timesPhoenix Astronomical Societywww.pasaz.org

September 2010Volume 62 Issue 1

P H O E N I X A S T R O N O M I C A L S O C I E T Y — E S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 4 8

By Terri, Event CoordinatorThe May PAS Meeting had a spectacu-

lar turn out this year! We had a pizza partyand had a large number of attending PASmembers. At the meeting, to conserve time,we did the PAS Elections in brief. Theofficers who had the positions previously,all agreed to take the same positions againthis year. Congratulations to everyone whoran for office again. Along with the elec-tions we also congratulated Bob Christ forachieving the Herschel 400. This is an awe-some achievement, and Bob got an awardfrom the Astronomical League. Rod pre-sented Bob with the award. Kevin Harcey

brought four astrophotos to share, since ourguest speaker, Chris Johnson, was to bepresenting the topic of Astrophotography.Thank you, Kevin, for sharing those beauti-ful photos with us. Photos of this event canbe seen in the PAS Photo Gallery.

Then we turned the meeting over toChris, who did a fantastic job sharing histopic and his enthusiasm for Astrophotogra-phy. The topic was not just what you canphotograph through your scope, but ratheron how you can do it with very little ex-pense. I thought Chris did an awesome job!

Chris ended his presentation earlierthan the meeting ended, and so Jerry talked

next about the upcoming morning comet inthe sky in the first week of June. We thenenjoyed more pizza, cleaned up and depart-ed from the Library. We moved over toG-147 for some short chatting and departedaround 10pm.

It was an awesome meeting. Manythanks to everyone who brought a snack toshare. Thanks to Steve for providing the ice.Steve also took a lot of photos, which I hopeto acquire and post on the website for every-one to enjoy. It was an enjoyable season-end meeting. We hope to see you at theSeptember meeting! Have a great summer.***

May PAS Meeting Review

"400 Years of Exploration: Galileo,Jupiter's Moons and the Europa-Jupiter

System Mission" 2010 marks the 400th anniversary ofGalileo Galilei's use of the telescope to dis-cover various objects in the Solar System,including Jupiter's moons. In February2009 NASA selected the "Europa-JupiterSystem Mission" to be the next Outer Plan-ets Flagship-class mission. It is a jointproject with the European Space Agency,and it will include a NASA-built Europaorbiter and an ESA-built Ganymede orbiterwhich will synergistically explore thesemoons of Jupiter, along with the moons Ioand Callisto, and Jupiter's atmosphere andrings. Join Dr. David Williams of ASU'sSchool of Earth and Space Exploration,and a member of NASA's Outer PlanetsAdvisory Group, who will review the ex-ploration of the Jupiter system from Gali-leo (the scientist) to Galileo (thespacecraft), followed by a discussion of

this new mission, its science goals, objec-tives, mission design and potential to ad-vance our understanding of potentiallyhabitable worlds around gas giant planets.

Dr. David A. Williams is currentlyserving as a Faculty Research Associate inthe School of Earth and Space Explorationat Arizona State University. He served as aVisiting Assistant Professor at ASU in2001-2002, in which he co-taught PhysicalGeology and a graduate seminar in Plane-tary Volcanology. David is currently per-forming research in volcanology andplanetary geology, with a focus on plane-tary mapping, geochemical, and remotesensing studies.

David received his Bachelor of Sci-ence in Astronomy & Astrophysics (withminors in Mathematics and Geology) fromIndiana University in 1989, and his Masterof Science in Geology from Arizona StateUniversity in 1992. He received his Ph.D.

in Geology from the University of Ala-bama in August 1998,.

David is also currently president of theUnited Federation of Phoenix, the secondlongest continuously-running Star Trekand general science fiction fan club in theUnited States. A life-long Star Trek andStar Wars fan, he has participated in na-tional Star Trek conventions and variouscharity events.

David Williams to speak at PAS September 2nd

Photo Cortesy David A Williams

September 20102

By Terri, Event CoordinatorThe Meeting of the Minds for May

2010 was awesome. Many topics were re-viewed and discussed. What was awesomewas that Joe showed us a presentation onwhat to expect at the CTCA (Cancer Treat-ment Centers of America) star parties. Daveannounced that the June 17th TelescopeWorkshop would also be a major Star Party.

Then we discussed various places tohold public star parties. It is hoped thatthose making the suggestions, would alsohelp set up the star parties at those locations.

Chris announced PATS (Pacific As-tronomy and Telescope Show) coming upin September. He is planning a caravan trip.If you wish to follow him out to the event,plan it through him... plan to leave the nightbefore. The event is on September 18-19,with plans to leave Friday night.

Someone suggested a joint star partywith other clubs, possibly with Dan Heim.Steve suggested a star party at BuckeyeShooting Range.

Then the topic moved to field trips.PAS has had a few field trips in the past. Ifyou have an idea for a field trip, drop Terria call or email and let's get somethingplanned.

Mike prepared an expense report whichanswered the question we wanted to know...could PAS cover the cost of a Season Endpizza party for the May PAS meetings? Theanswer was yes. So, future May PAS Meet-ings will rely on an expense report given atthe April PAS meeting, which would thenlet the members know if PAS will cover thecost of the pizza or not, for the party inG-147 for the May PAS Meeting.

Jerry, an adjunct of PVCC, is sell-ing his 10" dob with eyepieces for $550.Dave Hellman is the contact for thatsale.

Then we turned it over to Joe, whodid an awesome presentation about theCTCA star parties, with what to expect,photos to get to know the layout of thearea, etc. I wish to thank everyone whoattended and gave their input. We hopeto see you at the next MOM's.

OH, one more thing was decided.For the summer MOM’s, we will makethem a party. That means bring yourown drinks but bring a snack to sharewhen we hold the MOM’s in the sum-mer months. See you at the next one. **

Meeting Of The Minds Review 5/27

By Terri, Event CoordinatorSept. 2: PAS Meeting in PVCC Library,7pm to 9:30pm, Guest Speaker: DavidWilliamsSept. 4: Virtual Star Party at Chris's inGoodyear, begins at 8pm, PAS MembersOnly, RSVP with ChrisSept. 5: FREE Bookman's TelescopeWorkshop, 3:30pm to 5:30pm BookmansBackroom, RSVP with TerriSept. 7: Cancer Treatment Center Star Par-ty, 8pm to 10pm, PAS Members Only,RSVP with Joe

Sept. 10: Wigwam Creek School Star Par-ty, 7pm to 9pm, PAS Members Only, RSVPwith TerriSept. 11: Cuttin Edge Observatory StarParty in Mayer, PAS Members Only,RSVP with ChrisSept. 16: PVCC Public Star Party, 6pm to10pm, by PVCC Telescope Dome, RSVPwith TerriSept. 17: Wigwam Creek School Star Par-ty Back Up Date, 7pm to 9pm, PAS Mem-bers Only, RSVP with TerriSept. 18: International Observe the MoonNight and Public Star Party at PV Park,

6pm to 10pm, RSVP with TerriSept. 21: Cancer Treatment Center StarParty Back Up Date, 8pm to 10pm, PASMembers Only, RSVP with JoeSept. 24: Temple Beth Star Party, set up5pm,Event 6pm to 9pm. RSVP with Terri,Paid Star Party, PAS Members only, nolimit on scopes attending.Sept. 26: FREE Bookman's TelescopeWorkshop, 3:30pm to 5:30pm BookmansBackroom, RSVP with TerriSept. 30: PAS Meeting of the Minds, Busi-ness meeting, 7pm to 10pm, G-147 PVCC

Upcoming September 2010 PAS Events

By Don BoydWhen I got there just after 6:00, Kevin,

John and Bob S. were already there. Chrisand Judy arrived just before the fireworks.There were five pies, I think two were pe-can and three apple. I brought potato salad.

Chris and Judy left about 10; Kevin andJohn left just after that... so it was justMike,Bob and me. I set up my scope, main-ly to make sure it was operating correctlybefore the CTCA Star Party next week. Itworked fine except I did not have any guid-

ed tours set up. Since I don't know thesummer sky, I looked at Saturn and that wasabout it. We stayed out till midnight whenthe moon came up. I left at 2:00 AM; Bobstayed the night.

Mike’s July 4th Star Party

Phoenix Astronomical Society Contact InfoPresident / Librarian Rod Sutter 602-971-9129 President@pasaz.org

Vice President / Events Coordinator Terri Finch 602-561-5398 VicePresident@pasaz.org

Treasurer Mike Marron 480-488-3031 Treasurer@pasaz.org

Newsletter Editor Don Boyd 480-963-7189 Editor@pasaz.org

PAS Host John Pulis 623-570-5308

Webmaster Chris Johnson Webmaster@pasaz.org

WOW Contact Chet Schuler 480-272-4545 chetsch@cox.net

Rocketry Liaison Jerry Belcher 623-328-9290 http://ahpra.org/launches.html

3September 2010

By Terri, Event Coordinator Every summer, PAS holds events. Somesurvive the monsoons, and others are justwashed away or clouded out by them. Thissummer is no different. But in addition,several PAS members have told me of otherevents they attended. I'd love to hear aboutyour summertime astronomy fun. Take amoment to write an article for PAS and tell

everyone what fun you had visiting someplace that was astronomy related. Did yougo to Lowell Observatory, or Mt Lemon, orout of Arizona? We would love to hearabout it. Write an article and submit it toDon or myself, and let's get your article inthe newsletter.

It would be wonderful to have new,exciting astronomy reviews in this season'snewsletter. I await your submissions to eitherevents@pasaz.org or editor@pasaz.org.Thank you so much for taking a moment tomake our newsletter more enjoyable forthose reading it. ***

SUMMER ASTRO FUN IN REVIEW

By Terri, Event Coordinator Technology is a great thing when people

know how to use it, or are willing to learnto use it. PAS members who do not have internetaccess can RSVP by calling the correct PASRSVP person. That is why we set up onePAS person to be the RSVP contact. But ifyou have internet access and can RSVP byemail or in the online PAS Calendar, hereare the suggested and preferred ways toRSVP for any PAS event. 1) It is preferred that you go to thecalendar date of the event you wish to vol-unteer for. Most of the time, I provide thelink right in the email. If it is a public event,the public calendar has the data and theability to RSVP right there in the calendarlisting. If it is a private event, you click on thewords "Private Calendar" listed on the pagethat came up when you opened the publiccalendar date for that event, and it takes youto the private calendar. There, you canRSVP. 2) If for some reason you can not get thecalendar to take your RSVP, you shouldthen email the proper PAS RSVP personand let them know you wish to attend. Theemail option works well. The PAS RSVPperson should then confirm they got your

RSVP, so that there isn't any question as towhether you are listed to help out or not. 3) A third option is to go to the Forums.The quick way to find the info about anupcoming event is to go to the calendar, andclick on the word "Forum," within the emailmessage, as that is the link to the forumdetails for that event. You may then post inthe forums that you are available to help outat that event. When I am the PAS RSVP person for anevent, I check the PAS Calendar, the Fo-rums and MY email, before an event, to seewho is RSVP'd to help out. I make a list,and send email out to only those who RSVPfor that event. Therefore, if you do notRSVP for an event, you won't get the up-dates for that event. I also keep a hard copylist of who is RSVP'd to make sure we haveenough scopes attending the event. Now, if it is a PAID star party, and thereis a limit on how many PAS members canattend, such as the CTCA events, then thetime stamp on your email or calendar RSVPmarks who gets the job. So, it is importantthat once you get an email notice about aPaid PAS star party, you should take amoment, right then, and RSVP your atten-dance by one of the three means above. Youdo not need to do all three. I’d suggest youdo them in the order presented above. If one

option doesn't work out, do one of the otheroptions until you are successfully RSVP'dto help out. All calendar events have a time limit asto when you can RSVP to attend. If it is apublic star party, the deadline is by 3 or 4hours prior to the start of the event. ThePAID star parties are usually by noon thatsame day. I figure if you don't know bynoon if you can attend an event or not, youwon't know it any later than that. So, based on your situation - havinginternet access or not - you make the call, dothe email, or RSVP in the Calendar or theForums. Just get that RSVP to the properperson by the deadline and you are in theTEAM for that night's star party activities. Technology is great. If you can't RSVPby one means, please try others. YourRSVP is important to those planning theevents. An RSVP of "NO" is just as impor-tant as an RSVP of "Yes." We need to knowyou have seen the event on the calendar andnot be left hanging as to whether you aregoing to be there or not. Thank you for yourtime.***

How To RSVP For An Event

By Terri, Event CoordinatorA while ago, in fact it might have been

several years ago, PAS created a new PASDues sheet in which, at the bottom of thesheet is a space to put a name of a referral.What is this for, you ask? What PAS wantsto do is have you, as our PAS Ambassadorfor Word of Mouth Advertising, go out andsign up 5 new PAS members within a year's

time.The year runs, just like the PAS year,

from Jan to Dec. So, in January, start col-lecting NEW PAS members. They MUSTput your name at the bottom of their DuesSheet. When you have successfully gotten 5new PAS members to sign up and join theclub, you will be rewarded by having yourdues for that next year FREE. Find 5 new

people, get your dues covered by PAS.This is our way of thanking you for

taking the time to find new PAS members.Just be sure to have them put your name atthe bottom of the Dues Sheet, or you put itthere when you offer them a copy of theDues Sheet to sign up with. Put your namein the referral space. Let's all work togetherto make PAS the BEST club in Arizona!

GET 5, GET YOURS FREE

AstrotriviaThe dust trail left by Halley’s comet is

the source of two faint meteor showers ev-ery year: the Eta Aquarids on May 5-6 andthe Orionids on October 21-22.

September 20104

By Terri, Event CoordinatorAt the Wigwam Creek School Star Par-

ty we had in April, Bruce brought his cam-era. The star party was mostly clouded outso he played with his new camera and thenput 163 photos on a CD and gave them tome to post into the PAS Photo Gallery. Theprocess has been taking some time, butshortly you will see 160 of Bruce's photosmingled in with the 95 photos I took thatsame day. That's a lot of photos for one

event. MANY, MANY thanks to Bruce forproviding those photos. If you want yourphotos posted on the site in the PAS PhotoGallery of any PAS event you may haveattended, please send them my way. I creditthe photographer and include your photos inthe album for the event . We'd love to haveyour photos in our Photo Gallery as a won-derful way to document the history of PAS.If you have a few photos, feel free to emailthem to me with date and description and

any other info you think the viewer of thephoto album would want to know. If youhave a lot of photos, put them on CD orDVD and get them to me and I'll be sure toinclude them in the PAS Photo Albums.Thanks so much to Bruce and anyone whosends or provides photos for this purpose.Keep taking those photos. PAS will have agreat photographic history! ***

Thanks To Bruce For 160 Wigwam Photos

By Bob ChristALCON 2010, the annual Astronomi-

cal League convention, was held in Tucsonthis year, on the 25th and 26th of June at theTucson Hilton East facility. This year theIDA (International Dark-Sky Association)convention piggy-backed the event and cre-ated great synergism. TAAA (Tucson Ama-teur Astronomy Association) co-hosted theevent and did a grand job.

Tim Jones and I attended the full con-ference and the 2+ days we spent there withlike-minded folks was a great experienceand we thoroughly enjoyed it. The agendawas loaded with heavyweights in the as-tronomy field and their topics were bothhighly interesting and engaging. Door prizewinners were selected periodically and Iwas fortunate to win a prize from Light-buckets, a company that “rents” time onastroimaging equipment – similar to ChrisJohnson’s set-up, but commercial in“scope.”

Multiple vendors were exhibiting andselling their wares and it was like being akid in a candy store. Tim purchased a two-volume reference set signed by the authorsthat serves as a modern day update toBurnham’s classic volumes. He also pur-chased four wide field oculars for an aston-

ishingly low cost.For many years Ihad hoped to own ameteorite, and I wasnot to be denied.

Geoff Notkin,of the ScienceChannel’s Meteor-ite Man fame, at-tended theconference and dis-played his wares. Iwas able to acquirea meteorite fromMeteor Crater inArizona at 1/3rd thecost and three timesthe size of the mete-orites being sold atthe Meteor Crater store. Life is good. Timschmoozed with Geoff for quite a while anda photo of the two is shown.

Tim and I also took a Mt. Lemmontour, hosted by Adam Block, who is anastroimager of growing renown. Duringdaylight, we were able to view a star: Al-deramin in Cepheus at magnitude 2.43. Ifone has an observatory and a permanentlyaligned scope – this is nothing special. Butfor those of us with impermanent setups, it

was a treat. We were also able to visuallysee the sun’s “Green Flash” phenomenon asit set. It’s over in a flash, literally, and wasvery cool. As night fell, we observed usualJune suspects through a 24” RCOS scope,and I must say the views were just a tadbetter than through my 9.25” tube.

It could be years before ALCON isheld again in Arizona so I feel fortunate tohave been able to attend this year’s event. Itwas time well spent.

ALCON 2010

Tim with Geoffry Notkin of "Meteorite Men" fame

By Terri, Event CoordinatorI wish to thank everyone who attended

the PAS meeting in May for which we hada pizza party. And for that party, I washonored to put out the initial cost of thepizza and be very thrilled that the PASmembers were all honest and everyone putin their $1/slice. At the MOM's at the end ofMay, it was decided that, for future pizzaparties two things would happen. 1) The

PAS budget would be reviewed at the AprilPAS meeting, so that by the May PASmeeting, we would know if we have thefunds for a pizza party whereby the cost ofthe pizza is taken care of by PAS. And 2)We would hold this type of "End of Season"party in G-147. So, at the April PAS meet-ing, for 2011, listen for the Treasurer's re-port, and then watch in the newsletter for anannouncement as to whether we are having

a pizza party for the May meeting, and thatwe will then be in G-147 for that meeting.Thanks to all who participated in the party,enjoyed the pizza, and helped cover theircost. The pizza worked out to be just over$1 per slice, but someone (s) were awesomeenough to add additional funds to cover theextra cost. I thank you so very much! Seeyou at the next PAS meeting!!! ***

Thank You For Your Honesty

5September 2010

By Terri, Event CoordinatorThis was a fun event. CTCA stands for

Cancer Treatment Centers of America. It islocated in Goodyear. We held a star partyon the 5th story roof for the patients andstaff of CTCA. It was a great success. Itstarted out with Joe arranging an awesomedinner for those who were participating asstar party workers or volunteers. The diningarea of this hospital is awesome! The foodwas wonderful!

After we were all fed, we went to floor5 and set up our scopes to show the nightsky. Sam and Frank were up there, then Joeand Renee. Chris came in place of Steve,who got sick and was stuck in bed, hopeful-ly recovering. William and Amanda joinedme on the roof with my scope. Mike camewith his meteorites.

Mike set up over by the overhang partof the roof area. This is like a recreationarea for the patients to come, be outside,and enjoy the outdoors instead of beingstuck in their rooms 24/7. It was very nicelyset up with chairs, lighting for safety (notfor astronomy) and tables.

Mike was in the overhang area at atable, which also is where they put the sand-wiches. Next time, we will put the sand-

wiches by the telescopes and Mike can stayat that same table which provided lightingfrom a nearby security light. Then, alongthe roof top, I had my scope. Next to mewas Joe's scope, and then Sam was set up,and Chris was closest to the wall.

The temperature on the roof was hotterthan I anticipated. The hospital staff provid-ed cookies and ice cold bottled water. Itwas good to have the ice water available.The cookies were a dream! But, what wasannoying about the set up was the securitylight by the stairwell door. So, the workersbrought a box and tape. This set up wouldhave worked to cover the light if it weren'tfor the bursts of wind. The wind, near theend of the time we were there, was justannoying. Whipping across the eyes that aretrying to see objects in the night sky. Andblowing the box off the wall, covering thesecurity light. The gentleman who was as-sisting us with keeping the box on the lightwas so patient. We all joked about it, but itwasn't much fun to have that light in oureyes.

The later the evening got, the morewind picked up. But, overall, the star partywas very fun. I was so amazed at how manypeople really enjoyed us being up there.

One couple stayed from before we were setup, clear till we were just about to takedown the scopes. They really wanted to seea bunch of things that night. I found theRing Nebula, which was near impossibledue to that security light and the fact that theRing was in the mush of the city lights. ButI got it. Then I did the same thing for theSombrero Galaxy. Found it, but just barely.It really is too bright up there for thesefainter objects but I had to find them. Samwas doing an awesome job with objects.Chris, we all know, is so fast with his Go-to.Joe had brought his new GPS model andwas playing with the settings. When he gotthem all figured out, it was a breeze to getfrom one object to another. I was very im-pressed with his scope. Lovely views. Wemust have him at a bunch of future starparties!

Many thanks to all who attended.Thanks to Joe for setting up this event. Twomore have been scheduled for July 13 andAug 17. We hope to see more PAS Mem-bers become involved in this event. Itturned out awesome! Unfortunately, no oneremembered to bring a camera, so there areno photos of this event. Sorry, maybe nexttime. ***

CTCA #1 Review 6/8

By Terri, Event CoordinatorHave you been taking photos at the

PAS Meetings and wishing you could sharethem with the club members? Well, now isthe time. Put all your photos, collected overthe years, onto a CD and give them to Terri,and as long as they are dated, or in foldersshowing which event they belong to, I will

post them on the site for you, within theevent photo albums for which they weretaken. We'd love to see your photos postedon line. A “by-line” will be included withyour photo within the album already createdby me. Burn them to CD now and let's geteveryone enjoying your PAS event photos.Thanks for your assistance. I will post in the

Newsletter a thank you to everyone whosubmits a CD of photos. These photos cango as far back as you have them. I plan toget all my photos posted as well, over time.So, send them my way, today by CD if thereare a lot of them, or by email if you onlyhave a few. Thanks!!! ***

PHOTOS REQUESTED

By Terri, Event CoordinatorIt was a great meeting. We had no

RSVP's up to 3pm, then Indy gave us a callto ask if he could join the fun. I invited him.He came and went in about 45 minutes. Hebrought his 4" Refractor ETX and Donassisted in person. Bob, William and Ihelped out with advice, and Indy left withmore info, lots of handouts, and hopefullythe desire to attend a future PAS event.

After Indy departed, we decided tohold a mini Meeting of the Minds and talkabout upcoming events. We talked about

possible ideas on public star party locations.I have a bunch of cool events lined up for2011, but no place to hold these events, andso our discussion came up with twolocations to try to incorporate public starparties at for 2011.

It was a productive meeting for thosewho attended, and Indy seemed pleasedwith the handouts and info we shared withhim. Photos of this event are in the PASPhoto Gallery on our site www.pasaz.org.Enjoy! *

Bookmans Review July 25

Photo by Terri Finch

September 20106

Arizona SkyBy Leah Sapir

The summer constellation of Scorpiusis still visible in the southwest this month,and it is full of beautiful deep sky objects.

A bit to the right of the scorpion’s tailis NGC 6334, the “Cat’s Paw” nebula, anemissions nebula which shows bright redcolors in photographs. This huge mass ofhydrogen, 5500 light years away, is beingionized by bright young stars that formedwithin the nebula with the past few millionyears. The unusual shape is formed by darkmasses of dust and gas, swirling around thebrighter areas and hiding parts of them fromour view. These dark nebulae include Bar-nard 257 to the left of the Cat’s Paw, andBarnard 258 directly above it. The faint rednebulosity at the bottom right of the pictureis RCW 126 (catalogued by Rogers, Camp-bell, and Whiteoak in 1960), and the smallcluster of stars at top right is Bochum 13,named after a university in Germany. TheCat’s Paw Nebula was discovered by JohnHerschel in 1837.

Directly north of the Cat’s Paw is an-other bright emissions nebula, NGC 6357,the “War and Peace Nebula”. It apparentlyearned this name from infrared images, inwhich the western part looks like a dove,and the eastern part like a skull. At 8000light years, the War and Peace Nebula isslightly farther from us than the Cat’s Paw.Like the Cat’s Paw, it was discovered byJohn Herschel in 1837.

The War and Peace nebula containsmany proto-stars wrapped in dark cloaks ofgas and dust; it also contains an open clus-ter, Pismis 24, which is home to some of thelargest stars in our galaxy – over 100 timesthe Sun’s mass. One of these, Pismis 24-1,was thought at first to have a mass of 300solar masses, but it turned out to be a triplestar. The most massive star in the clusterweighs in at 200 solar masses.

Scorpius also has some nice globularclusters. About 6 degrees west of the Cat’sPaw are NGC 6453, located about 23,000light years from us; and NGC 6441, whichis about 33,500 light years away. Globular

clusters aredense groups ofolder stars, foundmostly in a haloaround the centerof our galaxy. Inour picture ofNGC 6441, thelarge star at the

right is G Scorpii, an orange giantlocated 127 light years away. It isactually a triple star – its two com-panions are the small nearby starsat its left and lower right.

Slightly above/right of GScorpii is a tiny purple star, knownas Haro 1-36 (from a list of plane-tary nebulae published by Mexicanastronomer Guillermo Haro in1949). Haro 1-36 is actually a“symbiotic star” – this means thatit is a double star system in a latestage of its lifetime; the larger starof the pair has already passedthrough the red giant stage and isnow a white dwarf, while thesmaller star has just now reachedthe red giant stage. Part of the redgiant’s stellar wind is captured bythe white dwarf, releasing gravita-tional energy and causing a ther-monuclear outburst – similar to anova but slower and longer-lasting,sometimes continuing for over 100years. There can also be shockzones of collision between the redgiant’s stellar wind and the remainsof the white dwarf’s stellar wind.It is a very rare type of star system;only around 200 of this type areknown.

Southwest of the Cat’s Paw isa smaller nebula, NGC 6302, alsoknown as the Bug Nebula. This isa planetary nebula, the last stage ina star’s lifetime, where the outerlayers of the star are expanding,and the core of the star irradiatesand ionizes them. An ordinary as-trophoto shows a bright pink nebu-la with appendages resembling aninsect’s legs; but the view from theHubble Space Telescope resembles abutterfly instead.

The central star of this nebula was orig-inally about 5 times as massive as the Sun.Today, with its core exposed, it has a sur-face temperature of about 250,000 degreesC, but it is hidden from our view by a denseequatorial disk of dust and gas. Apparently,though, it produces more ultraviolet thanvisible light. The dust lane contains com-pounds that are rare in space – quartz andother silicates, carbonates and hydrocar-bons, iron, sulfur, and even ice crystals inthe form of hailstones. The “wings” of the

butterfly are composed mostly of hydrogen,oxygen, and nitrogen. They are about twolight years across, and have a temperatureof 20,000 degrees C.

The various parts of the nebula wereejected from the central star in several stag-es – first a slow-moving ring (about 20,000mph) around the equator, forming the dustlane; then a faster-moving stage, ejectedmostly from the poles (since its path wasblocked at the equator by the dust lane)forming the bipolar “butterfly wings”; andthen an even faster stellar wind of ionized

Cat’s Paw Nebula NGC 6334

Globular Cluster NGC 6441, Orange Giant G Scorpii,and Symbiotic Star Haro 1-36

Bug Nebula NGC 6302 (ordinary astrophoto)

7September 2010

Arizona Sky

By Terri, Event CoordinatorIf you didn't get to attend this awesome

party, you missed a great evening! Mike hassome Mensa folk over and so he did alecture, which many attended. The food wasawesome! Thanks to everyone who broughtyummy things to eat. John Pulis and KevinHarcey were seen at this party. John's healthis always getting in the way of him attend-ing PAS events but we appreciate his com-pany when he can make it. Amandaattended as well as Joe and Renee Collins.Renee brought their daughter, Kat, who waskeeping many of us entertained through thenight. Sam and Frank were in attendance as

well as Mike's friend Joe, and Bob Senzer.There was food, socializing, and a mini

star party that Sam ran outside while the restof us listened to Mike's lecture and stuffedour faces with all the food. It was a greatevent. You'll have to be sure to attend thenext one. Thank you to everyone whobrought foods to eat. Oh, this was a momen-tous occasion - everyone who attended gotto try the new Finch Garlic Dip. It went overso well that from six bricks of cream cheeseto start with, less than half a brick camehome with me that night. It must have beenloved by all. See you at the next event!!!

Please visit the PAS Photo Gallery on thePAS Website for photos of this event. ***

Review by Sam InsanaFor the Star Party, Sam used his 8-inch

Meade reflector with a glass filter to showsunspots. He also showed several solarflares using his PST. At dusk, using the8-inch reflector, people were shown Venusand Saturn. When it got dark around 8:30pm, Sam showed two galaxies, M81 andM82. Later on he showed M13, the Hercu-les globular cluster; M57, the Ring Nebula;M31, the Andromeda Galaxy; Jupiter withits missing equatorial belt; and some craterson the Moon.

Mike's Star Party / Mini Lecture / Pot luck of 5/29

particles, moving at a rate of 2 million milesper hour. Shock waves have formed wherethe fast-moving stellar wind has collidedwith slower-moving gas. There are alsodenser blobs of material that block the flowof the stellar wind. At the edge of thenebula, the gas is expanding at a rate of 400miles per second (over 1.4 million mph).

NGC 6302 is about 4000 miles away.It was discovered by Edward E. Barnard in1880.

More discoveries by E. E. Barnard canbe seen a bit further north, in Ophiuchus.Barnard catalogued dark nebulae at the endof the 19th century, and was the first torealize that they are not areas empty ofstars, but instead are thick masses of gasand dust, including dark carbon granules,that block the starlight behind them. Wepreviously mentioned Barnard 257 and 258near the Cat’s Paw Nebula; another exam-ple is Barnard 72, also known as the SnakeNebula. Certainly a fitting nebula for Oph-iuchus, the serpent-bearer! Our picture ofthe Snake Nebula also shows Barnard 74 atthe left, and a semicircle of smaller darknebulae, including Barnard 68, 69 and 70,at the bottom. Some of the additional darknebulae in the picture were not included inBarnard’s list, but were catalogued in the1960’s by Beverly Lynds, who analyzedphotos produced by the Palomar Sky Sur-vey. The bright star at the left of the pictureis 44 Ophiuchi, a type-A white star at adistance of 80 light years. The Snake Neb-ula, by comparison, is about 650 light yearsaway.

Meanwhile, back in the solar system,the planets are putting on quite a show.

Venus, Mars, and Saturn are inthe west after sunset, but gettinglower – especially Saturn, whichis already sinking into the sunset.Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune arerising earlier, and will be visiblefor most of the night. Mercurywas an evening star in August,and has since slipped below thehorizon; but it will reappear as amorning star after mid-Septem-ber.

The third-quarter Moon willbe between the Pleiades and Hy-ades after midnight on Septem-ber 1, going across the sky fromeast to south; and on September5 the Moon will be near the Bee-hive Cluster in the east beforedawn. On September 9, the cres-cent Moon will join Saturn lowin the west after sunset, and onSeptember 10 and 11 it will becloser to Venus and Mars. Onthe nights of September 22-23and 23-24, the full Moon willtravel across the sky with Jupiterall night from east to west. OnSeptember 27-28, the waninggibbous Moon will follow thePleiades across the sky from 10pm till dawn, and on September28-29 it will do the same for theHyades.

Join us next time when wecontinue to explore the summerand fall constellations. And tillthen – wishing you clear skies,and happy observing!

Bug Nebula NGC 6302 (Hubble Space Telescope)

Snake nebula (B72 in Ophiuchus); image credit:Paolo Pinciaroli (Lebowski) and www.astronomy.fm

September 20108

The Turbulent Tale of a Tiny Galaxy

by Trudy Bell and Dr. Tony PhillipsNext time you hike in the woods, pause

at a babbling stream. Watch carefully howthe water flows around rocks. After pilingup in curved waves on the upstream side,like the bow wave in front of a motorboat,the water speeds around the rock, spillinginto a riotous, turbulent wake downstream.Lightweight leaves or grass blades can gettrapped in the wake, swirling round andround in little eddy currents that collectdebris.

Astronomers have found somethingsimilar happening in the turbulent wake ofa tiny galaxy that is plunging into a clusterof 1,500 galaxies in the constellation Virgo.In this case, however, instead of collectinggrass and leaves, eddy currents in the littlegalaxy’s tail seem to be gathering gaseousmaterial to make new stars.

“It’s a fascinating case of turbulence[rather than gravity] trapping the gas, al-lowing it to become dense enough to formstars,” says Janice A. Hester of the Califor-nia Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

The tell-tale galaxy, designated IC3418, is only a hundredth the size of the

Milky Way and hardly stands out in visiblelight images of the busy Virgo Cluster.Astronomers realized it was interesting,however, when they looked at it usingNASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer satel-lite. “Ultraviolet images from the GalaxyEvolution Explorer revealed a long tailfilled with clusters of massive, youngstars,” explains Hester.

Galaxies with spectacular tails havebeen seen before. Usually they arebehemoths—large spiral galaxies collidingwith one another in the crowded environ-ment of a busy cluster.  Tidal forces duringthe collision pull gas and stars of all agesout of these massive galaxies to form longtails. But in IC 3418, the tail has just youngstars. No old stars.

“The lack of older stars was one tip-offthat IC 3418’s tail isn’t tidal,” says Hester.“Something else must be responsible forthese stars”

Hester and eight coauthors publishedtheir findings in the June 10, 2010, issue ofThe Astrophysical Journal Letters. Theteam described the following scenario: IC3418 is speeding toward the center of the

Virgo cluster at 1,000 kilometers per sec-ond. The space between cluster galaxies isnot empty; it is filled with a gaseous atmo-sphere of diffuse, hot hydrogen. Thus, likea bicyclist coasting downhill feels windeven on a calm day, IC 3418 experiences “astiff wind” that sweeps interstellar gas rightout of the little galaxy, said Hester—gasthat trails far behind its galaxy in a choppy,twisting wake akin to the wake downstreamof the rock in the babbling brook. Eddycurrents swirling in the turbulent wake trapthe gas, allowing it to become dense enoughto form stars.

“Astronomers have long debated theimportance of gravity vs. turbulence in starformation,” Hester noted. “In IC 3418’stail, it’s ALL turbulence.”

To many astronomers, that’s a surpris-ing tale indeed.

See other surprising UV images fromthe Galaxy Evolution Explorer athttp://www.galex.caltech.edu. Kids (andgrownups) can play the challenging newPhoton Pileup game athttp://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/galex/photon/ .

In the ultraviolet image on the left, from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, galaxy IC 3418 leaves a turbulent star forming region in its wake. In the visiblelight image on the right (from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey), the wake with its new stars is not apparent.

9September 2010

Ads in PAStimesAds in PAStimes run for a month and may be renewed on a month-by-month basis, if submitted by deadline, space permitting. Adsin PAStimes are FREE to members. All others are asked to make a small donation. Donations are to be sent to the Vice Prez whowill forward them to the Treasurer.

Map to PAS Meeting Location

SeptemberSun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2PAS Meeting inPVCC Library

3 4Virtual Star Party

5Bookman's Tele-scope Workshop

6 7Cancer TreatmentCenter Star Party

8 9 10Wigwam CreekSchool Star Party

11Cuttin EdgeObservatory StarParty

12 13 14 15 16 PVCC PublicStar Party

17Wigwam CreekSchool Star PartyBack Up Date

18InternationalObserve theMoon Night &Public Star Partyat PV Park

19 20 21 Cancer Treat-ment Center StarParty Back UpDate

22 23 24Temple Beth StarParty

25

26Bookman's Tele-scope Workshop

27 28 29 30MOM

By Terri, Event CoordinatorNot many meteors were seen at this Meteor Shower / Star Party, but

everyone who RSVP'd to attend the event, did. It was a great turnout. Icounted 30 in attendance. Plus we had our newest member, Gilbert, join inthe fun. You can see photos of Gilbert in the PAS Photo Gallery on line. Thetelescopes for the night were Don, Terri and Gilbert. We had Mike with uswhich was a great pleasure. While we were setting up, Mike stole the show,as he always does. He kept the crowd until I announced I had Venus in myscope. Then the crowd looked through the scopes and went back to Mike. Itwas like he was magnetic or something. : ) We also saw Saturn, the Moon,Ring Nebula, M13, and a bunch of other cool items. The sky was totallyclear. There was a lot of heat rising off the ground but above us was reallysteady. It was hot and extremely humid. Wiliam assisted in the set up of myscope, then laid back on his chair (actually it's my chair but he uses it moreoften than I do at star parties) and used our Sky Scout to find Mars. Wenever did see Mars, as I think it was too close to the SR51 bridge. By 9pmall the good stuff had set and the crowd was leaving. I saw one meteor. Youknow how it is when you are working our scope... no time to view meteors.I heard one other person mention they saw one. Thanks to everyone whoattended from the public: Sarah, Daniel, Amy, Yao-ying and Keenan andtheir guests. We hope to see you at future PAS events. And thanks toGilbert, Don and William for their help making this event a success. ***

Paradise Valley ParkReview 8/13

Please see page 2 for more information

Don BoydPAStimes Editor701 W. Del Rio St.Chandler AZ 85225

To:

September 15 2010

PAS is incorporated in the state of Arizona as a non-profit, scientific and educational 501(c)(3)organization. Our newsletter PAStimes is published monthly from September to May and distributedby US PS and the Internet. All Issues are available for download on our websitewww.pasaz.org Adsfor astronomy equipment are provided as a courtesy to sellers and buyers, and do not constitute anyendorsement by PAS. All Photos by Don Boyd unless otherwise credited. All articles and photos arecopyright their authors or PAStimes. New: September 8

Q1: September 15

Full: September 23

Q3: September 1

Sunrise: 06:07Sunset: 18:30

What’s Up For September?By Rod Sutter, PAS PresidentName Date Rise SetMercury 09-1-10 06:23 18:38Venus 09-1-10 09:37 20:36Mars 09-1-10 09:18 20:41Jupiter 09-1-10 19:46 07:42Saturn 09-1-10 07:57 20:03Uranus 09-1-10 19:41 07:41Neptune 09-1-10 18:08 05:02Pluto 09-1-10 14:38 01:04

All Times Arizona Time

PAS Speaker Line-up for 2010By Terri, Event CoordinatorOct 7: Jenny Neureuther, Topic: A Peek into Radio and X-ray AstronomyNov 4: Mike Marron, Topic: Astronomy Events That Can Kill Humanity in the

Next 10,000 Years.Dec 2: Richard Greenberg, Topic: Un masking Europa: The Search for Life on

Jupiter's Ocean MoonDo you have an idea for a Guest Speaker? Send them to Events@pasaz.org ***