provide interpretive programs such as laser-guided constellation tours.
Evening telescope viewing will be available Wednesday Sunday at the Apgar Transit Center and daily at the St. Mary Visitor Center from 10:00pm to midnight, weather and sky visibility dependent. The St. Mary Visitor Center is currently screening the documentary The City Dark every Tuesday and Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The film highlights the story of light pollution and disappearing night skies.
Solar-viewing opportunities will be available at the Apgar Village Green, 100 yards north of the Apgar Visitor Center, on Wednesday Sunday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Informal solar-viewing opportunities will also be available at the St. Mary and Logan Pass Visitor Centers, weather permitting. Visitors can safely view sun spots and coronal mass ejections through a hydrogen-alpha filtered telescope.
Dark skies, environments undisturbed by light and air pollution, have natural, cultural, and scenic importance. Glacier National Park is home to some of the darkest skies in the world, providing ideal conditions for viewing opportunities while maintaining critical wildlife and plant habitat for species affected by artificial light. A joint effort between Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and Glacier National Park is being initiated for designation of both parks as an International Dark Sky Park/Preserve so all may experience this vanishing resource.
For more information on the astronomy program, view the ranger-led activities schedule by clicking here or contact the park at 406-888-7800.
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New Moon Discovered in Our Solar System [Astronomy]
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The softly glowing zodiac: lesson learned | Bad Astronomy
Every day I post a short, pithy astronomy or space fact on Twitter and Google+. I call them BAFacts, and I have them all archived here on the blog. I try to make them as accurate as possible within the limitation of 140 characters. But I wrote one recently that, as it turns out, I had to retract for being incorrect. And Im happy about it! Heres why.
I recently was going through old posts and saw one that mentioned zodiacal light, a very faint glow in the sky that can only be seen on very dark nights. Its a band of light that follows the path of the planets across the sky, which is technically called the ecliptic. It passes through the constellations of the zodiac, hence its name*.
This picture of the zodiacal light is by friend of the BABlog Brad Goldpaint [click to embiggen, and note this is a part of a larger shot that's breathtaking]. The two bright "stars" are Venus and Jupiter, and you can see the glow from zodiacal light reaching up and to the left, following the ecliptic.
The origin of zodiacal light (when I learned about it, years ago) was thought to be dust from asteroid collisions. Asteroids out past Mars orbit pretty much in the same plane as the planets. When they smack into each other and they do they make dust. This reflects sunlight, so wed see it as a faint band of light across the ecliptic. Case closed!
Of course, regular readers know me better than this. Read on!
So I wrote up a BAFact and tweeted it:
It says, "#BAFact: Zodiacal light is sunlight reflecting dimly on wreckage from asteroid collisions. http://t.co/wZnQBZOY", and the link goes to the article I wrote a while back mentioning zodiacal light.
Once it was up, I went on my merry way for like three minutes. Luke Dones, who follows me on Twitter, tweeted this:
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Summer Astronomy Program Begins at Glacier Park
A citizen-hosted blog focused on the outdoors.
Evening telescope viewing will be available Wednesday through Sunday at the Apgar Transit Center and daily at the St. Mary Visitor Center from 10 p.m. to midnight, weather and sky visibility dependent. The St. Mary Visitor Center is currently screening the documentary The City Dark every Tuesday and Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The film highlights the story of light pollution and disappearing night skies.
Solar-viewing opportunities will be available at the Apgar Village Green, 100 yards north of the Apgar Visitor Center, on Wednesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Informal solar-viewing opportunities will also be available at the St. Mary and Logan Pass visitor centers, weather permitting. Visitors can safely view sun spots and coronal mass ejections through a hydrogen-alpha filtered telescope.
A joint effort between Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and Glacier National Park is being initiated for designation of both parks as an International Dark Sky Park/Preserve.
For more information on the astronomy program, view the ranger-led activities schedule at http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/inforequest/inforequest3.cfm or contact the park at 406-888-7800.
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Asteroid named for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Canadian amateur astronomer has named an asteroid he discovered after U.S. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who died last year in Washington.
Kameny, who earned a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard University, was an astronomer with the U.S. Army Map Service in the 1950s but was fired from his job for being gay. He contested the firing all the way to the Supreme Court and later organized the first gay rights protests outside the White House, the Pentagon and in Philadelphia in the 1960s.
Kameny died last year at age 86.
When astronomer Gary Billings read Kamenys obituary, he consulted with others in the astronomy world. They decided to submit a citation to the Paris-based International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., seeking to designate Minor Planet 40463 as Frankkameny.
Its located in the asteroid belt, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. The Kameny asteroid is visible through a telescope and was first discovered in 1999 using long-exposure photography.
Frank would show up as a little dot that moves between two points, Richard Doc Kinne, an astronomical technologist at the American Association of Variable Star Observers in Cambridge, Mass., said in an interview. He helped write the citation that would lead to the naming.
While comets are often named for their discoverers, those who discover asteroids have 10 years to suggest a name once the discovery is verified. The submission is subject to review by a 15-member international panel, said astronomy historian David DeVorkin at the National Air and Space Museum. Astronomers often use the names as an acknowledgement of someones contributions to science or culture.
A published citation officially naming the asteroid on July 3 notes Kamenys history as a gay rights pioneer.
Frank E. Kameny (1925-2011) trained as a variable star astronomer in the 1950s, but joined the Civil Rights struggle. His contributions included removing homosexuality from being termed a mental disorder in 1973 and shepherding passage of the District of Columbia marriage equality law in 2009, the citation reads in the Minor Planet Circular.
Kinne said he and Billings wanted to honor Kameny for his legacy, even though he was pushed out of the astronomy field.
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Here a Henge, There a Henge: Astronomy Fun on a Street Near You
Here a Henge, There a Henge: Astronomy Fun on a Street Near You
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Here a Henge, There a Henge: Astronomy Fun on a Street Near You
Landmark Toronto Science and Astronomy Superstore Transitioning to Web Sales Exclusively and Focusing on Renewable …
EfstonScience, the Science & Astronomy SuperStore is holding a major Inventory Clearance Sale as it will be moving to an online-only format this Fall.Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) July 10, 2012 EfstonScience has announced plans to close its Science & Astronomy SuperStore located at 3350 Dufferin Street in Toronto, while continuing the operation of its ecommerce store only. ...
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OCEANSIDE: Astronomy buff? Exposition set for Saturday
Star gazers from across Southern California will be treated to an appearance by Geoff Norkin of the Science Channel's "Meteorite Men" at the annual Southern California Astronomy Exposition to be held Saturday at Oceanside Photo & Telescope.
Norton will display meteorite samples and talk about his experiences searching for meteorites.
Also scheduled to participate in the free day-long event is Stephen Ramsden, director of the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project, a nonprofit group that teaches children about the sun through lectures and telescope observations.
The exposition is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Oceanside Photo & Telescope, 918 Mission Ave.
More information is available at http://www.optscae.com
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This desert wants to stay in the dark
Southern Arizona's dark skies established the region as an international hub for astronomy in the 1960s. Observatories and other sky-gazing research facilities have brought prestige and millions of dollars to the state.
Today, riches on the ground or, more specifically, below it also have the potential to enrich the state, resulting in an odd collision between mining and astronomy.
Since 2007, when Rosemont Copper, which is owned by Canada's Augusta Resource Co., announced its plans to build a mine in the desert just south of Tucson, the environmental community has warned that the project will devastate the desert landscape.
But when the mine released its draft environmental impact statement in 2009 and revealed its lighting plan for the mine, another group joined the fray: the International Dark-Sky Assn. and the numerous astronomers whose research and livelihoods depend on the desert's dark skies.
"The [mine's] impact on astronomy is potentially very, very significant," said Scott Kardel, public affairs director of the association, a Tucson-based nonprofit that has worked to preserve and protect the darkness of night skies since 1988.
Because the mine would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, nighttime floodlights required by federal safety requirements could create significant light pollution that would interfere with astronomy.
The site of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine is 12 miles northeast of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, known for its Multiple Mirror Telescope and work in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy.
"The initial lighting estimate of the [mine's] light output was very bad," said Emilio Falco, project director at the Whipple Observatory, which is part of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
According to that initial estimate, the mine's lumen output the measure of the amount of visible light emitted by a source would be 21.7 million lumens, or the equivalent of about 12,000 houses.
The scientific community and the industries that cater to the astronomers were alarmed. In 2007, a study conducted by the University of Arizona estimated that astronomy contributed $250 million annually to the state's economy.
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 270: Inertia – Video
State’s astronomy educational workshops help launch students’ interest in science and beyond
Since were in the middle of a heat wave, it seems like an appropriate time to ask this question. Why is it hot in the summer and cold in the winter?
If youre at a loss for an answer, dont worry, youre not alone.
Riverside Military Academy instructor James Myers says that point was made abundantly clear in a video, "Our Private Universe," that he incorporated into a NASA-funded workshop for educators that he recently facilitated at the University of Georgia.
"It begins by asking a group of Harvard University graduates a few simple science questions that are covered in middle school science and throughout the high school science curriculum," Myers said.
"One of the questions is What causes the seasons. Nearly all (participants) related the cause to the Earths varying distance from the sun rather than the tilt of the Earths axis.
"The point is that many well-educated people do not understand some of the basic facts of science."
One of the reasons why so many people know so little about astronomy is because its largely absent from public education. That is a travesty some say.
"Astronomy can be taught at an elementary level. My 5-year-old granddaughter told me about studying constellations in her pre-school," Myers said.
"Astronomy can also be taught at an advanced level with rigorous mathematics. A friend of mine who directs a planetarium in Kentucky said that all pre-schoolers are very interested in dinosaurs and astronomy.
"An interest in astronomy is native to most all people. A trained teacher can then use that interest in astronomy to teach lots of physics for sure, but also chemistry, history and biology."
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State’s astronomy educational workshops help launch students’ interest in science and beyond