December, 2015 (Issue No. 137)

AlachuaAstronomyClub.org

Astronomical League pin for Caldwell ObservingProgram.

North Central Florida's

Amateur Astronomy Club

Serving Alachua County since 1987

Member Member

Astronomical League

MemberNASA Night Sky Network

December 2015 First Light Newsletter

The pictures on the Asto League's Caldwell Club pinsare two of Sir Patrick Caldwell's favorites; the Cat's

Eye Nebula, visible from the Northern Hemisphere andthe Tarantula Nebula, visible from the Southern

Hemisphere.

Our Solar System Is Almost Normal, But Not Quiteby Ethan Siegel

NASA's Space Place feature article

It was just over 20 years ago that the very first exoplanet was found and confirmed to be orbiting a star notso different from our own sun. Fast forward to the present day, and the stellar wobble method, wherein thegravitational tug of a planet perturbs a star's motion, has been surpassed in success by the transit method,wherein a planet transits across the disk of its parent star, blocking a portion of its light in a periodicfashion. Thanks to these methods and NASA's Kepler spacecraft, we've identified many thousands ofcandidate planets, with nearly 2,000 of them having been confirmed, and their masses and densitiesmeasured.

The gas giants found in our solar system actually turn out to be remarkably typical: Jupiter-mass planets arevery common, with less-massive and more-massive giants both extremely common. Saturn—the least denseworld in our solar system—is actually of a fairly typical density for a gas giant world. It turns out that thereare many planets out there with Saturn’s density or less. The rocky worlds are a little harder to quantify,because our methods and missions are much better at finding higher-mass planets than low-mass ones.Nevertheless, the lowest mass planets found are comparable to Earth and Venus, and range from just asdense to slightly less dense. We also find that we fall right into the middle of the "bell curve" for how oldplanetary systems are: we're definitely typical in that regard.

But there are a few big surprises, which is to say there are three major ways our solar system is an outlieramong the planets we've observed:

All our solar system's planets are significantly farther out than the average distance for exoplanetsaround their stars. More than half of the planets we've discovered are closer to their star thanMercury is to ours, which might be a selection effect (closer planets are easier to find), but it mightindicate a way our star is unusual: being devoid of very close-in planets.All eight of our solar system's planets’ orbits are highly circular, with even the eccentric Mars andMercury only having a few percent deviation from a perfect circle. But most exoplanets havesignificant eccentricities, which could indicate something unusual about us.

And finally, one of the most common classes of exoplanet—a super-Earth or mini-Neptune, with1.5-to-10 times the mass of Earth—is completely missing from our solar system.

Until we develop the technology to probe for lower-mass planets at even greater distances around other starsystems, we won't truly know for certain how unusual we really are!

Images credit: NASA / Kepler Dan Fabricky (L), of a selection of the known Kepler exoplanets; Rebecca G.Martin and Mario Livio (2015) ApJ 810, 105 (R), of 287 confirmed exoplanets relative to our eight solarsystem planets.

Newberry Star Parkby Andy Howell

November 14th's Star Party and Outreach at Newberry Star Parkwas clouded out. Even so, there was great camaraderie amongall those who attended. It was good to see Tass Karahalios, LisaEager, Ivo Rabell, and many others.

Hoping for better weather, I had brought charts to observe theasteroids (4) Vesta and (15) Eunomia, as well as the famouslong-period variable Mira (omicron Ceti). We'll have to try againanother time, perhaps at the December 12 star party andoutreach.

Register HERE to register for the December 12 Star Party /Public Outreach at Newberry Star Park!

Dr. Bill Hensler, who donated a beautiful Celestron NexStar-11 to the Club in June last year (2014) is backin town and contacted the Club. Ivo Rabell, Lisa Eager, and Andy Howell met with Bill at Newberry StarPark on Nov 30 to see what's wrong with the azimuth drive of the telescope. The issue is that the azimuthmotor circuitry has an intermittent fault that causes the drive to stop working. Disassembly of the azimuthdrive electronics and clutch will be required. Bill will be back in town on Jan 3, and we hope to get thescope working again later that month. Ivo and Lisa are eyeing the telescope for use at the monthly NSPevents.

Nexstar-11 telescope donated by Dr. Bill Hensler

The all-sky cameras at Newberry Star Park continue to monitor the sky on a 24/7 basis. A spectacularfireball streaked almost directly overhead at 9:46pm on the evening of Nov 9. Twenty-four observers inFlorida and Georgia witnessed the meteor. Newberry Star Park was located almost directly beneath thetrajectory of this rare fireball. In spite of significant cloud cover, the meteor shone through the clouds,lighting up the entire sky. Estimated visual magnitude was -18, or 250 times brighter than the full moon.

All-sky image taken at Newberry Star Park showing the Mag -18 fireball on November 9(click to enlarge)

According to the web site of the American Meteor Society (www.amsmeteors.org), the meteor's path wasnorth to south, passing to the east side of Gainesville. Analysis of the image from Newberry Star Park -probably the only site in Florida that photographed the meteor - tells a slightly different story. The meteor'strajectory mostly likely passed overhead between Newberry and Gainesville. We call it the "GreatNewberry Meteor of 2015."

Blue arrow on map by the American Meteor Society shows the fireball's approximate trajectory(click to enlarge)

Star Parties and Public Outreachby Lisa Eager and Ivo Rabell

Rosemary Hill Observatory Star PartyNov 7, 2015

The Rosemary Hill Observatory Star Party had a pretty good turnout despite many other things going on inthe community this time of year. Ivo gave the event a "GO" with a prediction of clear sky observing untilabout 10ish, when the clouds would start coming in. Ivo was right again, isn't that a bit scary! Everyonebusily got equipment set up and vehicles out of the way before sunset and then we were treated to a nicedisplay of crepuscular rays aka sunbeams. I attempted a picture, see if you can make them out. Thefollowing AAC members came out:

Ivo Rabell with his 18" Dobsonian and binoculars • Lisa Eager (me) with my 10" Dobsonian Jerry Cheney & Marianne Marcouz with their 7" Mak Cassegrain Tass Karahalios with his head full of "fuzzies" Ed Honkus and his 10" SCT Richard Hennig and his 12" Dobsonian Robert Munyer with binoculars and mom Janet ML with tripod and camera JoAnn Stevener with her AAC famous deviled eggs. She also brought her husband Alan, daughterKarla with her husband Robert And our gracious host Dr. Francisco Reyes

There were a few technical issues. Ivo had a spring come loose and couldn't get collimated, so hisbinoculars got a workout.

Jerry had trouble getting aligned, but managed to do so and get some observing done. Robert was lookingfor a pass by the Hubbell but couldn't find it. Tass and Richard made my head spin trying to keep up with their sky tour. I think all of us got to see somegood streaks from the Taurids that are going on now. We did have a few moments when the clouds came through and Ivo made us eat as many chicken wings aswe could handle. We did our best but still had some leftover. To wrap things up I asked everyone what their favorite of the evening was.

Jerry said he got a good view of Uranus, the Ring Nebula, and the Dumbbell Nebula. Richard saidhe enjoyed chatting with everyone and while he was looking for the Veil Nebula happened upon theNorth American Nebula. That was Richard's favorite and everyone got to admire it through hisscope.

Ed's vote was for the Cat's Eye Nebula NGC 6543. Tass went to great length to describe what hecould see....that's how I knew what I saw.

Robert and Janet decided the best was the North American Nebula and the Little Dumbbell M76.Francisco and I agreed on the Veil Nebula as being our favorite. Richard got such a nice view it withhis filter on his scope.

And last but certainly not least there's Tass's favorites.....so here goes! M2 a globular cluster inAquarius, NGC 891, Eastern Veil Nebula, Cat's Eye Nebula, and a spiral galaxy NGC 891needle. This is where I took my pencil away from him.

Somehow I missed asking Ivo and ML, so my apologies to them. The clouds came in strong around10 pm so the group went ahead and packed everything up until next time.

A big "Thank You" to Francisco for being such a great host!

Lisa Eager, Outreach Coordinator

Starry Night at the Florida Museum of Natural HistoryNovember 13, 2015

Judy Broward and Pam Mydock work the AAC welcome table

Last night’s Starry Night at Florida Museum of Natural History was incredible.

Over 2200 visitors toured the museum and looked through our telescopes.

Only six (!) of our members brought telescopes. Needless to say, we were all overwhelmed.

Saw Greg Beckner before the madness started and said he was going to show the Dumbbell Nebula. If hewas able to show the dumbbell, I’m sure it looked like a fuzzy thumbprint due to parking lot and garagelights not being covered. Put a crimp on what was a very clear night sky.

Starting around 5:30 pm saw Don Loftus and lovely wife showing 2 day old waxing crescent Moon on hishome crafted 6” Newtonian to a long line of visitors. Starry Night was not supposed to start until 6:00 pm.

You would have never known!

Across the street Rich Russin set up his reflector and showed Albireo and I believe the Ring Nebula.

Bill Elliot set up his reflector next to Greg and had long lines. Bill was sky hoping from Nebulas toGalaxies.

With all the light pollution Lisa Eager with her 10” Dob and eagle eyes was able to spot the double inPerseus.

Jerry Cheney got the worst of the crowds. After a couple of hours of showing Albireo I switch to thePleiades with my binoculars. I had to instruct viewers how to use the binoculars and it was taking so longthat I started directing visitors lined up on my telescope to Jerry’s line. Poor guy, he almost lost his voice.

We all talked non-stop for a minimum of 4 1/2 hours explaining sky denizens on our scopes eye pieces tovisitors. Most of us have sore throats this morning.

I want to thank Chuck and Judy Broward for helping Pamela Mydock, who had a mob in front of her asearly as 5:30 pm for helping with AAC table and handouts.

Crill Hintermister brought his binoculars and walked around showing the Pleiades and later Orion’sNebula.

Crill Hintermister shares his knowledge of stars and gems at Starry Night

Saw Robert Munyer, Matt Given and his spectacular girl friend Morgan Gates but I was so busy couldn’ttell what they did.

As always, Joann Stevener went around bringing water bottles and food to all telescope volunteers.

Tim Malles had he gorgeous 3D space art displayed inside of Museum.

Last but not least, I really appreciate AAC President Andy Howell, for last minute cruising all the way toNewberry to retrieve AAC’s huge banner and setting it up. Whoops, on me!

My deepest gratitude to all Alachua Astronomy Club volunteers, you all did one amazing job!

Ivo Rabell, Outreach Coordinator

School Outreachby Mike Toomey

In November, we had our first after-school program for the new GeorgeWashington Carver Science Academy. Andy Howell presented severalmaterials related to meteors, including footage of fireballs caught on theNewberry Star Park Live Sky View. Now that our volunteers have visited afew after-school programs, we can start developing a classroom kit thatanyone can bring along to share. However, as Andy and other volunteers canattest, it's really easy to fill an hour with enthusiastic kids regardless of whatmaterials you bring! Our next after-school program will be in January.

Our next evening school program will be a star party at an Alachua Countyschool (please register on the website or contact me for location) on Tuesday,December 15. We expect between 40 and 50 middle-schoolers, along withtheir parents and some siblings. The sun will be going down at around 5:30

p.m. so we can get an early 6:15pm start. The 4-day old moon will be well located all evening. Star clustersand showcase binary stars will be abundant as well.

We are a hot commodity! In addition to the 7 school star parties scheduled for the 2015-16 calendar, wehave had to turn away 4 other schools as well as a few other groups. We have retooled our scheduling,updated our information packets for teachers and students, and stiffened up the rules, emphasizing ourexpectations of teachers and parents as well as the students themselves. We do not expect a single volunteerto handle a large group on their own, nor do we tolerate poor behavior from the students. Studentattendance has been exceptional – we had double the expected turn-out at Hidden Oaks Elementary Schoolin October, for example.

Unfortunately, we have lost from our ranks at least seven club members in the past couple of years whowere regulars at outreach events. We typically expect some turnover each year but when your core group ofvolunteers typically peaks at around 12 – 15 members, seven is a hard hit! We genuinely need an influx ofnew volunteers. You do not need to be an expert in astronomy to be an outreach volunteer. You do not evenneed to own a telescope! You can shadow current volunteers at events, ask our Sky Mentor Bill Helms orother members for one-on-one assistance with your telescope, or be brought up to speed with one of severalclub-owned telescopes. Binoculars are also excellent astronomical instruments that can be hand-held ortripod-mounted.

Since I cannot think of another motivation than the gratification I feel when students eyes light up at theeyepiece, I offer a reflection from the club's early days:

“In order to be a viable club we must be an active club and above all we must have theparticipation-participation-participation of all of you club members in our activities.” –Charlie Tarjan, President (FirstLight, January, 1989).

Mike Toomey has served the AAC in many capacities since 1998, including President, Secretary, FirstLightEditor, Star Party Coordinator and School Outreach Coordinator. Mike resides in Gainesville.

Mike Toomey (AAC School Liaison) on left, Nkwanda Jah (Cultural Arts Coalition) center, AndyHowell (AAC President) on right, and after-school students at the George Washington Carver

Science Program on November 18.

Upcoming Meetings & EventsHoliday Party

AAC Holiday Party & Celebration of AAC's 28th BirthdaySaturday, December 5, 2015, 6-10 p.m.

3111 NW 18th Place, Gainesville, FL 32605

REGISTER HERENewberry Star Park Star Party & OutreachSaturday, December 12, 2015, 5:30-11 p.m.

Newberry Star Park24880 NW 16th Avenue, Newberry, FL. 32660

Alachua Astronomy Club Public MeetingTuesday, January 12, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

Kika Silva Pla Planetarium, Santa Fe College,3000 NW 83rd Street, Bldg. X-129, Gainesville, FL 32606

James Albury

To see the full schedule of upcoming events, visit AAC Event Calendar

American Astronomical Society MeetingJan 4-8, Kissimmee, Florida

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is holding a public star party on Wednesday, January6, and we would like to invite you to participate. We are looking for amateurs to bring telescopesto the location to show the stars to the general public, teachers, students, as well as gradstudents and astronomy researchers and faculty.

The location is the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee.

The Gaylord Resort administration has expressed support for this event and will be turning offoutdoor lighting for the event. The AAS will conduct a big publicity campaign with the generalmedia. There is no rain/cloudy-night date. The 6th is the AAS EPO day, where we bring instudents and teachers from around the area to join us in the meeting halls for special eventstailored just for them, and this event is part of that effort. I am in the planning stages for a cloudy-night event, like a public outdoor slideshow. But, that is still in the works. I have helped preparethese events for the AAS in Indianapolis, Baltimore and Boston. There is no compensation forparticipation, though Im sure we can get the Gaylord to waive parking fees, and well be servinggoodies out on the lawn.

Here is the AAS meeting website: http://aas.org/meetings/aas227/

Please send a note back if you are interested in helping out.

Jason KendallAdjunct, Dept. of PhysicsAstronomy Liaison, WPU

http://www.wpunj.edu/cosh/departments/physics/faculty/Kendall.dot

New Members since October 1!

Jonathan BearDavid Cohen

Schier DelWilliam Elliott

Steven FreymannBasset Giles

Eddie HughesPhil Nolden

James Thornton

PresidentAndy Howell

First Light EditorLaura Wright

Alachua Astronomy Club wasable to muster just sixtelescopes at November's StarryNight. For a crowd estimated at2,000, we fell woefully short!

With over 140 members, we allknow that Alachua Astronomy Club can dobetter! As an AAC member, you're passionateabout astronomy, so why not nurture thatpassion by engaging in club activities?

Astronomy is not a spectator sport. Readingabout astronomy and attending monthly clubmeetings only get you so far. To get the mostfrom your Club membership, you must actuallyget out and participate!

We have lots of things going on each month inschool outreach, public outreach, and starparties. Our experienced members lovesharing their knowledge. Come on out, join thefun, and help realize the Club's mission. We'rebehind you every step of the way!

A telescope doesn't do any good gatheringdust in a corner. If you've borrowed a clubtelescope, then we want you to bring thattelescope and yourself to the next schoolevent, public outreach, or star party. More

The Astro League would like tointroduce their latest observingprogram. The information belowis from the astroleague.orgwebsite.

"Welcome to the AstronomicalLeague's newest Caldwell

Observing Program. While Charles Messiermade a catalogue of faint fuzzy objects to beavoided when searching for comets, SirPatrick Caldwell-Moore has made a catalogueof beautiful and interesting objects you should,literally, go out of your way to observe. Two ofthe obvious objects were never even givenNGC designations. A letter from Sir Patrick (onthe website) explains why and how he createdthe list at his home in Selsey, England,surrounded by his personal observatories."

"The 109 objects on the list range frommagnitude 1 through 13, and Declination +85°to -80°, so some diligence will be required.The benefits far outweigh any inconvenience,however, as you will be treated to manywonderful new sights to behold in the nightsky, and maybe even make some newinternational observing friends along the way."

experienced members will help get you startedwith baby steps.

And, please come to our monthly star partyand outreach at Newberry Star Park. Theseevents are low-key, informal, and loads of fun.They're an excellent way to meet others whoshare a common interest in the night sky!

No matter whether you give a little or a lot,

PLEASE VOLUNTEERYOU ARE NEEDED!

Now please go to the AAC Event Calendar andregister for one good event this month or thenext. Thank you!

"The Caldwell List has been broken into twoaward categories; 70 objects, and thecomplete list of 109. Each award will consist ofa certificate with Sir Patrick Moore's signatureand photo, and an award pin. The pictures onthe pins are two of Sir Patrick's favourites; theCat's Eye Nebula, visible from the NorthernHemisphere, and the Tarantula Nebula, visiblefrom the Southern Hemisphere."

Best regards and enjoy the night sky,

Laura

The Night Sky this Month

from Seasky.com

December 7 - Conjunction of the Moon and Venus. A conjunction of the Moon and Venus willtake place on the morning of December 7. The crescent moon will come with 2 degrees of brightplanet Venus in the early morning sky. Look to the east just before sunrise.

December 11 - New Moon. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun andwill not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 10:29 UTC. This is the best time of themonth to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlightto interfere.

December 13, 14 - Geminids Meteor Shower. The Geminids is the king of the meteor showers.It is considered by many to be the best shower in the heavens, producing up to 120 multicoloredmeteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by an asteroid known as 3200Phaethon, which was discovered in 1982. The shower runs annually from December 7-17. Itpeaks this year on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th. The crescent moon will set earlyin the evening leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be froma dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini, but can appearanywhere in the sky.

December 22 - December Solstice. The December solstice occurs at 04:48 UTC. The SouthPole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its southernmost positionin the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.44 degrees south latitude. This isthe first day of winter (winter solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer(summer solstice) in the Southern Hemisphere.

December 21, 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower. The Ursids is a minor meteor shower producingabout 5-10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which wasfirst discovered in 1790. The shower runs annually from December 17-25. It peaks this year onthe the night of the 21st and morning of the 22nd. This year the waxing gibbous moon will bebright enough to hide most of the fainter meteors. If you are patient, you might still be able tocatch some of the brighter ones. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far

away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor, but can appearanywhere in the sky.

December 25 - Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sunand its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 11:11 UTC. This full moon wasknown by early Native American tribes as the Full Cold Moon because this is the time of yearwhen the cold winter air settles in and the nights become long and dark. This moon has also beenknown as the Moon Before Yule and the Full Long Nights Moon.

December 29 - Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation. The planet Mercury reaches greatesteastern elongation of 19.7 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since itwill be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in thewestern sky just after sunset.

Copyright © 2015 Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact email: FirstLight@alachuaastronomyclub.org

Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc.2603 NW 13th St., #161Gainesville FL 32609-2835

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