Daily Archives: May 1, 2022

Jim Lemons, 65, has always been up for a challenge. Armed with a career in nuclear engineering and a love for the outdoors, he has worked on space shuttles, volunteered as a scuba diver at the Tennessee Aquarium, gone on RV trips with his wife across the continent and paddled on multi-day camping trips on the Green and Colorado rivers in Utah.

Now, he can add amateur astronomy photographer to his list of accomplishments.

Like many others, Lemons found the stillness of the pandemic a perfect time to try a new hobby. Lemons had always had an interest in astronomy, but he hadn't had time to pursue it until COVID hit.

Around Christmastime last year, his son-in-law mentioned a friend in Pensacola trying to sell off a collection of astronomy equipment that he could no longer use.

"I thought, 'Well, here's my opportunity to get what I need,' which turned out to be pretty naive," Lemons says.

From his son-in-law's friend, Lemons bought an 11-inch Celestron telescope. And not long after, "I realized I'd bit off a little bit more than I could chew," he says.

After doing online research, Lemons realized he had inadvertently bought a telescope that was not for novices.

"When a person's starting out, you really want a wide-angle, low magnification telescope that's easy to focus and image these large objects," says Lemons. "And I'd gone out and bought the worst possible telescope for a beginner to buy."

Due to its high magnification capabilities, his Celestron was better suited for viewing planets, which were closer than the deep-space objects Lemons was interested in like the gas and matter expelled from exploding stars, known as supernova remnants, and galaxies.

He quickly learned that the Celestron alone wouldn't do. In addition to the telescope, he'd need a proper camera, special equipment to help him focus on deep-space objects, plus a camera mount to help take quality, long-exposure shots.

"I thought you'd take a picture as you would with a camera and you might need to take a long exposure because it's a faint object, but you'd take one and be done. That turned out to not be the case," says Lemons.

In order to take quality pictures of celestial objects, the photographer has to take many pictures sometimes 200-300 over the course of anywhere from four to six hours. Then, those photos must be processed using special software in Lemons' case, AstroPixel to clean up the photos and ultimately, create a composite image by digitally stacking the pictures on top of each other.

The first time he got out there with all of his equipment, Lemons tried to photograph the Orion Nebula, one of the brightest of its kind in the Milky Way, south of Orion's belt. But it didn't quite go according to plan. His pictures were missing depth and had a lot of unwanted brightness in them.

"It was terrible," he says. "It was pretty depressing."

Over time, though, the more he practiced at his home in Soddy-Daisy, capturing targets several times a week and learning about astrophotography, the better he got at it.

He'll never forget the first time he got a good image of the Orion Nebula and remembers saying, "Holy crap, it works!"

Now, his favorite objects to photograph are still nebulae, which can appear as colorful clouds of dust and gas, often the result of new stars beginning to form or old stars dying. He says he particularly enjoys the side-by-side Christmas Tree cluster and Cone Nebula, comprising a cluster of young stars shaped like a Christmas tree close to the nebula.

When he's shooting, he averages around two hours for observation of his targets. He sets up his telescope just before dark, makes sure it is polar aligned so that the telescope knows where it's pointing, initiates the camera and begins taking pictures, controlling most of the process from his tablet.

"I just like doing activities and adventures outside, and astronomy gives me another excuse to be outside under the beautiful nighttime starry skies," he says.

For those interested in astronomy but unable or unwilling to pay for equipment, the Jones Observatory at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga might be able to help. Located at 10 Tuxedo Ave., the Jones Observatory is free to the public and offers breathtaking views of Saturn, Mars and other planetary and solar bodies through its telescope, along with a program that lets people visit their planetarium and enjoy a presentation about astronomy. While the Jones Observatory does not do much with astrophotography, the Barnard Astronomical Society of Chattanooga does and might be a resource for those interested in getting started with the topic. For more information on the Jones Observatory, reach out to Jack Pitkin at 423-425-4518 or via email at jack-pitkin@utc.edu. Please note that due to COVID, the observatory is currently only open to small groups and UTC-affiliated individuals. For more information about the Barnard Astronomical Society, visit barnardastronomy.org.

Stargazing Makes a Comeback

Last year on Christmas Day, NASA launched its James Webb telescope, replacing the Hubble, which had first debuted more than 30 years prior. The new telescope is more powerful and can see further into space, and those capabilities are perhaps helping pique interest in astronomy and astrophotography, says Bill Floyd, flight director at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Challenger Center, which teaches students STEM subjects through hands-on, often space-related programs.

Chattanooga hobbyist astronomer Mark Whittle has also noticed an increased interest in astrophotography, particularly during the pandemic. Every major astronomy equipment distributor, Whittle says including his favorite, Astronomics was sending out notices to customers that they were selling out of stock.

"During the pandemic, so many people were buying telescopes, they were sold out for months," he says.

Whittle says that while he helped a few families trying to find telescopes during the pandemic, he thinks the popularity may wane.

"It seems like it became a popular hobby for those stuck at home, but I don't think it will continue as I think expectations exceeded reality," he says.

Whittle warns that those who may want to take up astronomy as a hobby but are expecting to see the same things they see in astrophotographs, might be disappointed.

"Other than a few bright objects, seeing details require patience and more than a casual glance through a telescope's eyepiece. It can be a disappointing experience if you are expecting to see the same detail as a photograph."

How much does an astrophotography setup cost? Here's a look at what Jim Lemons spent to get started.

> (Used) 11-inch Celestron cassegrain telescope, a type of reflecting telescope that uses a primary concave and secondary convex mirror in its design: $1,700

> (On sale) Primary camera, used for photographing celestial objects; specialized equipment may be needed to enhance its performance: $1,800

> HyperStar focal reducer, reduces focal length and increases lens speed, which can help reduce exposure time: $1,300

> Auto focuser, helps to get a cleaner image: $200

> Mount, stabilizes the telescope: $1,700

> Guide scope and secondary camera, improves tracking accuracy: $350

> AstroPixel, software used for creating crisp, composite images of astronomical targets after photos are transferred to a computer: $225

> Dew heater, reduces the effects of dew on equipment: $200

> Filters, improve detail and enhance contrast of objects pictured: $900

> Parts to convert scope, alters the field of view of the telescope: $1,500

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'Holy crap, it works!': How a Soddy-Daisy man learned to photograph the heavens - Chattanooga Times Free Press

If a person is lost in the wilderness, they have two options. They can search for civilization, or they could make themselves easy to spot by building a fire or writing HELP in big letters. For scientists interested in the question of whether intelligent aliens exist, the options are much the same.

For over 70 years, astronomers have been scanning for radio or optical signals from other civilizations in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, called SETI. Most scientists are confident that life exists on many of the 300 million potentially habitable worlds in the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers also think there is a decent chance some life forms have developed intelligence and technology. But no signals from another civilization have ever been detected, a mystery that is called The Great Silence.

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While SETI has long been a part of mainstream science, METI, or messaging extraterrestrial intelligence, has been less common.

Im a professor of astronomy who has written extensively about the search for life in the universe. I also serve on the advisory council for a nonprofit research organization thats designing messages to send to extraterrestrial civilizations.

In the coming months, two teams of astronomers are going to send messages into space in an attempt to communicate with any intelligent aliens who may be out there listening.

These efforts are like building a big bonfire in the woods and hoping someone finds you. But some people question whether it is wise to do this at all.

Early attempts to contact life off Earth were quixotic messages in a bottle.

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In 1972, NASA launched the Pioneer 10 spacecraft toward Jupiter carrying a plaque with a line drawing of a man and a woman and symbols to show where the craft originated. In 1977, NASA followed this up with the famous Golden Record attached to the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

These spacecraft as well as their twins, Pioneer 11 and Voyager 2 have now all left the solar system. But in the immensity of space, the odds that these or any other physical objects will be found are fantastically minuscule.

Electromagnetic radiation is a much more effective beacon.

Astronomers beamed the first radio message designed for alien ears from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in 1974. The series of 1s and 0s was designed to convey simple information about humanity and biology and was sent toward the globular cluster M13. Since M13 is 25,000 light-years away, you shouldnt hold your breath for a reply.

In addition to these purposeful attempts at sending a message to aliens, wayward signals from television and radio broadcasts have been leaking into space for nearly a century. This ever-expanding bubble of earthly babble has already reached millions of stars. But there is a big difference between a focused blast of radio waves from a giant telescope and diffuse leakage the weak signal from a show like I Love Lucy fades below the hum of radiation left over from the Big Bang soon after it leaves the solar system.

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Nearly half a century after the Arecibo message, two international teams of astronomers are planning new attempts at alien communication. One is using a giant new radio telescope, and the other is choosing a compelling new target.

One of these new messages will be sent from the worlds largest radio telescope, in China, sometime in 2023. The telescope, with a 1,640-foot (500-meter) diameter, will beam a series of radio pulses over a broad swath of sky. These on-off pulses are like the 1s and 0s of digital information.

The message is called The Beacon in the Galaxy and includes prime numbers and mathematical operators, the biochemistry of life, human forms, the Earths location and a time stamp. The team is sending the message toward a group of millions of stars near the center of the Milky Way galaxy, about 10,000 to 20,000 light-years from Earth. While this maximizes the pool of potential aliens, it means it will be tens of thousands of years before Earth may get a reply.

The other attempt is targeting only a single star, but with the potential for a much quicker reply. On Oct. 4, 2022, a team from the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in England will beam a message toward the star TRAPPIST-1. This star has seven planets, three of which are Earth-like worlds in the so-called Goldilocks zone meaning they could be home to liquid and potentially life, too. TRAPPIST-1 is just 39 light-years away, so it could take as few as 78 years for intelligent life to receive the message and Earth to get the reply.

The prospect of alien contact is ripe with ethical questions, and METI is no exception.

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The first is: Who speaks for Earth? In the absence of any international consultation with the public, decisions about what message to send and where to send it are in the hands of a small group of interested scientists.

But there is also a much deeper question. If you are lost in the woods, getting found is obviously a good thing. When it comes to whether humanity should be broadcasting a message to aliens, the answer is much less clear-cut.

Before he died, iconic physicist Stephen Hawking was outspoken about the danger of contacting aliens with superior technology. He argued that they could be malign and if given Earths location, might destroy humanity. Others see no extra risk, since a truly advanced civilization would already know of our existence. And there is interest. Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner has offered $1 million for the best design of a new message and an effective way to transmit it.

To date, no international regulations govern METI, so the experiments will continue, despite concerns.

For now, intelligent aliens remain in the realm of science fiction. Books like The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu offer somber and thought-provoking perspectives on what the success of METI efforts might look like. It doesnt end well for humanity in the books. If humans ever do make contact in real life, I hope the aliens come in peace.

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Also Read | Satellite imagery: How eyes in the sky can change the way we help refugees

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Anybody out there? Astronomers set to send messages into space - EastMojo

HD80606b. L extrasolar planet Those planets that orbit a star other than our Sun lie in the foreground of the constellation Ursa Major, 190 light-years away from us. This giant gas is classified In the category of Hot JupitersShe is, however, a needle rather a fine dust in the haystack that is the universe.

However it is this is that James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Her instruments should be pointing toward October for one of her first observations. Departing on December 25, the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space arrived a month later at its observation center, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, calibrated from its instruments before it was fully operational. Not before six months, It was expected at launchto me European Space Agency (ESA).

With its infrared vision, JWST could allow for significant advances, particularly to learn more about the habitability of exoplanets. Thats why Hubbles older brother is interested in the HD80606b. Astronomers want to study its atmosphere to better understand the meteorological phenomena present there, Bruno Gillette, an instructor and researcher in applied physics at the University of Caen-Normandy, said that day. (GREYC Lab)Astronomy enthusiasts at night from his garden.

The observation will lead to a scholarly article in which Bruno Gillet should be mentioned. Yes Yes. Because Caennais contributed to her success, on her own scale, with other hobbyists from around the world. Scientists will want to monitor HD80606b as it transits, when an exoplanet passes between us and its star, he explains. Frank Marches, French-American astronomerresearcher in City Institute and scientific director Unistellar, company of Marseille Who designs digital telescopes. With HD80606b, we know that transits happen every 111 days. But astronomers who wanted to observe it needed more detail to better prepare this observation and avoid directing the JWST two hours prematurely or too late, continues Bruno Gillette. In November through NASA watching an exoplanet, a participatory science program of the US Space Agency, asked amateur astronomers to observe the transit of HD80606b to determine its ephemeris, how long it takes, etc. Caennais present answered with other buffs from all over the world. It was last December 7, he says.

The perfect illustration of what amateur astronomers can bring, by Frank Marches. He says, In many cases, it is also very useful to have a network of small, mobile telescopes located everywhere in the world. It is always a guarantee that someone will be there to observe an unprecedented event. And to pre-make the task of professional telescopes. This is the whole purpose of Unistellar digital telescopes, which are ideal for citizen science. All you have to do is enter the celestial coordinates of the object you want to observe so the telescope will automatically point in that direction, continues Frank Marches. You can be a complete novice and very quickly make great feedback.

Since its launch in 2016, Unistellar has gradually built a community of 5,000 enthusiasts, of whom Bruno Guillet is one of the most active members. Last year, this community made 413 observations of exoplanets, including one observation located more than 2,700 light-years away, Unistellar said.

Again, the idea is to help scientists. In April 2018, NASA launched into orbit TESS, a space telescope too, dedicated to the search for exoplanets. It is not easy because these planets are so close to their star that their light is completely immersed in it. To do that, Tess discovers and watches its passage, At the moment we will see the shadow of the orb forming and the luminous intensity of its star decreases, making it easier to observe. But one observation is not enough to prove the existence of an exoplanet before our eyes. We have to note other transits, which Tess doesnt have time to makeunlike amateur astronomers, points out Frank Marches. Thus the space telescope has identified nearly 10,000 possible exoplanets, including 5,000 that have been confirmed later. Do the same. The thing for the other half.This careful work also indirectly benefits JWST, as the telescope will be pointed at the most interesting exoplanets that Tess has spotted.

Instructor-Researcher in Applied Physics at the University of Caen by day, Bruno Gillette wears an amateur astronomers hat by night and collaborates on participatory science projects. ? / Photo Bruno Guillet

Frank Marches believes that other similar contributions from amateurs to JWSTs success can follow. One certainty: Telescope time on James Webb will be very valuable because the demand is strong, as Frank Marshes points out. No doubt wasting time by pointing it, say, two hours too early toward an exoplanet that has not yet begun its transit.

While waiting for the needs to become clearer, amateur astronomers already have a lot to do with ongoing participatory science programs. Until early May, Unistellar invites its community to point its telescopes at it Comet C / 2021 O3. at Oort cloud, At 100,000 AU from us (very, very far away), its currently passing through our solar system and likely visible throughout May, notes Frank Marches. Not only should the spectacle be dazzling, but it would also be scientifically interesting to observe the comets behavior. As it approaches our Sun, the collected data will be sent to the Seti Institute, which hopes to learn more about the comets internal composition.

In addition to exoplanets, the other big hobby of the interstellar community 395 observations last year is observing asteroids. At a specific moment, when they find themselves between us and their star, Frank Marches identifies. From Earth, we can then see the shadow of the asteroid, which makes it possible to better determine its size and shape. Very useful information for the success of space missions. Especially thatLucy probe, which departed on October 16 To visit an asteroid in the main belt (between Mars and Jupiter) there will be in 2025 then seven Trojan asteroids on Jupiter. It will pass relatively quickly over these objects, so NASA needs as much information as possible to improve its trajectory, to know when to point this or that instrument on an interesting part of the asteroid, says Frank Marches.

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Amateur astronomers will also contribute to the telescope's discoveries - theinformant.co.nz

For all of human history until 1959, the far side of the Moon was invisible to our eyes. The Moon rotates once every time it orbits the Earth once, and this synchrony keeps one side of the Moon pointed toward us and the other forever pointed away.

But then the Soviet Union sent the Luna 3 spacecraft into orbit around the Moon, and for the first time we got a glimpse of the landscape that until then was synonymous with mysterious and hidden. It was shocking: It was completely unlike the near side! The side we can see has two major components: Rough, cratered highlands, and smoother, much darker low areas, the latter created from lava flowing across the surface. These look like bodies of water from Earth, so they are called maria (singular; mare), meaning seas.

But the far side has only a single, small mare, and the rest is completely covered in craters. Years later, as technology improved, other differences were found. The near side has much more of the elements thorium and titanium than the far side, as well as whats called KREEP terrane: That stands for potassium (the symbol for which is K), rare-Earth elements, and phosphorus. Eventually it was discovered that the crust on the far side is much thicker than on the near side as well.

Over the years some pretty clever ideas have been proposed to explain this. One is that after a Mars-sized protoplanet whacked the Earth hard enough to blast enough material into orbit to coalesce and form the Moon, it actually formed two moons; a big primary one and a smaller one. The second one eventually impacted the Moon, forming the thicker crust on the far side. Another is that when the Moon formed it was so close to Earth that the still-hot-from-the-giant-impact planet heated it, causing material to flow around to the Moons far side and condense, thickening the crust. In both cases this is then linked to more volcanism on the near side, which changed the elemental abundances.

A new idea has just been published, though, that is fairly different: The planetary scientists implicate a massive impact on the Moon itself that was so huge it changed the way the Moons hot mantle flowed, creating the difference in hemispheres surface mineral composition [link to paper].

In the southern part of the lunar far side is an immense basin, called the South Pole-Aitken (or SPA) basin, the result of an impact so huge it staggers the imagination. Its approximately 2,500 kilometers across over half the width of the United States! The impact that caused it must have been simply apocalyptic. Its one of the largest impact basins in the solar system.

In the new work, the scientists wondered if this enormous event could somehow be related to the near/far side chemical difference. The timing was about right; the impact occurred roughly 4.3 billion years ago, around the time the maria started repaving the lunar near side. The material brought up in the maria volcanism came from the Moons mantle, the hot fluid rock beneath the crust, so the scientists focused their attention there.

Using physical models of heat flow through the Moon after the impact, they simulated different scenarios after the giant SPA impact. What they found is pretty interesting: Under pretty much any realistic conditions, the impact generated a vast plume of heat that moved through the Moons interior, changing the way the mantle flowed.

A huge pulse of heat would have moved to the opposite side of the Moon technically, the antipode and sequestered a lot of KREEP there. Potassium has an isotope thats radioactive, and other radioactive elements such as thorium and uranium are associated with KREEP material as well. This would have heated the underside of the crust there, which led to a lot a lot of volcanism. This spot on the Moon is in the sprawling Oceanus Procellarum, a very large mare in the lunar northwest thats the most obvious lunar feature you can see by eye on the full Moon. This region is known for having a lot more thorium and titanium (which is also associated with KREEP), so that fits.

Not much later, about 3.9 billion years ago, another huge impact blasted out Mare Imbrium, one of the last of the giant impacts on the Moon. That too let loose a lot of KREEPy stuff from under the surface, further modifying the surface.

This is still hypothetical, but the science fits, and I have to say it doesnt involve any special circumstances; we know the South Pole-Aitken basin exists, and was big enough to affect the entire Moon. Thats an added benefit on top of the idea of the physics working out as well; scientists like hypotheses that use what we already know and dont ask for any one-off occurrences. The hypothesis is agnostic about the difference in crustal thickness, though its possible some other physics was involved that could lead to that as well.

A lot of this evidence, like KREEP minerals, was discovered during the Apollo era exploration of the Moon, and of course this entire idea was started by the Soviet orbiter missions. We still dont really understand the Moons origin and evolution over the past 4.4 or so billion years, but were about to embark on a new age of lunar exploration. What else are we about to learn?

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Bad Astronomy | Huge impact at the Moon's south pole may have repaved its surface - Syfy