Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York

September 2016 Volume 65 Number 9; ISSN 0146-7662

Setting a New Course with AAA’s First Night Sky Photography Class

By Stan Honda

In June, I had the pleasure of leading the first-ever

Night Sky Photography Class for AAA, and judging by

the images the students produced, I can safely say that

they are well on their way to being excellent astrophotog-

raphers.

The course consisted of four classroom sessions plus a

fieldtrip to photograph the summer Milky Way. Three classes

were held at the Cicatelli Center in Manhattan, and a fourth,

informal session took place at a nearby restaurant. For the

fieldtrip, we visited the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jer-

sey (UACNJ) observatory site at Jenny Jump State Park

30 students signed up for the class, and during the course

they learned how to shoot wide-field pictures of the sky and to

combine those shots with landscape features – all using an

ordinary digital camera and a wide-angle lens.

In class, I covered the basic steps of night sky photog-

raphy, including composition, camera settings, correct expo-

sure, proper equipment, and how to plan a shot. I also demon-

strated image processing of photos using programs like Pho-

toshop. For homework, students photographed the night sky

from the urban neighborhoods where they live, and some trav-

eled outside the City to try out the new techniques.

The trip to Jenny Jump was certainly the highlight of the

class. About 17 students made the drive out on a warm Satur-

day in July. The UACNJ site is an excellent location both for

observing and photographing the night sky. AAA is a mem-

ber of the UACNJ, a consortium of 11 area clubs, so Jenny

Jump is open to all AAA Members. To learn more about ob-

THIS MONTH: Fall Astronomy Class Begins Sep 7, Lecture Series Sep 30, and Annual Urban Starfest Oct 1

FOCUS ON THE UNIVERSE

Digging into Data to Answer, “Are We Alone in the Universe?”

By Harriet Brettle

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe

or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

– Arthur C. Clarke

On June

13, a panel of

physicists and

philosophers

met at the New

York Academy

of Sciences to

discuss a fun-

damental ques-

tion for both

fields: Are we

alone in the

universe? The speakers included Adam Frank, Professor of Phys-

ics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester; Louisa

Preston, astrobiologist, planetary geologist and author; Ste-

phen M. Gardiner, Professor of Philosophy at the University

of Washington; and Jason Thomas Wright, Associate Profes-

sor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State

University.

The talk began at its most natural starting point with the

introduction of the famous 1961 Drake equation, a simple

formula to estimate the number of active, communicative ex-

traterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way. That number, N,

takes into consideration the factors that must be in place for

such civilizations to exist. For N = R* · fp · ne · fl · f i · fc · L

R* = average star formation rate,

fp = the fraction of those stars with planets,

ne = average number of habitable planets per star with planets,

fl = the fraction of habitable planets that develop life,

fi = the fraction of planets that develop intelligent life,

fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop technology that

release detectable signs of their existence into space, and

L = the length of time that civilizations produce detectable sig-

nals into space

Today, this equation has moved from the realm of science

Are We Alone? (cont’d on Page 4-5) AAA’s Night Sky Photography Class (cont’d on Page 4)

ASTRONOMY TALKS

Preston Stahly

The Milky Way over the valley at Jenny Jump State Park.

SETI

In 1961, Frank Drake developed the Drake Equa-tion to estimate the probable number of extrater-restrial civilizations with communications technol-

ogies in our Milky Way galaxy.

NASA

This month, NASA launches OSIRIS-Rex, its first asteroid sample-return mission.

The spacecraft will arrive at Bennu in 2018 and create a 3-D map before harvesting

surface material to return to Earth in 2023.

2

September’s Evening Planets: Jupiter will be in Vir-

go the Maiden for an hour during the first half of September.

Mars will be between Scorpius the Scorpion and Sagittarius

the Archer until 11 PM. Saturn will be in Scorpio until 11

PM and setting earlier each night until 10 PM by the end of

the month. Bright Venus will be in Virgo after sunset until

about 8 PM. Uranus will be in Pisces the Fish and Neptune

is in Aquarius the Water Bearer all night. Dwarf planet Pluto

is in Sagittarius until midnight.

September’s Evening Stars: Spot the Summer Trian-

gle of Vega in Lyra the Harp, Deneb in Cygnus the Swan,

and Altair in Aquila the Eagle. See Antares in Scorpius and

Arcturus in Boötes the Herdsman until 10 PM. Look for

Capella in Auriga the Charioteer around 10 PM, lingering all

night. Find the stars of constellations Andromeda, Cassiope-

ia, Pegasus, Perseus, Hercules, Draco, Sagittarius, Aquarius,

Pisces, Capricornus, and Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the

Big and Little Dippers).

September’s Morning Planets: Uranus will be in

Pisces and Neptune can be found in Aquarius. Mercury will

be between Leo the Lion and Virgo beginning at 5 AM in the

second half of the month.

September’s Morning Stars: Sirius, the brightest star

from Earth, will be up around 4 AM each morning and rising

earlier by 2 AM at the end of the month. Spot Capella in

Auriga and the stars of Aquarius, Cetus, Taurus Gemini, Ori-

on, Pisces, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Aries, Draco, Cygnus,

Pegasus, Perseus, and the two Dippers.

Sep 1 New Moon 5:05 PM

Sep 6 Moon at apogee (251,700 miles away)

Sep 9 First Quarter Moon 7:50 AM

Sep 16 Full Moon 3:05 PM

Sep 18 Moon at perigee (224,900 miles away)

Sep 21 Mercury stationary 6:00 AM

Sep 22 Autumnal equinox 10:21 AM

Sep 23 Last Quarter Moon 5:55 AM

Sep 25 Pluto is stationary 11:00 PM

Sep 28 Mercury at greatest western elongation

Brightest Mercury of 2016 - predawn

Sep 30 New Moon 8:11 PM

Times given in EDT.

WHAT’S UP IN THE SKY

September 2016

Break Me Off a Piece of that Asteroid

This month, NASA will send the first probe to an asteroid

that will bring back to Earth some of its dust. The spacecraft

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral,

FL on September 8 aboard an Atlas V rocket, and it will re-

turn home in 7 years with a sample of the asteroid Bennu.

The Mission OSIRIS-REx will

orbit the Sun for a

year and then

make a flyby of

Earth to use its

gravitational field

as a slingshot

towards Ben-

nu. The probe

will begin its approach in Aug 2018, when it will brake to

match Bennu’s velocity as it orbits the Sun. OSIRIS-REx

will fly in formation with Bennu, surveying and mapping the

asteroid and studying its geology to select a sample site.

On Jul 4, 2020, OSIRIS-REx will extend the Touch-And-Go

Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), a robotic arm

with a sampler head, to collect regolith (surface material). It

will touch Bennu for five seconds and release a burst of ni-

trogen gas to stir up the soil, forcing dust into a collector that

holds up to 4.4 pounds. The dust is deposited into a Sample

Return Capsule onboard the spacecraft. The probe will then

wait until Mar 2021 to start the trip back to Earth, where it

will jettison the capsule and deflect itself into solar orbit.

The capsule will land in the Utah desert on Sep 24, 2023.

Why Bennu? 101955 Bennu, also known as 1999 RQ36, is a 500 meter-

diameter, potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid that trav-

els 63,000 mph as it orbits the Sun every 1.2 years. It was

selected because of its proximity and its orbit of low eccen-

tricity and inclination. Its size also lets it spin slowly enough

for a probe to collect a sample. A rare, primitive, carbon-rich

asteroid with organic compounds, Bennu has not changed

much since forming over 4 billion years ago, and it may con-

tain the precursors of life on Earth.

What Does OSIRIS-REx Stand For? OSIRIS-REx is an acronym of the mission’s main goals and

mimics the name of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris. Its full

name is: Or igins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identi-

fication Secur ity Regolith Explorer .

Who are Osiris and Bennu in Egyptian Mythology Osiris is the god of afterlife, resurrection, and regeneration.

His wife and sister, Isis, famously used magic to restore him

after he was murdered by his brother, Set. Osiris judges the

dead and grants all life, even the fertile flooding of the Nile

River. Bennu is a bird deity associated with Osiris. A sym-

bol of creation and rebirth, it may have inspired the Phoenix

in other cultures. It lives on the sacred tree of life.

Sources: nasa.gov; asteroidmission.org; Encyclopedia Britannica.

Follow veteran sky watcher Tony Faddoul each month, as he points our minds and our scopes toward the night sky.

AAA Observers’ Guide

By Tony Faddoul

September “Skylights”

NASA

OSIRIS-REx with its robotic arm extended to take a sample at the asteroid Bennu.

3

September 2016

Getting the Timing Right When Taking a Fieldtrip with AAA

By Peter Tagatac

Event schedule changes are disruptive and a bummer

for those wanting to attend an observing trip but who ulti-

mately cannot go. It' s hard not to feel bad, or even re-

sponsible, despite the fact that Mother Nature is the one call-

ing the shots. During the summer and fall, AAA plans month-

ly overnight fieldtrips to visit the dark skies at North-South

Lake in the Catskill Mountains region, but sometimes the

schedule changes as forecasts are updated. Many had to fore-

go the last trip, which was moved a day earlier to Friday, July

29, but AAA has three more opportunities available with

weekends scheduled in the coming months. We hope you’ll

join us for one of these.

Despite the re-

scheduling, things

turned out well for

those who could

make it in July. 15

observers in six cars

met in the parking lot

of the Lake’s

campgrounds. The

sky was mostly clear

throughout the night

from Civil Twilight

to about 3:00

AM, when the last

car left. There were

some clouds and

haze, but that did not

take away from the

theatre of light above

our heads.

Comets fre-

quently shot across

the bow with a few

lighting up the

sky to audible

gasps from ob-

servers on the

ground. Satel-

lites, planets,

naked-eye deep

sky objects, and

the Milky Way

all showed up.

Imagination-

defying close-ups

of open and glob-

ular clusters,

planetary nebu-

lae, and galaxies,

frequently ap-

peared in our

eyepieces.

Initially,

stratus clouds

rimmed the hori-

zon to the north-

east and south,

but those would

clear by Astro

Twilight. A slight haze attenuated the Milky Way brightness,

and the naked-eye limiting magnitude below 30° was about

5.3. Naked-eye objects easily viewed were the Double Clus-

ter, Andromeda Galaxy, Kemble’s Cascade, the Coathanger,

M7, M23, and M13. Binoculars and telescopes popped out

any object of interest.

The difference in observing city skies and rural skies is

remarkable. For most of the session, the viewing could be

rated a 7.5 for a visual observer, although perhaps a bit less

for an astrophotographer. Nevertheless, AAA President Mar-

celo Cabrera and AAA Member Harry Slotwiner were able to

capture some beautiful photos and videos. As these pics

demonstrate, the scheduling difficulties for the observing ses-

sion ultimately paid off, and it was definitely worth the trip!

To join AAA on an upcoming trip to this marvelous dark

sky location, contact Tom Haeberle at treasurer@aaa.org .

AAA OUT OF TOWN

Marcelo Cabrera

The Milky Way is clearly visible amid the dark skies at North-South Lake. Two more fieldtrips are scheduled for the end of Sep and Oct.

Harry Slotwiner

The dark skies above North-South Lake in Haines, NY on July 29-30.

Harry Slotwiner

AAA Observers took a fieldtrip to North-South Lake in the Catskills on July 29-30.

Harry Slotwiner

AAA Member Harry Slotwiner created a time-lapse video using a Canon T5i and 18 mm lens, with processing in Lightroom. Take a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Ahj7F6viF9E

4

September 2016

serving there, visit www.aaa.org/observing/uacnj-jenny-jump-

state-park/.

One of the better views at the Park is toward the south-

west, where the summer Milky Way appears once the sky

darkens. 70 miles from NYC, there is still some light pollu-

tion, but everyone was able to shoot nice photos of the stars

and our galaxy using a variety of styles and approaches.

Preston Stahly used a Rokinon 14mm fisheye lens,

adapted to his Sony a7Rii camera, to create a very wide view

of the sky and the valley below the Park. With a setting of

ISO 6400, 15 sec, f5.6, he captured the central part of the

Milky Way as it arches to the south, as well as the planets

Mars and Saturn in and around Scorpius. A couple of streaks

from airplanes show up along with light from NYC (left) and

nearby towns (center/right), but they aren’t distracting at all.

Chirag Upreti’s photo features a nice silhouette of sever-

al students against the sky, with the glowing screens of their

cameras visible. By choosing a low angle, Chirag used the

large rock where we stood to block the horizon and much of

the orange glow of artificial light to focus on the Milky Way

above. He used a Sony A6000 camera with a Rokinon 12mm

f2.8 manual lens and an exposure of ISO 3200, 10 sec, f2.8.

A few students created star trails that night. In Gowri

Lakshminarayanan’s photo, central Polaris is hidden in the

treetops, as stars rotate during a 30-min exposure. Gowri

used a Canon 5D Mk III camera with a 16-35mm f2.8 lens set

at 16mm. He shot 30 frames at a setting of ISO 800, 60 sec

per frame, with each frame spaced 1 sec apart. In StarStaX,

he combined the frames to make the trail image. Transferring

the final image to Photoshop, Gowri then darkened the fore-

ground foliage, which was over-lit by a car’s headlights.

View more student photos at www.aaa.org/gallery-2/

astrophotography/. Thanks to everyone for making AAA’s

inaugural Night Sky Photography Class such a success!

AAA’s Night Sky Photography Class (cont’d from Page 1)

fiction to reality. The discovery in recent years of thousands

of exoplanets orbiting other stars allows us to actually plug

some numbers into the variables, particularly the fraction of

stars with habitable planets. It is currently estimated that on

average, each star in our galaxy has one planet orbiting it.

Professor Frank spoke about his work, which inverts the

Drake equation to ask, “How unlikely is it that humanity is the

only civilization in the universe?” or, put another way, “ How

bad does the universe have to be for us to be alone?” He sets

a firm lower bound on the likelihood that one or more techno-

logical species have evolved at some point in history. If the

probability that a habitable zone planet develops a technologi-

cal species is larger than about 10−24, then other intelligent

civilizations must have evolved. That’s a pretty small number

to beat. And, the sheer number of stars in our galaxy gives us

good reason to expect there must be some form of life out

there beyond the pale blue dot we call home.

However, a high probability for the existence of extrater-

restrial civilizations creates an apparent contradiction. If

they’re out there, then where are they? Why haven’t they

swung by to say hello? According to Professor Wright, this

conundrum, known as the Fermi Paradox, is easily explained:

we simply haven’t been looking well enough or long enough.

After the pioneering work of Frank Drake, NASA began

a low-level search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) in

the late 1960s, but funding was dropped by the 1990s. These

days, the search is led by the SETI Institute, formed in 1984,

which relies on private funding. Now, Breakthrough Initia-

tives has joined the search. Established last year by Russian

entrepreneur Yuri Milner and his wife, its program of scien-

tific and technological exploration has committed $100 mil-

lion to the search for artificial radio and optical signals. (This

year, Breakthrough devoted another $100 million toward engi-

neering technology for ultra-light, ultra-fast unmanned space-

flight to the Alpha Centauri star system 4.3 light-years away.)

But even if we spend all our time listening to the stars,

will we know intelligent life when we hear it? As Arthur C.

Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is

indistinguishable from magic.” So, how can we differentiate

between super-intelligent life and some physics that we simp-

ly don’t yet understand?

Until we figure that out, we can only look for anomalies

Are We Alone? (cont’d from Page 1)

Chirag Upreti

AAA students silhouetted against the night sky.

Gowri Lakshminarayanan

Star trails above Jenny Jump State Park

NASA

Light curves like this from Kepler space observatory data show the presence of an exoplanet, which creates a dip in

a star’s brightness as it transits in front of it during orbit.

5

in our data. One recent example is the strange case of KIC

8462852 – a bright F-class star 1,500 light-years away in the

constellation Cygnus – observed by the Kepler space observa-

tory. Kepler has been in operation since 2009 and has discov-

ered thousands of exoplanets by analyzing the light curves of

stars. When a planet passes in front of a star, it blocks some

of its light, and a periodic dip in brightness over time demon-

strates its orbit. From these light curves, we can infer infor-

mation about the size of the planet and its orbit around the

host star. But KIC 8462852 (affectionately known as Tabby’s

star, after Tabetha Boyajian, the Yale professor who discov-

ered it) has a light curve that cannot be explained by an orbit-

ing planet or other natural phenomena.

The light curve for Tabby’s star, observed by Kepler

over 4 years, shows obvious downward spikes around Day

800 and Day 1500. These are much larger than normal dips in

magnitude for planet transits of a large star. Researchers con-

sidered a number of explanations for the light dips, including

variable stars, large dust clumps, catastrophic collisions, and

newly forming planets, but further analysis ruled all of these

out. The best natural explanation is a swarm of comets pass-

ing the star, but this theory is not widely accepted. Boyajian

has launched a Kickstarter campaign to secure telescope time

to conduct further observations. Meanwhile, the SETI Insti-

tute began its own search for signals, to investigate whether

KIC 8462852’s light dips may be caused by artificial struc-

tures orbiting the star, built by an advanced alien civilization.

Another explanation to the Fermi paradox is that we just

aren’t interesting enough for extraterrestrials to bother reach-

ing out to us. Louisa Preston pointed out that for most of hu-

man history, we haven’t been worth talking to – we have only

developed technology capable of communication in the last

100 years. Again, Arthur C. Clarke put it best: “I'm sure the

universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent

to come here.”

Another significant consideration for the Fermi paradox

is the issue of timing. The Drake equation suggests that many

intelligent species do exist, but it does not indicate when they

exist. With only one data point for a technologically commu-

nicative intelligent species (us), it is difficult to know how

long a typical one would last. In human history, civilizations

have risen and fallen, but our species has found a way to con-

tinue and to advance. For all we know, life could be endless if

it were able to escape extinction-level disasters – an asteroid

strike, nuclear war, climate change, death of a home star – and

a highly advanced civilization with space flight capability

could do that. So, if life does not necessarily have an expiry

date, then it is reasonable to think that if we wait long enough,

August 2016

we will find another intelligent civilization out there. Using a

more conservative approach, we could estimate the lifetime of

a species to be 1,000,000 years, the average for mammals on

Earth, and that still far exceeds the lifetime of humanity so far.

We’ve only been intelligent enough to produce communication

signals for 0.01% of that time though. And if life in general

appears independently throughout the universe, then advanced

species may never overlap. Even if we do exist at the same

time, the vastness of space may keep our signals from reaching

each other before the clock runs out on one of our species.

The panel also engaged in an interesting discussion about

the implications for Earth if we were to detect extraterrestrial

life. Unless it was found to be really close (and not much can

be considered close for the distance scales of the universe),

then there’s not much to be done. Recently discovered Proxi-

ma b, the nearest exoplanet detected that resides in its star’s

habitable zone and perhaps supports liquid water, is about 4.2

light-years away. Even if a signal were received from such a

distance, the conversation is going to be pretty slow. The SETI

Institute does have a protocol for the discovery of an extrater-

restrial signal; however, it focuses on confirming the science of

the detection rather than the social or political implications of

contact. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

(UNOOSA) could play a role, but as of now, no concrete plan

have been established.

Instead of looking toward the

depths of the galaxy for life, Louisa

Preston suggests our efforts would be

better placed searching within our own

Solar System. Liquid water has been

found on Mars and is likely flowing

under the icy surface of moons like

Jupiter’s Europa – these are much

easier for us to reach. Even if life has

not evolved independently in these

places, it may have transferred be-

tween planets during periods of bombardment. Rocks from

Mars have been discovered in Antarctica, and it is likely that

meteorites from Earth have reached Mars. The transfer of mi-

crobes that could survive both the trip and the Martian environ-

ment is not completely impossible.

The talk ended with each speaker’s wish-list for devoting

resources to finding out whether or not we are truly alone.

Jason Wright supports increased funding of SETI. Given the

potential impact of a discovery, he believes it is well worth

dedicating time and money to looking for intelligent life. With

a current sample size of one, there is so little that we even un-

derstand about intelligent species and how they evolve. Adam

Frank would invest more in simulations and modeling of intel-

ligent life evolution to understand how life forms and what life

would actually look like on other worlds. This would help to

direct our search when scanning the skies.

The New York Academy of Sciences panel was thor-

oughly engaging, and all of the speakers were enthusiastic and

hopeful for the future. For the first time in our history, we are

on the cusp of finding a meaningful answer to the question,

“Are we alone?” using data and scientific inquiry. In the

words of Carl Sagan, who would have shared this optimism,

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

Boyajian et al.

Sporadic dips in the light curve for KIC 8462852 as observed by Kepler over 4 years are not well explained by natural phenomena.

NASA/JPL/DLR

Jupiter’s moon Europa has a sub-surface ocean. Is it our best bet for find-ing life outside of Earth?

6

September 2016

Celestial Selection of the Month Fornax A

60 million light-

years away in the south-

ern constellation For-

nax is a monster of a

galaxy with a history of

gobbling up its neigh-

bors. The four th-

brightest radio source in

our sky, Fornax A is an

elliptical galaxy with a

supermassive black hole

of about 130 to 150 mil-

lion solar masses at its center. Inward falling gas at the black

hole is heated to up to 10 million degrees, hyper-fueled by gas

from past galactic mergers. At some point, oppositely point-

ing jets of particles shooting out from the accretion disk

around the black hole slammed into surrounding material to

form two giant lobes of hot gas that emit very strong radio

waves. For the past 100 million years, the galaxy, also known

as NGC 1316, has been consuming its spiral companion NGC

1317. Surrounding NGC 1316

is evidence of it’s appetite:

faint tidal tails are the shells of

stars it has torn from galaxies

and flung into intergalactic

space. NGC 1316 also shows

the battle scars of very old vio-

lence. Embedded within it are

dust lanes and small globular

star clusters that appear to be

remnants of a spiral galaxy

eaten 3 billion years ago.

AMW Sources: eso.org; nasa.gov.

Telescope of the Month The Square Kilometer Array and MeerKAT in South Africa

In the deserts of the Karoo in South Africa, the world’s largest radio telescope is

under construction, an array of thousands of dishes with a collecting area of one mil-

lion square meters. When completed in 2030, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA)

will be able to detect radio waves from objects that are millions or billions of light-years

from Earth. The sheer size of SKA makes it 10,000 times faster and 50 times more sensi-

tive than the best radio telescopes. Currently, the largest is the 305m-diameter Aricebo in

Puerto Rico; the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Tele-

scope in China just finished construction. Operating over a range of frequencies, with antennas laid out

in intricate mathematical patterns, the image resolution of SKA will exceed that of the Hubble Space Tel-

escope by a factor of 50. The South African desert is ideal for the array, far away from electronics that

interfere with the faint radio signals of the universe, and high and dry enough to avoid radio wave absorp-

tion by moisture in the atmosphere. SKA will have outstations throughout the continent, while a partner

array to detect low-frequency signals will be built in Australia. An international project headquartered at

the University of Manchester, SKA involves 100 organizations from 20 countries. To handle SKA data,

which will create more traffic than the entire internet, engineers are working on a super-fast supercomput-

er. The first phase of SKA builds off South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope, with 16 of its 64 dish antennas

now operational. In July, scientists announced that MeerKAT discovered over 1,200 new galaxies in a

patch of sky where only 70 were previously seen. Some show supermassive black holes at their centers,

spewing jets of material that emit radio waves. AMW Sources: ska.ac.za; nytimes.com; space.com.

SKA South Africa

MeerKAT in South Africa will become part of the Square Kilometer Array, the largest

radio telescope in the world.

SK/MeerKAT

A close-up of the first image by MeerKAT

shows a new galaxy, one of 1,200 discovered, with a black hole at its center.

Solar Sagas It’s Alive! Solar Storms Seeded Life on Earth

In May, NASA revealed that solar explosions 4 bil-

lion years ago may be responsible for life on Earth. Scien-

tists have struggled to explain how life could have evolved so

long ago, when Earth received only 70% of the energy from

the Sun that it gets today. Known as the Faint Young Sun

Paradox, Earth should have been a cold, icy rock back then,

but geological evidence indicates it was a warm, watery place.

Looking at similar stars in our galaxy and ordering them by

age, scientists created a timeline for our Sun’s evolution.

Kepler data shows that young suns have huge explosions, or

“superflares,” ejecting radiation into space. Today’s Sun has

a superflare once every 100

years, but in its youth, it like-

ly had 10 a day. And back

then, Earth had a weaker

magnetic field, leaving it vul-

nerable to the superflares’

energetic particles. “Our cal-

culations show that you would

have regularly seen auroras

all the way down in South Carolina,” said NASA’s Vladimir

Airapetian. Solar particles collided with nitrogen molecules,

which made up 90% of early Earth’s atmosphere, splitting

them up to then react with CO2 to create carbon monoxide and

oxygen. Nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, also

formed to warm the planet enough for liquid water.

“Changing the atmosphere’s chemistry turns out to have made

all the difference for life on Earth,” said Airapetian. But too

much radiation would rip off the atmosphere, so there must

have been a balance between the solar storms and Earth’s

magnetosphere. Additionally, complex molecules like RNA

and DNA may also have formed thanks to energy from those

early solar superflares. AMW Sources: earthsky.org; nasa.gov.

NASA, ESA, STScI/AURA

Dust lanes and star clusters in NGC 1316 hint at a merger with

a spiral 3 billion years ago.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Superflares on the young Sun may have energized the chemical

reactions to seed life on Earth.

Ed Fomalont (NRAO) et al, VLA, NRAO, AUI, NSF

Giant lobes of gas emitting bright radio waves extend from elliptical NGC

1316, a galaxy-eater currently con-suming spiral companion NGC 1317.

7

September 2016

, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Origami

Therapy Association to bring the annual summer festival to

New York.

JAA’s Suki Terada Ports and Susan Onuma, along with

the Consulate’s Yuki Kaneshige, were instrumental in helping

organize the event. About 80 people, many dressed in tradi-

tional summer yukata dresses and hapi coats, came out to cele-

brate on that warm night. AAA Members generously brought

nine telescopes to the Park, providing excellent viewing of the

stars, the Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars.

The Festival began with remarks from Tomofumi Horiki,

the new Cultural Attaché for the Consulate, who reminisced

about Tanabata Festivals back home in Japan. AAA Board

Member Jason Kendall recited the starry legend of the Festival,

and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer stopped by to

say, “Konnichiwa.”

The ancient story behind the Tanabata (which means

“evening of the seventh”) involves a young weaver, the Prin-

Exo-citement The Exoplanet Next Door May Harbor Life

In August, astronomers using the European Southern

Observatory’s 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla in Chile an-

nounced the discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting

the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. Just 4.2 light-

years away, Proxima b has a mass 1.3 times the Earth’s, and

it’s 11.2-day orbit around Proxima Centauri is in its habitable

zone: liquid water could exist on its surface. Its orbit of

Proxima Centauri is closer than Mercury’s orbit of the Sun,

but its star is a cool, red dwarf, so surface temperatures place

the exoplanet within the star’s “Goldilocks zone.” However,

water may only be found in its sunniest regions, and its syn-

chronous rotation of Proxima Centauri means no seasons.

The surface of Proxima b also experiences intense radiation

from ultraviolet and X-ray flares on its home star. And, with

the exoplanet’s formation history unknown – Did it form

close to its star making it dry and airless? Or did it form fur-

ther out and migrate in? Or was it bombarded by asteroids

with water ice? – then whether it has water or even an atmos-

phere is “pure speculation at this point,” said team leader

Guillem Anglada-Escude. We can assume that its climate is

far different from that on Earth. Proxima b was detected us-

ing the “wobble method,” or radial velocity, looking for

slight, regular movements in a star when it is tugged by an

orbiting object’s gravity. This creates Doppler shifts in the

star’s light spectrum, shifting to blue when it moves toward us

and to red when it moves away. La Silla’s HARPS spectro-

graph has detected hundreds of exoplanets this way. Proxima

b was observed this year with public support from the Pale

Red Dot campaign. “I kept checking the consistency of the

signal every single day during the 60 nights of the Pale Red

Dot...and at 30 days the result was pretty much definitive,”

said Anglada-Escude. Proxima b lies in the Alpha Centauri

star system, which comprises the bright binary stars Alpha

Centauri AB along with Proxima Centauri. Earlier this year,

Stephen Hawking announced Breakthrough Starshot, a project

to develop technology that would launch a fleet of mini light-

propelled spacecraft to the Alpha Centauri system, making the

25-trillion-mile journey in just 20 years. Funded with $100

million dollars from the Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner,

Starshot now has a new target: “We will definitely aim at

Proxima,” said Breathrough’s Avi Loeb. “ This is like finding

prime real estate in our neighborhood.” AMW

Sources: eso.org; palereddot.org; planetary.org; nytimes.com; space.com.

M. Kornmesser/ESO

Artist’s impression of Proxima b, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearest star to us, Proxima Centauri.

8

A Message from the AAA President

Dear AAA Memberss:

The summer is winding down, but early fall weather make for

very pleasant observing. Join us for a trip to the beautiful dark skies of

North-South Lake in the Catskill Mountains on Sep 24-2. Visit http://

www.aaa.org/northsouthlake for more details. For information about

other events and observing sessions visit www.aaa.org/calendar.

This month, AAA’s Fall Astronomy Class begins with

“Astronomy 101: The Basics,” a survey course led by David Kiefer.

Registration is still open, so sign up now at www.aaa.org/education/

classes/.

Meanwhile, AAA’s 2016-2017 Friday night Lecture Series at the

American Museum of Natural History will start up on Sep 30. The

speaker and topic are TBA, so be sure to check back for more details at

www.aaa.org/lectures/.

And don’t forget the upcoming AAA Urban Starfest in Central

Park on October 1. You won’t want to miss this annual event, featur-

ing observing, talks, and prizes – fun for the whole family! Learn

more at www.aaa.org/observing/urban-starfest-in-central-park/. We

hope to see you there!

Marcelo Cabrera, AAA President

September 2016

SEPTEMBER 2016

SUN, Sep 4 Next Oct 2

Solar Observing at Central Park – Manhattan, PTC

@ 1 pm – 3 pm

TUE, Sep 6, 13, 20, 27 Next Oct 4

Observing on the Highline – Manhattan, PTC

@ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Solar Observing begins @ 6 pm on Aug 9)

WED, Sep 7, 14, 21, 28 Next Oct 19, 26

Fall Astronomy Class at Cicatelli Center – Manhattan, M

@ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

“Astronomy 101: The Basics” with David Kiefer. This survey covers

celestial events, motions of the Earth and Moon, constellations, the Sun,

seasons, and Zodiac, and planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. $60 fee for

AAA Members. Register at www.aaa.org/education/classes/.

FRI, Sep 9

Observing at Carl Schurz Park – Manhattan, PTC

@ 8 pm – 11 pm Next Oct 14

Observing at Floyd Bennett Field – Brooklyn, PTC

@ 8 pm – 11 pm Next Oct 7

Observing at Riverdale – Bronx, PTC

@ 8 pm – 11 pm Next Oct 8

FRI, Sep 10 Next Oct 7

Astro Café at Intrepid Museum – Manhattan, PTC

@ 6:45 pm – 9:30 pm

For Ages 21 and over. Join for a special night of all things Star Trek.

Free to the public, but registration required at www.intrepidmuseum.org.

SUN, Sep 11 Next Oct 9

Solar Observing at Flushing Meadows Park – Queens, PTC

@ 11 am – 1 pm

SAT, Sep 17

Solar Observing at Grand Army Plaza – Brooklyn, PTC

@ 11 am – 1 pm Next Oct 1

Solar Observing on the Hudson at Pier i Cafe – Manhattan, PTC

@ 2 pm – 4 pm

Observing at Los Niño's Park – Bronx, PTC

@ 8 pm – 10 pm Next Oct 15

FRI, Sep 23

Observing at The Evergreens Cemetery – Brooklyn, PTC

@ 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Join us for a special observing session at a national historic landmark.

SAT, Sep 24 Next Oct 22

Observing at Great Kills – Staten Island, PTC

@ 8:30 pm – 11 pm

SAT/SUN, Sep 24 & 25 Next Oct 21 & 22

Dark Sky Observing at North-South Lake – Haines Falls MTC

@ 8 pm – 2:30 am

Join AAA for a fieldtrip to observe under the beautiful dark skies of the

Catskill Mountains. Only AAA Members may participate. To reserve a

spot, contact Tom Haeberle at treasurer@aaa.org .

FRI, Sep 30 Next Oct 19, 26

2016-2017 Lecture Series at AMNH – Manhattan, MP

@ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

SAVE THE DATE. Check for details at www.aaa.org/lectures/.

M: Members only; P: Public event; T: Bring telescopes, binoculars; C: Cancelled if cloudy.

For location & cancellation information visit www.aaa.org.

AAA Events on the Horizon

The Amateur Astronomers’ Association of New York Info, Events, and Observing: president@aaa.org or 212-535-2922

Membership: members@aaa.org Eyepiece: editor@aaa.org

Visit us online at www.aaa.org.

Other Astronomy Events in and around NYC

MON, Sep 12

@ 7 pm AMNH Special Event (Hayden Planetarium) – Manhattan, X

“Sampling an Asteroid: NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Mission” with Carter Emmart.

Join for an immersive visualization of the spacecraft at Bennu. (amnh.org)

SAT, Sep 3

@ 8 pm Observe at Rockaway Beach (Boardwalk/Beach 116 St) – Queens, F

“Neptune in Opposition.” NYC Urban Park Rangers guide observing using

binoculars, telescopes, and the naked-eye. (nycgovparks.org)

MON, Sep 19

@ 7:30 pm AMNH Frontiers Lecture (Hayden Planetarium) – Manhattan, X

“Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe” with Roger

Penrose. The physicist presents his argument that researchers in string theo-

ry, quantum mechanics, and cosmology may be influenced, and perhaps led

astray, by trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy. (amnh.org)

TUES, Sep 20

@ 8 pm Columbia Stargazing/Film Series at Pupin Hall – Manhattan, F

TBA. Observing follows, weather permitting. (outreach.astro.columbia.edu)

F: Free; X: Tickets required (contact vendor for information); T: Bring telescopes, binoculars.

Eyepiece Staff September 2016 Issue

Editor-in-Chief: Amy M. Wagner Copy Review: Richard Brounstein

Contributing Writers: Harriet Brettle, Tony Faddoul, Stan Honda,

Peter Tagatac, Amy Wagner

Eyepiece Logo and Graphic Design:

Rori Baldari

Administrative Support: Joe Delfausse

Printing by McVicker & Higginbotham