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Category Archives: Astronomy

Sun-tacular

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By submitted ofelia.hunter@aliceechonews.com

By submitted ofelia.hunter@aliceechonews.com

Harley Hampton assisting Martin Sanchez use Solar Spotter Telescope.

Posted: Monday, October 20, 2014 12:42 pm

Sun-tacular By submitted ofelia.hunter@aliceechonews.com Alice Echo-News Journal

The Duval County Public Library in San Diego, Texas hosted a daytime Solar Telescope Lunch Time Viewing program on Saturday, October, 11th for Astronomy enthusiasts. Texas A&M Corpus Christi Professor Galina Reid, an assistant, 6th grader Harley Hampton and library director B. J. Alaniz set up two Coronado Personal Solar Telescopes and a Sun Spotter Telescope in order to safely view the Sun. Each person had the opportunity to look through the telescopes and the use the sun spotter to look for Sun Spots. Reid explained that at first views of the Sun the eyes needed time to adjust to the brightness even through the filtered telescope lenses.

Professor Reid invited those attending to a Sun-tacular presentation using images taken by satellites that have just been in place since the 1990s to capture the solar surface, weather and events. Reid said that surface of the intense sun reaches up to 6,000 degrees compared to solar spots producing a cooler area at 3,000 degrees. To give everyone a perspective of the size of the Sun the professor said: Imagine the Sun as wide across as 12 feet compared to entire Earths size at tiny inch.

Last year, Reids Astronomy students could spot as many at 125 Sun Spots in one day but that now that the eleven year solar cycle is winding down the numbers are going down to as little as one or two each day. During the lowest part of the eleven year solar cycle which is three years, Reid said that the Sun is absent of all sun spots.

New Sun facts and shared 3-D images taken by STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory), two crafts now sending views of both sides of the sun add new knowledge for scientists to study in the field of Astronomy. Professor Reid invited everyone back to waiting telescopes and peering through the equipment, one large sun spot could be seen as well as the movement of snake like lines and waves radiating from around the Suns edges. The Saturday program for all would be memorable earthbound Stargazing voyage.

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Sun-tacular

Astronomy and Astrophotography Telescope PC Control Process Examples. – Video

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Astronomy and Astrophotography Telescope PC Control Process Examples.
Demonstration of basic PC control systems of a telescope. Utilising the free software Cart Du Ceil. This video was filmed during a demonstration of processes from a light polluted environment....

By: Dark Centre

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Astronomy and Astrophotography Telescope PC Control Process Examples. - Video

Astronomer hoping to one day publish her research

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Cory Hurley

Darlene English

Most people look at the night sky, and wonder. Darlene English strives to help uncover some of the mystery.

There are few astronomers in Canada, the Memorial University Grenfell Campus physics lab instructor says, and fewer jobs.

She has a masters degree in astronomy from St. Marys University and years ago worked in Victoria, B.C. as a research assistant. She has dabbled in astronomy over the years as has her husband Doug Forbes, also an astronomer and physics instructor at Grenfell but she now has more than 20 years experience in the field of physics. Despite an eye on the sky, she has had a fulfilling career in Corner Brook.

More than two decades ago, Forbes applied for funding for an observatory at Grenfell. There was no large scale telescope in the province when he arrived here to teach. Grenfells is now the only one, and the largest in Atlantic Canada.

Since spring 2012, English has been able to again focus her spare time on her passion astronomy.

Her research involves a class of variable star known as the SX Phoenicis star. These stars pulsate over time, varying its light. These stars are about 50 per cent larger than the sun, she said, so the fact their radius changes is quite a spectacular phenomenon.

The interest of studying these stars is important in understanding stellar evolution.

How stars are born, what happens when they age, and eventually go through all the life stages, and die, she said.

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Astronomer hoping to one day publish her research

MU to host partial solar eclipse viewing

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The University of Missouris Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a viewing of a partial solar eclipse Thursday afternoon at Laws Observatory.

Angela Speck, professor of astrophysics and director of astronomy, said in a news release that the partial eclipse begins at 4:40 p.m., with maximum coverage occurring around 5:45 p.m. Speck reminded people to refrain from viewing the eclipse with the naked eye. The event is free and open to the public.

The University of Missouris Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a viewing of a partial solar eclipse Thursday afternoon at Laws Observatory.

Angela Speck, professor of astrophysics and director of astronomy, said in a news release that the partial eclipse begins at 4:40 p.m., with maximum coverage occurring around 5:45 p.m. Speck reminded people to refrain from viewing the eclipse with the naked eye. The event is free and open to the public.

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MU to host partial solar eclipse viewing

Astronomy Update: Small craft will attempt to ride a comet

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Editors note: Astronomy Update is published on the third Saturday of the month and provided by the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society and the L.E. Phillips Planetarium. It is compiled by Lauren Likkel of the UW-Eau Claire physics and astronomy department.

Ten years ago a rocket carried a spacecraft called Rosetta into space.

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Astronomy Update: Small craft will attempt to ride a comet

Astronomer Jonathan Lunine wins Cassini medal

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Oct. 14, 2014

For his exemplary research in planetary science, Cornell astronomy professor Jonathan Lunine will be awarded the prestigious Jean-Dominique Cassini Medal by the European Geosciences Union, the group announced Oct. 13. He will be the medals 10th recipient and the first American-born scientist to receive the medal. The ceremony will take place in Vienna, Austria, in April 2015.

Im thrilled to receive this medal, and it is quite humbling to join such a distinguished group of scientists who received the award before me, said Lunine, Cornells David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and director of the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research. This is a confirmation of how closely U.S. and European scientists work together.

Upon hearing the news, Cornell astronomy chair Terry Herter said: Im very pleased for Jonathan, as this is a much-deserved honor. For years he has been renowned internationally for his research and his role in the global astronomy community.

The European Geosciences Union is dedicated to excellence in the geosciences, planetary and space sciences for the benefit of humanity. It was established in the September 2002 merger of the European Geophysical Society and the European Union of Geosciences and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.

The Jean-Dominique Cassini Medal is for scientists who have achieved exceptional international standing in planetary and space sciences for their merit and scientific achievements. It is named for Jean-Dominique Cassini, an Italian-born, 17th-century French astronomer who found the gap between Saturns rings now called the Cassini Division and discovered four of Saturns moons.

Lunines work spans planetary science, theoretical astrophysics and astrobiology. He is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments, such as methane lakes, might host chemistry sophisticated enough to be called life. He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions.

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Astronomer Jonathan Lunine wins Cassini medal

Wobbling of a Saturn moon hints at what lies beneath

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Using instruments aboard the Cassini spacecraft to measure the wobbles of Mimas, the closest of Saturn's regular moons, a Cornell University astronomer publishing in Science, Oct. 17, has inferred that this small moon's icy surface cloaks either a rugby ball-shaped rocky core or a sloshing sub-surface ocean.

"After carefully examining Mimas, we found it librates - that is, it subtly wobbles - around the moon's polar axis," Radwan Tajeddine, Cornell research associate in astronomy and lead author of the article.

"In physical terms, the back-and-forth wobble should produce about 3 kilometers of surface displacement. Instead we observed an unexpected 6 kilometers of surface displacement," he said.

"We're very excited about this measurement because it may indicate much about the satellite's insides. Nature is essentially allowing us to do the same thing that a child does when she shakes a wrapped gift in hopes of figuring out what's hidden inside," Tajeddine said.

The astronomy team used a technique called stereo-photogrammetry to interpret images taken by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem to measure the libration.

In this technique, astronomers employ Cassini photographs of Mimas taken at different times and from various vantage points to build precise 3-D computer models of the locations of hundreds of surface reference points. From these, the researchers determined the moon's shape and were able to notice that the satellite didn't rotate smoothly but rocked back and forth a bit as well.

The amount of the to-and-fro motion indicates that Mimas' interior is not uniform. These wobbles can be produced if the moon contains a weirdly shaped, rocky core or if a sub-surface ocean exists beneath its icy shell.

Mimas is about 400 kilometers in diameter, and its possible internal global ocean is located under an icy crust ranging in thickness between 25 and 30 kilometers.

The moon itself is thought to have been formed either by the slow agglomeration of ring particles (a gradual buildup of matter) or direct growth within the primordial planetary gas nebula. The odd-shaped core would favor gravitational flattening by nearby Saturn, Tajeddine said. The moon's relatively smooth and roughly spherical icy surface covers up whatever is underneath.

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Wobbling of a Saturn moon hints at what lies beneath

Discovery Of Benesov Meteorites 20 Years After The Bolide Event

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October 15, 2014

Image Caption: Image of the Beneov bolide, taken by the fish-eye guided camera at Ondejov Observatory. Its apparent magnitude was -22 (6000 times brighter than the -12.6 apparent magnitude of the full Moon)

Provided by Dr. Jennifer Martin, Astronomy & Astrophysics

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the spectacular discovery of meteorite fragments 20 years after the corresponding bolide was seen in the skies of the Czech Republic. This discovery was made possible by reanalyzing the trajectory, which moved the impact line by 330 meters. Interestingly, the meteorites found on the ground are of different types, pointing to a parent asteroid of heterogeneous composition.

Collisions of meter-sized meteoroids with the Earths atmosphere are relatively rare, occurring about 40 times a year. They cause very spectacular events, known as superbolides. One of the best known such events, the Beneov bolide, occurred on 7 May 1991 at 23h 03m 46s UT over the Czech Republic. It was recorded during systematic photographic observations by the European Fireball Network and certainly ended in a multiple meteorite fall, but no meteorite was found in the weeks and years after the fall, despite many attempts.

In February 2011, nearly 20 years after the event, P. Spurn and his colleagues [1] measured the records again and analyzed the data with improved methods. This led to a new picture of the whole event with a revised atmospheric trajectory and a new impact location. This allowed the team to recover the Beneov meteorites, 20 years after the fall, exactly in the newly predicted area. It is the first time a meteorite is found so long after the bolide observation. The team found four small, highly-weathered meteorites with a total mass of 12 g. The probability that these four fragments come from different meteoroids and were found by chance at the same place is estimated to be 1 in 100,000 or less. Even more interestingly, these four meteorites are of three different mineralogical types. This means that the Beneov meteoroid was heterogeneous and contained at least three different types of material. After the Almahata Sitta fall, this is the second time that such a heterogeneous composition has been found. It raises the possibility that a significant fraction of all asteroids are heterogeneous and that they were strongly reprocessed by collisions with other asteroids in the main belt.

Reanalysis of the Beneov bolide and recovery of polymict breccia meteorites old mystery solved after 20 years, by P. Spurn, J. Haloda, J. Borovika, L. Shrben, and P. Halodov

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2014, 570, A39

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Discovery Of Benesov Meteorites 20 Years After The Bolide Event


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