President: David Fields



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ORION Trapezium

January 14, 2012 Volume 2, Issue 1

Monthly Newsletter of ORION Astronomy Club


Who are we:
ORION was founded in April, 1974, by a group of scientists at the United States Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Our original goal was to perform correlated, instrumented observations of atmospheric and astrophysical phenomena. Since then, we have expanded in many directions, including optical and radio astronomy and instrument design / construction.
Future Events:
 ORION Meeting to be held at 1900 H (7 PM) on Wed. February 1st at
Venue: The Historic Grove Theater on Randolph Road, Grove Center Oak
Topic: TBA
Abstract: TBA
Speaker: TBA

Vitae: TBA



  • TAO Public Stargaze

Dates:

Saturday, January 21st 2012

Saturday, February 4th 2012

Where: Tamke-Allan Observatory (TAO), Rockwood, TN, 37748, USA

GPS: 35.80 North, 84.62 West

Time: 7:00 pm - 12:00 am

7:30 PM Program: TBA



Notes: ORION people are invited to arrive early with telescopes to prepare for evening viewing and share snacks. Bring a telescope, red flashlight, and munchies. First time visitors drive out before dark!

Map: http://www.roanestate.edu/obs/visit.htm




Mailing Address: ORION

P.O. Box 7114

Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Email to: noahhaverkamp@yahoo.com

This is your newsletter. Your submissions are due by the 14th of the month to be considered for publication.


Note from the President and Editor:


The ORION newsletter has been published on a monthly basis since 1974. The first one was just the "ORION Newsletter". This was supplemented by the "ORION ONION" in 1977, which signaled a shift to broader scientific topics; then in about 2000 we returned to the name "ORION Newsletter" for a broader content of borrowed news items. In 2011, we started the "ORION Trapezium", which focused more on writeups by ORION members about local events (ORION, TAO, public outreach, stargazes, conferences, etc.). With the Trapezium we are trying to have more articles by the membership and fewer articles copied from other publications. Last month we published the final issue of Vol. 1 of The ORION Trapezium, Vol. 1. Today's issue, for January, 2012, is Vol. 2, Number 1 of the ORION Trapezium.
Please help us by sending your contributions.










President’s Perspective for January, 2012 (Life on other Worlds) David Fields


The Drake Equation is designed to let us calculate the likelihood that we may communicate with life on other planets by listening for their signals using sensitive radio receivers. It has been proposed that in addition to the usual factors that appear in the Drake Equation, a moon is necessary for planetary climate stability. If that were true, then a moon might be important for the evolution of life. The latest studies of stability (by Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California) indicate that planetary climate can be fairly stable even without moons. So life on other planets is possible, even without the gravitational influence of a moon.



In addition to Earth, there are 7 or 8 other planets in our solar system. (I like to include Pluto, so I usually count 8 other planets) The latest findings by the Kepler Satellite confirm the existence of planets around other stars. Some, like planet Kepler 22B, are about the same size and temperature as our own home planet!

Can we solve the Drake Equation, and calculate the probability for communicating with civilizations on planets around distant stars? This is not so easy, because we don’t know enough about the important factors. Wikipedia defines the Drake equation this way:


N = R* times fp times ne times fl times fi times fc times L, where

N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;

R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy;

fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets;

ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets;

fl = the fraction of those planets that actually go on to develop life at some point;

fi = the fraction of the above fraction that actually go on to develop intelligent life;

fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space; and

L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
Some of these factors are difficult to estimate, and it’s too difficult to discuss here. But nothing is said in the Drake Equation about the necessity of planets having moons in order to have climate stability and evolve living creatures. It appears that Frank Drake’s equation is correct: a moon is indeed not necessary for life to evolve and develop. But there are other unknown factors in the Drake Equation. There is more scientific work necessary to evaluate those seven factors listed above. (Photo by ORION member Roy Morrow)


J
Thanks to Paul Lewis of UT Knoxville for starting 2012 by presenting members and visitors to the January 4 ORION meeting with an excellent program on the Voyager Missions. Voyager I and II were spacecraft launched in the 1970’s with a primary goal of exploring the outer reaches of our solar system. Both of these space probes surprised and delighted the scientific community by exposing the richness and diversity of our planetary system. The power source for these missions (the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) used plutonium from Oak Ridge, and they continue to operate after more than 35 years in the cold of space.

After providing the scientific community with the first distant photos showing earth and its moon, and with a set of outer planet photos that were astounding in their beauty, the Voyagers were expected to be turned off. Fortunately, some instruments




anuary 4 meeting of ORION – The Voyager Missions, by Paul Lewis David Fields


were not turned off, and the Voyagers are still transmitting the surprises of the Heliopause. The Heliopause is the boundary between solar wind and interstellar space. They have recently provided the first detection of the ultraviolet radiation (Lyman alpha) from excited hydrogen atoms in distant stars. This radiation is usually overpowered by high levels of similar wavelengths from our sun.

In addition to its scientific missions, the Voyages carried a metalized gold-plated record that contained recorded images and sounds from earth. They also carried a playback cartridge




The first surprising photos were of the outer planets, all larger than earth, and all replete with molecules that we know primarily as gases. Jupiter, for example (left photo), presented an active atmosphere with violent weather and the shadows of some of its many moons.

The photo on the right shows Paul Lewis being welcomed to ORION and receiving a present of an ORION coffee cup from President David Fields, who teaches Astronomy at Roane State Community College. Vice President John Mannone also received a gift from David: a copy of “Murmurs of Earth”, a book by Carl Sagan that contains the story of the golden record attached to the outside of the Voyager Spacecraft. This is a photo of the record, which carries information about earth and its culture.




ORION meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM in the Historic Grove Theater in Grove Center, Oak Ridge. (ORION photos are by ORION photographer Jim Golden, while others are public NASA photos.)

WHAT’S UP IN JANUARY Roy Morrow
Winter observing is sometimes not for the “softies”, as temperatures will often dip below freezing and become even colder in the early morning hours. Observers and imagers need to dress accordingly and stay on task by not retreating to a warm room to ease a small amount of discomfort. The dedicated ones may go to places like Look Rock on the Foothills Parkway. These sites offer good dark sky conditions but there is no retreat to a warm room and sometimes snow will limit access.
In East Tennessee winter clear skies are a rarity, but often after a front passes we can experience low humidity, clear skies and good seeing. Observers must be patient, watch the Clear Sky Clock and be ready to go. The nights are long in the winter with many observing hours and observers must be on site early to set-up while there is still some light.
January offers some great planet viewing with Jupiter blazing directly overhead with the four Galilean moons visible in binoculars and offering great viewing opportunities with small telescopes. Jupiter was at its brightest (-2.8) and loomed largest (48” across) in December but will still offer spectacular observing opportunities in January.
Saturn rises before 1 a.m. and can be observed halfway up the southeastern sky at dawn. Venus shines like a beacon in the Southwest at mag -4 and on January 26 will be in conjunction with an early phase moon! Mars is in Leo in the early morning hours.
Deep sky objects visible with binoculars and small telescopes include a variety of beautiful open clusters. Early in the evening, do not miss the Double Cluster (NGC 869 and 884) in Perseus and adjacent to Cassiopeia. I enjoy observing the orange-yellow stars embedded in the field of white stars. Large scopes will reveal hundreds of stars in these “twins”.



Double Cluster in Perseus, Borg 101mm scope, 4m Canon T2i Camera
The Pleiades (M45) are a beautiful sight with the unaided eye, binoculars, and both small wide field and large telescopes. Under good sky conditions I have observed the nebulosity around the bright stars with the 12” Meade at TAO. M45 is quite photogenic with long exposure images showing the blue reflection nebulosity around this cluster.
Do not miss the open clusters in Auriga M36, 37, and 38. All of these clusters are great binocular objects and are striking to observe with a moderate size telescope. While in the area do not miss M35 in Gemini.
Perhaps the most spectacular deep sky object in the Northern skies is M 42, the Great Orion Nebula. This massive star forming region is easily seen with the naked eye and is spectacular in binoculars and telescopes of all sizes. This stellar nursery is a strong H-alpha emitter as the hydrogen atoms are excited by the intense ultra-violet light from the imbedded hot young stars.




M42 Great Orion Nebula, Borg 101mm scope, 45s Canon T2i camera
M42 is an astroimagers delight and may be the most imaged object in our skies. The image above is a 3 min exposure of M42 taken at my observatory in the Arizona Sky Village this past November.
Just to the Southeast of Alnitak, the bottom star in Orion’s belt, lies a very challenging object to image much less to observe. The Horsehead nebula (B44) is silhouetted against the red emission nebula IC 434. A four minute exposure with the 101 mm f4 Borg refractor is shown below.



IC434 and B44 the Horsehead Nebula in Orion., Borg 101 mm scope, 10 m Canon T21camera.

Alnitak is the very bright star in the image with the Horsehead nebula seen as the small dark area below. Look carefully and you can see it! The bright area to the left of Alnitak is NGC 2024 known as the Flame Nebula


For galaxy observers, M31 the Andromeda galaxy and M33 the Pinwheel galaxy in Triangulum can be seen in the early evening hours. At 2.4 million light years, M31 is the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye. M33 is large with a low surface brightness and good views will require darker skies.
The rewards of winter observing will help overcome the cold toes and fingers… Wait for a good clear night with low humidity and go for it!

Demise of the Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars Mission David Fields
(Editor’s Note: This article is largely outdated. However, it is still informative and if you receive the Trapezium today (Jan. 14th) you will still be able to follow the probe’s demise)

This impressive launch photo from November 8, 2011 shows the beginning of what has become the greatest (admitted) disappointment of the Russian space program. Friday evening will be our last chance to see the Russian Mars Mission, Phobos-Grunt probe in the skies over Oak Ridge. It will probably fall to earth on Monday, January 16 after spending slightly over two months in orbit.


Although the launch appeared perfect, the most ambitious unmanned space mission ever launched from Russia will fall from the sky within the next week. As has been discussed on a couple of occasions at TAO, this was planned as a complex sample return mission from the Martian moon Phobos. Along with the impressive nighttime launch went, as depicted in the graphic shown below, an Earth orbiter, an interplanetary probe, a detachable lunar lander, a sample collection system, a return interplanetary probe, and a trans-atmospheric sample return craft to bring pieces of Phobos to Russian laboratories.



The Russian technology failed in the earth orbiter phase of the mission, leaving the interplanetary probe and downstream functions more or less dead in earth orbit. A few encouraging signals were received, but control with the earth orbiter was lost.

The following photos show the orbiting probe (left) and (right) the mission components:

The last opportunity to see Phobos-Grunt will be on Friday Jan. 13. Calculations are made for viewing from Tamke-Allan Observatory, near Rockwood, Tennessee.




Friday 13 January 2012




Time (24-hour clock)


Object (Link)

Event

19h01m25s

(37872 2011-065-A)
→Ground track → S Star chart

Appears      18h59m24s   5.4mag  az:210.2° S SSW  horizon
Disappears   19h01m25s   2.7mag  az:188.2° S    h:12.6°
Time uncertainty of at least 3 seconds. Calculated basbased on observations on  9. Jan 2012 12:14 EST.

The orbit is decaying because of friction with the Earth’s atmosphere. The predicted decay time is 16 Jan 2012 0:40 UTC

Here is the evolution of the predicted decay time from the initial failure, to the predicted final decay:


There is more than a day uncertainty in the prediction of final decay, but the date will be around 16 January. At the predicted time of decay, the probe will be over Africa, but the orbital period is much less than the uncertainties, so it is not possible to predict an exact decay point or time.


Article Update: Today's prediction of the final decay of the Phobos-Grunt orbit says is 1800h +/-6 h on Sunday, 15 January:




Parting Shot by Noah Frere

Orion reflected on the top of a car at TAO 12/17/11.

Canon 5D. f4. 28 mm lens. ISO 1600. 124 seconds.







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