May 2019

Club Information 2

President’s Message 2

Observer’s Notebook 3

Meeting Minutes 4

Event Calendar 5

NASA’s Night Sky Notes 7

Meteor Log 8

Treasurer’s Report 9

Inside this issue:

Upcoming Events:

• The next meeting is on Tuesday, May 7th at the Bishop Museum 7:30 PM.

• Bishop Museum’s planetarium shows are every 1st Saturday of the month at 8:00 PM www.bishopmuseum.org/calendar

• The next Board meeting is Sun., May 5th 3:30 PM in POST building at UH.

The Astronews

www.hawastsoc.org

Albert’s Arc

Let this be a reminder that there

is more to the night sky than

planets and the Moon…and the Orion

Nebula. In years past I have pro-

moted the practice of asterism-

hunting. Though only a few club

members took the bait, asterisms

remain, claimed and named or still

waiting for recognition.

Amateur astronomer/author Phil

Harrington has done a fine job

promoting binocular asterisms over

the past couple decades. Since few

of us are bringing good binoculars

to star parties, I expect that

Phil would be saddened to see us

wasting so much space. With 100

times the asterism potential in

telescopes, it has me wondering

why we scope-wranglers aren’t

scooping up more conspicuous stel-

lar configurations.

Over the years I have promoted my

“Gary the Snail” asterism, sharing

an eyepiece field with the “Little

Dumbell” nebula in Perseus. A sto-

ry about “Mebsuta’s Lariat” has

been published in The Astronews.

H.A.S. held a contest concerning

the “Teaspoon” asterism located at

“the armpit of the other Great

One” (i.e., Hercules). Lately I

(Continued on page 6)

A word from your editor by

Sapavith ‘Ort’ Vanapruks

(Barry Peckham Submission)

President’s Message May 2019

The biggest news in astronomy since our last meeting is probably the “first im-age of a black hole” which, of course, is really an image of the light generated in the vicinity of a black hole, specifically the supermassive black hole at the center of M87. The Event Horizon Telescope, actu-ally a network of eight radio telescopes, including the James Clark Maxell Tele-scope on Mauna Kea, utilized very-long-baseline interferometry to effectively cre-ate a detector with a diameter of thousands of miles. It achieved an angular resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds. This promises to advance our understanding of black holes and other radio sources.

Closer to Earth, the Insight mission on Mars has begun detecting Marsquakes. The wind and thermal protection cover that has been installed over the seismometer reduces the ambient noise that would pre-vent small seismic events from being rec-ognized.

In other Mars news, the methane conundrum continues. The European Mars Express mission collected data in 2013 that has now been determined to confirm a spike (of a few parts per billion by volume – ppbv) in methane observed by the Curi-osity rover at that time. Curiosity found a background of 0.2-0.7 ppbv, but the Euro-pean ExoMars Trace Gas Explorer has found an upper limit of 0.05 ppbv. Me-thane is destroyed rather quickly once in the atmosphere of Mars, but not quickly enough for both results to be correct. The question of how much methane there is in the atmosphere of Mars at any one time is far from answered.

In our cosmic back yard, a private spacecraft mission from Israel, Beresheet

(Continued on page 4)

Hawaiian Astronomical Society P.O. Box 17671

Honolulu, Hawaii 96817

The Astronews Page 2

President Chris Peterson

956-3131 chrisp@higp.hawaii.edu

Vice President

Polly Miao

zmiao@hawaii.edu

Secretary April Lew

734-2705

stardustlounge@hotmail.com

Treasurer

Peter Besenbruch

peter@besenbruch.info

Board Members-at-Large

j Andy Stroble

Astronews Editor Sapavith ‘ORT’ Vanapruks astronews@hawastsoc.org

HAS Webmasters Peter Besenbruch

peter@besenbruch.info

School Star Party Coordinators

Mark Watanabe

Charles Rykken

The Astronews is the monthly news-

letter of the Hawaiian Astronomical Soci-ety. Some of the contents may be copy-righted. We request that authors and artists be given credit for their work. Contribu-tions are welcome. Send them to the Edi-tor via e-mail. The deadline is the 15th of each month. We are not responsible for unsolicited artwork.

Page 3

Observer’s Notebook—May 2019 by Jay Wrathall

Planets in April

Neptune

Mercury

Venus Mars

Jupiter Saturn Uranus

Reaches opposition on May 28 at 13 hours at a magnitude of +7.0

Is about 20⁰ from the sun in the morning sky and will require binoc-ulars to find low in the southeast before sun-rise.

Doesn’t rise until just about dawn, but is so bright (mag. -3.9) that it can easily be seen just before sunrise.

is visible all month in the southwest after sunset at a magnitude of +1.7.

Shines at magnitude -2.5 and rises before midnight. This is one of the best months of the year to view the largest planet. It reaches a diameter of 46” by month’s end.

is about 30⁰ and two hours behind Jupiter and shines at magnitude +0.4 in Sagittarius.

is low in the southeastern sky before sunrise. You will probably need binocu-lars to find it.

Planets Close To the Moon Times are Hawaii Standard Time

May 2, 02h, Moon 3.6⁰ SSE of Venus (28⁰ from sun in morning sky) May 3, 17h, Moon 3.4º SSE of Mercu-ry (19⁰ from sun in morning sky) May 7, 15h, Moon 3.2º SSE of Mars (38⁰ from sun in evening sky) May 20, 08h, Moon 1.7º SSE of Jupiter (157⁰ from sun in moring sky) May 22, 13h, Moon 0.63⁰ SE of Saturn (131⁰ from sun in morning sky) May 27, 10h, Moon 3.5⁰ SSE of Neptune (78⁰ from sun in morning sky) May 31, 04h, Moon 4.5⁰ SSE of Uranus (35⁰ from sun in morning sky)

can be seen very low in the morning twi-light during the first two weeks of May, but this is a poor appari-tion for northern view-ers.

Other Events of Interest Times are Hawaii Standard Time

May 2, 03h, Moon passes 0.2⁰ North of Vesta (27⁰ from sun in morning sky) May 4, 02:45h, Moon New May 6, 1st day of Ramadan. May 18, 01:11h, Full moon May 20, 17h, Mercury at superior conj. with sun (Passes into evening sky) May 28,13h, 1-Ceres at opposition (Passes into morning sky.)

is near Saturn in the eastern sky before sunrise. It will be better placed for view-ing later in the year.

Pluto (Dwarf

Planet)

1 Ceres (Dwarf Planet)

Meeting Minutes H.A.S. Secretary

President Chris Peterson called the April 2, 2019 meeting of the Hawaiian Astronomical Society to order at 7:30 p.m. The meeting was held in the Plane-tarium on the grounds of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii. Chris talked about several astronomical news stories: New Horizon Bennu asteroid is an active asteroid spewing out debris. Mark Watanabe reported on upcoming school star parties: April 11Punahou School May 10 Hokulani Elementary School Ort and Sue will operate telescopes at the next Bishop Museum stargazing night. Chris talked about the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference which he attended. The theme was: “Going back to the moon with private companies.” SpaceX will make Space station transport more affordable. Goal: permanent base on moon. At the conference Chris performed a song he wrote. He will try to have a video to show at the next meeting. Science Fair April 8th – 10th, HAS will present two awards for astronomy science projects. New membership forms are on HAS website Bylaws changes to be posted on HAS website. Visitors: Joy and her daughter. Chris showed data center press release photos. Images of the month on web-site: www.higp.hawaii.edu/prpdc 3D image from Bennu Peter showed astronomical photos taken by HAS members. A picture by sue

(Continued on page 6)

The Astronews Page 4

(“in the beginning”), became the first privately funded mission to reach the Moon. Unfortunately, a malfunction caused it to crash land during its descent to the surface. Originally planned to compete for the ($20 million) Google Lunar X Prize, the spacecraft was built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace In-dustries. After the prize was cancelled because it was taking too long for any-one to win it, they still kept on. They will still win a $1 million prize for reaching the Moon. This is the dawn of the era of private missions to other worlds.

(Continued from page 2) President’s Message

Page 5

Hawaiian Astronomical Society Event Calendar

<<Upcoming Star Parties>> Club Party-Dillingham May 4 Public Party Geiger/Kahala May 11 Public Party Dillingham May 25

Upcoming School Star Parties

6:30 PM May 10 Hokulani Elementary School

The Astronews Page 6

Girard of the Orion nebula trapezium using her cell phone and dob telescope. March 26 Vice Pres Pence delivered a space policy speech. Aim is to send man back to moon by 2024.

Hayabusa 2 finds asteroid Bennu has low density, is a rubble pile. Surface is not smooth has large boulders. Video on the flat earth theory. Observations and scientific explanations prove earth is not flat. Joann showed us upcoming spring and summer night sky. Leo. The southern cross will be visible end of April. As there was no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 9 pm.

Sincerely, Secretary April Lew

(Continued from page 4) Meeting Minutes

have been promoting “The Dutchman’s Pipe” out in front of the Ea-

gle’s eastern wing tip.

For the past couple of winter/spring seasons I’ve been showing a

lovely and easy to find line of stars curving away from the naked-

eye Ksi Puppis. It captivated a bride and groom on their wedding

night recently and it gets a good response at our public star par-

ties. An amateur astronomer in Poland has sketched and described

it but as far as I can tell it has been unnamed and unlisted among

those who play with asterisms.

So henceforth I shall promote this telescopic target as “Albert’s

Arc”, named for my farmer dad who got me started with the night

sky. The brightest star, Ksi Puppis glows gold and the arc’s trail

of stars are ordered in descending brightness (mostly) as they

move away from the primary twinkler. This target is easily found

by following a line of stars east from the Big Dog’s tail. It is

#2 in the line, just below M93. Try it and tell me whether it was

worth your eyepiece time.

Barry Peckham

(Continued from page 1)

Page 7

Late spring brings warmer nights, making it more comfortable to observe a good showing of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. Skywatchers can also look for the delicate Coma Star Cluster, and spot the Moon on the anniversary of Apollo 10’s “test run” prior to the Moon landing in 1969. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower should make a good showing this year, peaking the morning of May 6. This meteor shower has an unusual “soft peak,” meaning that many meteors can be spotted several days before and after the 6th; many may find it convenient to schedule meteor watching for the week-end, a night or two before the peak. You may be able to spot a couple dozen meteors an hour from areas with clear dark skies. Meteors can appear in any part of the sky and you don’t need any special equipment to view them; just find an area away from lights, lie down on a comfy lawn chair or blanket, relax, and patiently look up. These brief bright streaks are caused by Earth moving through the stream of fine dust particles left by the passage of Comet Halley. While we have to wait another 43 years for the famous comet grace our skies once more, we are treated to this beautiful cosmic postcard every year. While you’re up meteor watching, try to find a delightful naked eye star clus-ter: the Coma Star Cluster (aka Melotte 111) in the small constellation of Coma Berenices. It can be spotted after sunset in the east and for almost the entire night during the month of May. Look for it inside the area of the sky roughly framed between the constellations of Leo, Boötes, and Ursa Major. The cluster’s sparkly members are also known as “Berenice’s Hair” in honor of Egyptian Queen Berenices II’s sacrifice of her lovely tresses. Binoculars will bring out even more stars in this large young cluster. May marks the 50th anniversary of the Lunar Module’s test run by the Apollo 10 mission! On May 22, 1969, NASA astronauts Thomas Safford and Eugene Cernan piloted the Lunar Module - nicknamed “Snoopy” - on a test descent towards the lunar surface. Undocking from “Charlie Brown” - the Command Module, piloted by John Young – they descended to 47,400 feet above the surface of the Moon before returning safely to the orbiting Command Module. Their success paved the way for the first humans to land on the Moon later that year with Apollo 11. Look for the Moon on the morning of May 22, before or after dawn, and contemplate what it must have felt like to hover mere miles above the lunar surface. You’ll also see the bright giant planets Saturn and Jupiter on either side of the Moon before sunrise. When will humans travel to those distant worlds? You can catch up on all of NASA’s current and future missions at nasa.gov

Watching the Late Spring Skies By David Prosper

NASA's Night Sky Notes

The Astronews Page 8

Meteor Log—May 2019 by Tom Giguere

First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter New Moon

May 11 May 18 May 26 May 4

Could be a good year for the Eta Aquarids – let’s find some dark sky and score a few! Tom Giguere, 808-782-1408, Thomas.giguere@yahoo.com; Mike Morrow, PO Box 6692, Ocean View, HI 96737

** Part 2 ** Clearly there was a brief violent movement of the left NAC. The only logical explanation is that the NAC was hit by a meteoroid! How big was the mete-oroid, and where did it hit? The physical properties and vibration modes of the NAC are very well known – during development a detailed computer model was made to ensure the NAC would not fail during the vibrations caused by the launch, which are severe. The computer model was tested be-fore launch by attaching the NAC to a vibration table that simulates launch. The model was solid, both NACs survived the test, and launch. Most of each NAC is sequestered inside the spacecraft structure, so only the leading edge of the baffle and the radiator are exposed to space (Figure 2), and thus are potential targets for impactors. From the detailed computer mod-el, the LROC team ran simulations to see if we could reproduce the distor-tions seen the image. Assuming an impact velocity of 7 kilometers per sec-ond and a density 2.7 g/cm3, an impacting particle would have been 0.8 mm in diameter (~half the size of a pinhead) see Figure 3. If the velocity was faster, then the particle would have been smaller, and if slower then larger. For comparison, the muzzle velocity of a bullet fired from a rifle is typically 0.5 to 1.0 kilometers per second. The meteoroid was traveling much faster than a speeding bullet. In this case LROC did not dodge a speeding bullet,

(Continued on page 11)

Shower Activi-ty

Maximum Radiant V∞ r ZHR

Date λ⊙ α δ km/s

η-Aquariids (ETA), 031 ETA

Apr 19–May 28

May 06 45.5° 338° -01° 66 2.4 50

η -Lyrids (ELY), 145 ELY

May 03–May 14

May 09 48.0° 287° +44° 43 3.0 3

Page 9

Treasurer’s Report by Peter Besenbruch

Your fearless treasurer was “keymaster” for the April club star party. No-one showed up. I can’t say as I blame anyone. I left at 7:00 p.m., but not before watch-ing a truly remarkable sunset. There weren’t going to be any stars, but at least the trip wasn’t a total loss. Again, welcome to all new members. We hope you bring nothing but good weath-er with you. Thanks also to those who donated to the club. That will show up in next months report. See you at the May meeting.

Cash Flow - 3/10/2019 to 4/09/2019

Beginning Balance 2559.40

Ending Balance $2619.41

Money into selected accounts comes from

Donation 0.00

Membership - Electronic 80.00

Membership - Family 8.00

Membership - Paper 50.00

Subscription – Astronomy 34.00

Subscription – Sky & Tel 65.90

Money In $237.90

Money out of selected accounts goes to

AstroNews 62.03

Snacks 15.96

Subscription – Astronomy 34.00

Subscription – Sky & Tel 65.90

Money Out $177.89

Difference $60.01

The Astronews Page 10

A view of Apollo 10’s Lunar Module from the Command Module as it returned from maneuvers above the lunar surface. Photo Credit: NASA Source: http://bit.ly/apollo10view

Try to spot the Coma Star Cluster! Image created with assistance from Stellarium

Page 11

but rather survived a speeding bullet! It is somewhat amazing that this event was captured in a NAC image. LROC typical-ly images only during daylight, and then only 10% of the day. So to begin with there was only a 5% chance of an impact occurring during image acquisition. How many times LROC and LRO have been hit by other meteoroids? Maybe there is another NAC image recording a similar event and we have not found it yet? Regardless, LROC was struck and survived to keep exploring the Moon - many thanks to Malin Space Science Systems for a robust camera design! Posted by Mark Robinson on May 26, 2017 17:03 UTC.

(Continued from page 8) Meteor Log by Tom Giguere

Figure 2. The NAC on a bench in the clean room at Malin Space Science Systems. The radiator (right) ex-tends off the electronics end and keeps the CCD cool while imaging the hot Moon. Computer modeling shows the meteoroid impacted somewhere on the radiator.

Figure 3. Model vs. image - the blue line traces the back-and-forth motion seen in the NAC image, while the red line is the best model fit of an impactor to the NAC radiator.

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