The Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club€¦ · what we enjoy of sharing this...

The Monthly Newsletter of the

BaysMountain AstronomyClub

Edited by Adam Thanz M o re o n t h i s i m a g e .

S e e F N 1

June 2020

Chapter 1

Cosmic Reflections

W i l l i a m Tro x e l - B M A C C h a i r

M o re o n t h i s i m a g e .

S e e F N 2

Greetings fellow BMACers!

First I want to thank Tom Rutherford and his students for sharing their projects with us last meeting. I also want to thank Adam for suggesting the use of Zoom to have our meeting. I thank Robin for letting us use her account to have the first meeting. And a big thank you to everyone for attending the meeting. June’s meeting will be using Zoom again. I will be sending out the meeting invitation to BMACers the week of the 5th of June.

Jonathan Peters will be the primary speaker for the meeting. He will be showing us an update of his personal home observatory. He has in the past shown us some tantalizing pictures of the preparation and the construction phases of his project. Now he wants to give us a live tour! He will be focusing on how he plans to use the observatory in his observational astronomy interests. I want to thank him for his willingness to share his project with the club. I want to encourage you to share your projects with the club, too. Just let me know and I will put you on the schedule for one our meetings. I hope you will be able to attend online. Look for the invitation e-mail, it will be coming from me.

I want to encourage you to get your show 'n tell items ready because we have another show 'n tell segment for the June meeting.

Let's talk about some of the business items that we will be covering at this meeting. June is the month for election for Chairman of the club for the next year. I will be placing my name for your consideration to serve as your club chairman again. If you are interested in placing your name in for consideration, I encourage you to contact Adam as soon as possible.

I am working on an idea for the July meeting, normally the annual picnic, which is usually a really fun time. This year, of course, we can not meet. More details will be forth coming….

I want to continue to encourage you to get out with your equipment and enjoy the night sky. Try your hand at taking pictures with your smart phones or DSLRs and get the shot of the Moon through the eyepiece. Another option could be attaching your smart phone or camera to binoculars, I know some of you enjoy that as your primary way to look at the night sky. I would also encourage you to mix up the picture a little and

William Troxel

Cosmic Reflections

Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 3


S e e F N 3

add different filters to your eyepiece, see what differences beyond color change, if any, you see.

I reminded everyone in attendance at the May meeting about using this time to get caught up on your reading, repairs and just practice with the equipment you have. These are very unusual times. No one knows when we will be able to be at the Park doing what we enjoy of sharing this hobby with the public and amongst ourselves. Until next time, please stay safe! We are in this together and we are going to get through this!

Clear Skies….

4 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020

Chapter 2

BMACNotes


S e e F N 4

BMACers Take First Step into Virtual WorldBMAC Members enjoyed their first online meeting on May 8, 2020. Not to let a pandemic hold them back, they attended the meeting through Zoom, a computer interface that allowed them a way to share their video and audio feeds with each other. As William describes in his article, we included all the normal parts of our meeting. We had a key speaker(s), club business, and show and tell! Here are a few pictures from that meeting.

BMAC News



S e e F N 3


Just a sampling of BMACers who attended the first online BMAC

meeting.


One student’s project where she made a robotic arm.


We learned about what happens to fruit flies when launched into high

orbit.


Some images from the balloon launch.


Some students couldn’t present in

person, so lead educator Tom

Rutherford presented for them.

Astronomical League Observing ProgramsThe following information is from the AL website in order to help you understand some of the benefits you, as a current BMAC member, enjoy. The AL dues are paid by the Park Association. Adam Thanz is the ALCOR (Astronomical League Coordinator) for the club and is the person that accepts observing logs. He is required to grade certain observing programs and passes on the pass/fail onto the AL. Any certificates/pins will come from the AL. He will pass on the more advanced programs to the correct person for evaluation of completion.

The AL also has a host of other benefits and services for members. Please visit https://www.astroleague.org for all information.

IntroductionThe Astronomical League provides many different Observing Programs. These Observing Programs are designed to provide a direction for your observations and to provide a goal. The Observing Programs have certificates and pins to recognize the observers’ accomplishments and for demonstrating their observing skills with a variety of instruments and objects.

As a quick reference, you can compare the programs in these lists:

• Observing Programs (listed alphabetically).

• Download a listing of the requirements for each program in a grid format (pdf).

• Listing of programs showing observer level (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

• Listing of programs showing equipment needed (naked-eye, binocular, telescope).

Observing Programs offer a certificate based upon achieving certain observing goals and completion is recognized with a beautiful pin. You are required to observe a specific number of objects from a list or of a specific type (meteors, comets, etc.) with a specific type of instrument (eyes, binoculars, telescope). Some Observing Programs have multiple levels of accomplishment within, and some permit observations of different types (manual vs. go-to, visual vs. imaging) and note this on your certificate. There is no time limit for completing the required observing (except for the Planetary Transit Special Awards and the NASA Observing Challenges), but good record keeping is required.

The Observing Programs are designed to be individual effort. Each observer must perform all the requirements of each Observing Program themselves and not rely on other people to locate the objects. This is called "piggy-backing" and is not acceptable for logging objects for any of the Observing Programs. You are allowed to look through another observer’s


https://www.astroleague.org

https://www.astroleague.org

https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/AlphabeticObservingClubs.html

https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/AlphabeticObservingClubs.html

https://www.astroleague.org/files/u220/ALObservingPrograms.pdf




https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/LevelObservingClubs.html




https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/EquipmentObservingClubs.html




telescope to see what the object looks like, but you still need to locate and observe the object on your own.

When you reach the requisite number of objects, your observing logs are examined by an appropriate authority and you will receive a certificate and pin to proclaim to all that you have reached your goal. Many local astronomical societies even post lists of those who have obtained their certificates as does the Astronomical League.

When you complete an Observing Program by yourself, you should feel a sense of pride and great accomplishment for what you have just completed. Each Observing Program is designed not only to show you a variety of objects in the sky and to learn some science related to those objects, but to also familiarize you with your telescope and how to use it, night-sky navigation (the ability to find the objects in the vastness of space) and to learn some observing techniques that will enhance your viewing of the objects in the programs.

Types of CertificationsThe Astronomical League offers different types of certifications to recognize different levels of accomplishment.

1 Observing Programs: These usually require about 100 observations, may take a year to complete, and often focus on specific objects or techniques. Although there may be

certificates for partial levels, completion of the Observing Program will have a certificate and a pin.

2 Observing Awards: These usually have a certificate and a pin upon completion, but usually do not count towards the Master Observer Award.

3 Special Observing Awards: These usually have a certificate and a pin upon completion, but do not count towards the Master Observer Progression. They are for very specific one-time events, and usually require significant effort by the observer.

4 Observing Certificates: These are certificates only and are given to those who complete the requirements. An example would be the NASA Observing Challenges. These do not count towards the Master Observer Progression.

5 Self-Service Certificates: These are certificates only and are available on the website for download. An example would be a Messier Marathon certificate.

Terms of Common Usage in Astronomical League Observing ProgramsThere are some terms that will be used throughout Astronomical League Observing Programs. To avoid any confusion due to different definitions, these terms are defined here.

Seeing and Transparency


https://www.astroleague.org/content/terms-common-usage-observing

https://www.astroleague.org/content/terms-common-usage-observing

Many of the Astronomical League's Observing Programs require the inclusion of information on Seeing and Transparency. The Observing Programs will accept a number of different scales and techniques. For details on a easy to use technique that is accepted by all of the Observing Programs, click here.

Observing Log DescriptionsMany of the Astronomical League's Observing Programs require the inclusion of a Description. Although there is a lot of freedom in including what is most significant in the individual objects, there is an expectation that they will be substantive. For details on what makes a good description, click here.

Use of Vision Enhancing DevicesThe use of Vision Enhancing Devices (Night Vision Tools) is not allowed in the Astronomical League's Observing Programs. Those programs that are based on visual observing often require details in a description or as a sketch (star color, etc.) that would not be possible with these tools.

Observing Program Planning ToolsAaron Clevenson, one of the AL National Observing Program Coordinators, has created two tools designed to help Astronomical League members manage their progress with the AL Observing Programs. One is a monthly publication (in Microsoft Word) that highlights objects by observing club that are visible in the evening sky that month. It is called "What's Up Doc?". The other is a large spreadsheet (in Microsoft Excel) that

lets you set your observing Latitude and Longitude as well as the Universal Time of your observation session and it will tell you information on which objects for all of the AL Observing Programs are visible. It lists the object from highest altitude to lowest. It has information on over 4500 objects and all of the AL Observing Programs. It is called "What's Up Tonight, Doc?". To get copies of the monthly list, please go to the What's Up Doc? website.

Do You Like Optics?If you like to mess around with optics or would like to understand how optics work in a practical manner, then you’ll like this website. It is a free, online application that runs through your browser. You can place lenses, mirrors, light sources, etc. onto a virtual optics table and move them about and change parameters. Want to learn how a telescope works? You can place the mirrors and lenses in the right place and you’ll see how they affect the light rays.

https://ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/


https://www.astroleague.org/content/seeing-and-transparency-guide

https://www.astroleague.org/content/seeing-and-transparency-guide

https://www.astroleague.org/content/observing-program-log-descriptions-guide

https://www.astroleague.org/content/observing-program-log-descriptions-guide

http://humbleisd.net/Page/81224

http://humbleisd.net/Page/81224




Developed by ricktu288, j3soon | Home | Source

File: Undo Redo Reset Save Open

Tools: Ray Beam Point source Blocker Ruler Protractor Move view

View: Extended rays All Images Seen by Observer

Settings: Ray Density : -2.3025850929940455 Grid Snap to Grid Lock Objects Zoom : 60.78832729528464

Rays

Help

GlassesMirrors

Ray Optics Simulation https://ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/

1 of 1 5/28/20, 4:37 PM

Chapter 3

Celestial Happenings

J a s o n D o r f m a n


S e e F N 5

With the world on lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus, I thought I’d return to a look at what’s up in the sky for the month of June. Perhaps you’ve been taking advantage of the rare clear nights over the last couple of months to go out and gaze upon the starry sky. One of the beneficial side-effects of everyone staying home has been a noticeable reduction in the amount of air pollution, which has the potential to also help provide us with some clearer night skies. However, as summer approaches, we know that our region is prone to hazy skies during this time of year. Nevertheless, we must hope for the best and take what we can get.

With June, we are seeing the days reach the longest and nights the shortest. The Sun sets around 8:45-8:50 p.m. and rises around 6:14 a.m. This means that we won’t get really dark skies until after 10 p.m. But, if you’re willing to stay up late and observe with the warming night weather, you’ll catch some good views of most of the planets, as well as, the Moon.

PlanetsAs June begins, we find the swift-moving Mercury reaching its farthest swing away from the Sun. On the 1st, look to the WNW

an hour after sunset to find faint Mercury about 8° high amongst the fading twilight. At magnitude +0.1, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find, as long as you have an unobstructed view towards the horizon. Telescopes will reveal the disk of Mercury about 40% illuminated and spanning about 8”. The planet reaches its greatest eastern elongation on the 3rd. As the second week of June progresses, the opportunity to view our closest planet to the Sun becomes more challenging. After the 11th, Mercury begins a swift dive into the twilight glow of the setting Sun, becoming unobservable for the second half of June. On the 13th, Mercury’s magnitude will have lessened to +1.4, still observable but, at just 5° above the horizon an hour after sundown, a bit of a challenge with the hilly terrain of our region. If you're able to obtain a view through a scope, you’ll find a slightly larger and more crescent looking planet as it now appears about 10” in size with just 19% lit.

Once you’ve caught that rare view of the smallest planet in our Solar System, take a break from the planets for a bit, as our next planetary targets won’t be up for a few hours. There are plenty of wonderful deep-sky objects to observe this time of year. Start

Jason Dorfman

Celestial Happenings



S e e F N 3

with the Moon (not a deep-sky object, I know…) for the first week of June as it will be passing through its full phase at that time. Then, in the second week, look for those fainter celestial wonders. The Beehive Cluster in Cancer will be about 20° high in the west an hour and a half after sunset. Seek out some of the many galaxies in Leo and Virgo as you make your way eastward. Hercules and the bright globular cluster M13 are high in the east and the heart of the Milky Way with its plethora of clusters is just beginning to rise in the southeast.

Next up on the planetary roster are the giants, Jupiter and Saturn, which will rise within 20 minutes of each other in the ESE around midnight on the 1st and two hours earlier by the 30th. Jupiter is first with Saturn about 5° to the East. Both are currently moving in retrograde and heading towards opposition next month. They straddle the border between Sagittarius and Capricornus. The best views of these two gas giants will come later as dawn approaches. Just before 5 a.m. they will be at their highest altitude of almost 35°due south.

Over the month, Jupiter’s magnitude will increase slightly from -2.6 to -2.7. Fainter Saturn will do the same, going from +0.4 to +0.2. Of course, the true wonders of these worlds are revealed with a telescope. The disk of Jupiter with its distinct and colorful bands spans a large 45” and will grow slightly larger to 46.6” by month’s end. Though not as colorful, the disk of Saturn is still impressive at around 18” this month. But the real viewing delight

of Saturn is its amazing ring system which extends to roughly 42”. While you’re enjoying the satisfying views of Jupiter and Saturn, don’t forget to look for the larger moons of these two worlds. The number of satellites orbiting these worlds is quite a lot and keeps growing as we continue our discovery. Saturn now dominates with 82 moons and Jupiter is close behind with 79. Of course, most of these are not able to be seen with our amateur scopes. There are 4 large moons around Jupiter : Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Saturn has 5 observable moons: Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Titan. Smaller Enceladus can be more challenging to identify due to the proximity of Saturn’s bright rings.

Shortly after 2 a.m. on the 1st, the Red Planet, will be rising just south of east. Mars will rise an hour earlier by the end of the month. As dawn approaches around 5 a.m., look for it about 30° high above the SE horizon. Mars is currently moving eastward through Aquarius and will cross into Pisces on the 24th. Over the month of June, you can observe some slight changes with this heavily explored world. Its magnitude will brighten slightly from 0.0 to -0.5. The disk of Mars spans about 9” as the month begins and will reach 11” as the month ends.

During June, Mars will pass near another planet also found in the constellation of Aquarius, the distant ice world Neptune. On the 12th, Mars will be 1.8° south of Neptune. Unfortunately, a nearly


3rd quarter Moon will be just 7° to the SW, making it more difficult to observe the fainter, magnitude +7.9 Neptune.

As we get into the second half of June, for those early morning observers, another planet will become observable in the hour before sunrise, Earth’s sister planet - Venus. As June begins, Venus is moving quickly from the eastern side to the western side of the Sun with its inferior conjunction occurring on the 3rd. By the 18th, it will be visible a half hour before sunup about 8° high in the ENE. A very thin, waning crescent will be about 10° to the west of magnitude -4.3 Venus on this day. The Moon will occult Venus on the following night, though the Moon and Venus will rise AFTER this has Venus has reemerged for our region. By the 30th, Venus, sitting just above the face of Taurus, will reach roughly 14° high 45 minutes before sunrise.

LunaA night of observing would not be complete without a view of the Moon… when it is visible, of course. You’ll find a waxing gibbous Moon in the head of Virgo at the start of the month. The Moon will reach Full Moon as it moves into southern Ophiuchus on the 5th. Over the 8th and 9th, a waning gibbous Moon will pass by the planets Jupiter and Saturn and a third quarter Moon will be about 4° from Mars.

That’s all for this month. I hope you’re all well and staying safe. Have fun observing!


Chapter 4

TheQueenSpeaks

R o b i n B y r n e

This month we honor the life of a man who made several contributions to the space program - all with a wicked sense of humor. Charles Peter “Pete” Conrad, Jr. was born June 2, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family was well-off, but had a reversal of fortune due to the Great Depression. They lost their house, and moved into a small cottage, paid for by his mother’s brother. Pete’s father was so devastated by his failure, he left his family.

As a schoolboy, Pete was considered to be smart, but he always struggled in his classes. It turns out that he suffered from dyslexia, a condition barely understood at the time. Pete attended a private school, which several generations of his family had attended. After his family lost their money, his uncle continued to pay for his tuition. Sadly, because of his struggles with dyslexia, Pete failed his Junior year of High School and was expelled. Pete’s mother believed in him and found a school that was able to teach Pete techniques to cope with his disability. Armed with his new coping skills, Pete finished school with honors, and was awarded a full Navy ROTC scholarship to attend Princeton University.

When Pete was only 15 years old, he got a job at the Paoli Airfield, asking to be paid not with cash, but with time in their airplanes and flight lessons. He started doing odd jobs around the airfield, but soon was working on the planes, doing basic maintenance work. When he was 16, one of the flight instructors had to make an emergency landing 100 miles away. Pete drove out to him and was able to repair the plane. From that point on, the flight instructor gave Pete the flight lessons needed to earn his pilot’s license.

While in college, majoring in Aeronautical Engineering, Conrad continued to fly. It was while at Princeton that Conrad met and began dating Jane DuBose, who was attending nearby Bryn Mawr. It was Jane’s father who dubbed him “Pete” (his family had always called him Peter). In 1953, Conrad graduated with a B.S. degree and was immediately commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy. Also in that year, Pete and Jane got married. They would have four sons over the next seven years.

Conrad’s first stop in the Navy was Pensacola, Florida for flight training. By 1954, Conrad was a Naval Aviator and became a fighter pilot. He served in many capacities, including as a flight

Robin Byrne

Happy Birthday Pete Conrad



S e e F N 3


Gemini 11 - (September 15, 1966) - Astronauts Charles

Conrad Jr. (right) and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. pose

in front of the recovery helicopter which brought them to the U.S.S. Guam.


Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Al Bean pose with the Apollo

12 Saturn V in the background on the pad at the Cape on 29 October 1969.


Pete Conrad’s reflection in Alan

Bean’s visor.


(4 May 1973) --- The three prime crew members of the first manned Skylab mission (Skylab 2) are

photographed at Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, during

preflight activity. They are, left to right, astronaut Paul J. Weitz, pilot;

astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., commander; and scientist-astronaut

Joseph P. Kerwin, science pilot. In the background is

the Skylab 1/Saturn V space vehicle with its Skylab space station payload on Pad A.

instructor. Then Conrad was accepted to the Naval Test Pilot School in Maryland. Among his classmates were two other future astronauts: Wally Schirra and Jim Lovell. In 1958, Conrad graduated and was named as a Project Test Pilot. Over the course of his career, Conrad logged over 6,500 hours of flight time, with over 5,000 hours in jets.

Conrad was almost one of the original Mercury astronauts. In 1958, he was asked to participate in the selection process. Many of the tests the original astronauts had to endure were fairly outrageous, and Conrad’s rebellious sense of humor took over. Part of the screening included looking at ink blots and describing what they saw. For one of the ink blots, Conrad described in great detail a lurid sex scene that he “saw.” In another test, he was given a blank white sheet and asked to describe what image was on it. He turned it over and said, “It’s upside down.” To deliver a requested stool sample, Conrad put it in a box tied up with a ribbon. When he had reached his limit with the tests, Conrad made his statement in no unconditional terms - he dropped a full enema bag on the commanding officer’s desk and then walked out. Not too surprisingly, Conrad’s application was denied. Included with the rejection was a note saying “not suitable for long duration flight.” That would ultimately be proven to be very wrong.

Four years later, after the success of the Mercury Program, and in response to Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon before

the end of the decade, Project Gemini was about to begin. That meant needing a new batch of astronauts. Conrad’s friend Al Shepard, America’s first man in space, suggested Conrad should apply again. The tests they were put through this time were much more reasonable, so Conrad was more cooperative. On September 17, 1962, Pete Conrad became a member of the “New Nine” astronauts. Among the training the new astronauts endured were: jungle survival, geology lessons, water egress from the spacecraft, physicals, and endless hours in flight simulators.

Conrad was considered one of the best pilots in his group, so it wasn’t surprising that he would be given one of the first Gemini flights. His first mission was in 1965 aboard Gemini 5 as the Pilot, with one of the original Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper, as the Commander. During their flight, they set an endurance record of eight days, which beat the Russian record at the time of five days. Eight days was considered the minimum amount of time for a mission to the Moon, so they proved a Moon mission was possible, at least in terms of the health of the astronauts. This flight was the first to use fuel cells as the power source. They also tested the radar guidance system, as well as taking photographs of the Earth. All in all, the mission was a complete success.

Conrad’s next mission, in 1966, would be as the Commander of Gemini 11, with Dick Gordon as the Pilot. During the mission, they successfully docked with an Aegena Target Vehicle. Docking in space was a key milestone needed to be met before we could


send people to the Moon. After the docking, they used the Aegena rocket to boost their orbit to a higher altitude from Earth. This mission still holds the record of being the highest of any orbital mission, at an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 851 miles. While docked, Gordon performed two spacewalks, including connecting the Gemini spacecraft to the rocket with a tether. After returning to the capsule, the spacecraft undocked, but remained tethered. They then used thrusters to set the system into a slow rotation to be the first mission to generate artificial gravity in space.

After the successful conclusion of the Gemini Program, it was time for Apollo. Despite the devastating setbacks of the Apollo 1 fire, the program ultimately progressed forward. The success of Apollo 11 meant it was up to the remaining crews to prove landing on the Moon could be repeated, and that more could be accomplished. On November 14, 1969, Pete Conrad flew as the Commander of Apollo 12, with Dick Gordon as his Command Module Pilot and Alan Bean as his Lunar Module Pilot. Their launch took place during a rain storm. The rocket flying through the clouds created enough static electricity to cause the spacecraft to be hit by lightning more than once. That resulted in the power and guidance systems being knocked out in the capsule. Fortunately, someone on the ground quickly knew how to fix the problem. After arriving at the Moon, Conrad and Bean separated from their command module, the Yankee Clipper, and flew the lunar module, Intrepid, to the surface of the Moon. Their

landing was one of the most precise performed, landing only 600 feet from the Surveyor-3 spacecraft they were targeting. As Conrad, the third man to walk on the Moon, jumped down from the ladder to the surface, he said, “Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me.” Conrad later confessed that he said that to win a $500 bet with an Italian journalist who was convinced that NASA scripted what the astronauts said. Sadly, the journalist never paid up. Once on the Moon, Conrad and Bean collected rock samples, set up a radio antenna, a solar wind experiment, and placed an American flag near the landing site. They also set up equipment for measuring moon quakes, solar radiation, and detecting dust and gasses. Additionally, they collected some pieces from the Surveyor-3 spacecraft to bring back to Earth for study. At one point during their 31 hours 31 minutes on the Moon, Conrad became the first person, but not the last, to fall on the Moon. One of the pictures Conrad took during the mission was of his own reflection in Alan Bean’s visor. That image has been immortalized in Popular Science’s list of best astronaut selfies.

In 1973, Conrad’s last mission for NASA was as the Commander of Skylab 2, which was the first manned crew to inhabit America’s first space station. His crew mates would be Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz. They almost couldn’t complete their mission. After six unsuccessful attempts to dock with the space station, the crew put on their EVA suits and opened up the airlock to the docking mechanism. After opening it up, they saw the culprit, a loose


screw, fly off into space. After that obstacle was removed, they were able to dock. The station had been launched unmanned 11 days earlier, and experienced some damage during its deployment. The micrometeoroid shield had been torn away, which pulled away one of the solar panels and jammed the other. So, the first job of the crew was to repair the damage. During the course of two spacewalks, Conrad used brute force to pull the stuck solar panel free. They also created a solar shield to replace the micrometeoroid shield, which helped shade the station, after becoming unbearably hot. During their 28 day stay on the station, the crew performed experiments related to medicine and telescopic studies of the Sun and Earth. When they returned to Earth, the crew of Skylab 2 had set the record for the longest successful crewed mission in space. So much for someone once deemed “not suitable for long duration flight.”

Pete Conrad retired from NASA in 1973, going to work in the private sector. He worked for a variety of companies, including: American Television and Communication Company (a company in the “new” field of cable television), McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company, and as a consultant for Delta Clipper, which was an experimental launch vehicle.

The demanding schedule of life as an astronaut took its toll on many marriages, and Pete’s was no exception. In 1988, Pete and Jane divorced. Sadly, the following year, one of Pete’s sons was

diagnosed with a malignant lymphoma, and died one year later. That same year, Pete met Nancy Crane, and later married her.

In 1996, at the age of 66, Conrad was part of the crew for a jet flight that went around the world in 49 hours 26 minutes. They set a world record, and the Learjet that was flown is on permanent display at the Denver International Airport.

In June of 1999, Pete Conrad was interviewed on the ABC series Nightline. When asked about whether the Shuttle program was worth the cost, Conrad replied, "I think the Space Shuttle is worth one billion dollars a launch. I think that it is worth two billion dollars for what it does. I think the Shuttle is worth it for the work it does.” Conrad was also interviewed around the same time for the PBS series Nova. Upon discussing the future of space exploration, Conrad was in support of missions to Mars or an asteroid, but thought that going back to the Moon was "a waste of taxpayer money.”

On July 8, 1999, Pete, his wife, and a group of friends were riding their motorcycles from Huntington Beach to Monterey, California. While going around a turn, Pete’s motorcycle crashed. Despite wearing a helmet and going the speed limit, Pete Conrad died later that day from internal injuries. He was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, they have the tradition of planting trees in honor of astronauts who have died. At the planting ceremony, Pete’s Apollo 12 crew mate Alan Bean, was one of the speakers. In a


humorous tribute, Bean pretended to be channeling Conrad’s wishes. He said that, instead of the usual white lights NASA used to decorate the trees every Christmas, Conrad wanted colored lights, because they were more in keeping with his motto, "when you can't be good, be colorful.” To this day, all the trees have white lights, except for Conrad’s, which has red lights.

From overcoming dyslexia to being a pilot to becoming an astronaut, Pete Conrad was a man who accomplished so much. He flew in space four times, spending 32 hours on the Moon, and a total of 1,200 hours in space. He was outrageously funny and irreverent, but always got the job done. Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 11 mission probably said it best: "Funny, noisy, colorful, cool, competent; snazzy dresser, race-car driver. One of the few who lives up to the image. Should play Pete Conrad in a Pete Conrad movie.” Happy Birthday, Pete!

References:Pete Conrad - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Conrad

Conrad, Jr. Charles “Pete” - The National Aviation Hall of Fame

https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/conrad-jr-charles/

Pete Conrad: Apollo 12 Commander - space.Com by Elizabeth Howell

https://www.space.com/20519-pete-conrad-astronaut-biography.html












Chapter 5

Space Place


S e e F N 6

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and look up during June evenings, you’ll see the brilliant star Vega shining overhead. Did you know that Vega is one of the most studied stars in our skies? As one of the brightest summer stars, Vega has fascinated astronomers for thousands of years.

Vega is the brightest star in the small Greek constellation of Lyra, the harp. It’s also one of the three points of the large “Summer Triangle” asterism, making Vega one of the easiest stars to find for novice stargazers. Ancient humans from 14,000 years ago likely knew Vega for another reason: it was the Earth’s northern pole star! Compare Vega’s current position with that of the current north star, Polaris, and you can see how much the Earth’s tilt changes over thousands of years. This slow movement is called precession, and in 12,000 years Vega will return to the northern pole star position.

Bright Vega has been observed closely since the beginning of modern astronomy and even helped to set the standard for the current magnitude scale used to categorize the brightness of stars. Polaris and Vega have something else in common, besides being once and future pole stars: their brightness varies over time, making them variable stars. Variable stars’ light can change

for many different reasons. Dust, smaller stars, or even planets may block the light we see from the star. Or the star itself might be unstable with active sunspots, expansions, or eruptions changing its brightness. Most stars are so far away that we only record the change in light, and can’t see their surface.

NASA’s TESS satellite has ultra-sensitive light sensors primed to look for the tiny dimming of starlight caused by transits of extrasolar planets.Their sensitivity also allowed TESS to observe much smaller pulsations in a certain type of variable star’s light than previously observed. These observations of Delta Scuti variable stars will help astronomers model their complex interiors and make sense of their distinct, seemingly chaotic, pulsations. This is a major contribution towards the field of astroseismology: the study of stellar interiors via observations of how sound waves “sing” as they travel through stars. The findings may help settle the debate over what kind of variable star Vega is. Find more details on this research, including a sonification demo that lets you “hear” the heartbeat of one of these stars, at: https://bit.ly/DeltaScutiTESS

Interested in learning more about variable stars? Want to observe their changing brightness? Check out the website for

David Prosper and Vivian White

Summer Triangle Corner: Vega



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https://bit.ly/DeltaScutiTESS






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the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) at https://www.aavso.org. You can also find the latest news about Vega and other fascinating stars at https://www.nasa.gov.

This article is distributed by the NASA Night Sky Network. The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!


https://www.aavso.org

https://www.aavso.org

https://www.nasa.gov

https://www.nasa.gov

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov




Chapter 6

BMAC

Calendar

and more


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BMAC Calendar and more



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Date Time Location Notes

B M A C M e e t i n g sB M A C M e e t i n g sB M A C M e e t i n g sB M A C M e e t i n g s

Friday, June 5, 2020 7 p Via ZoomProgram: BMACer Jonathan Peters will give us a tour of his home-made observatory via Zoom; Free. This is a

BMAC-only event. Members will receive the meeting link directly.

Friday, August 7, 2020 ? ? Program TBA.

Friday, September 4, 2020 ? ? Program TBA.

S u n W a t c hS u n W a t c hS u n W a t c hS u n W a t c h

Every Saturday & SundayMarch - October

Cancelled until further notice. View the Sun safely with a white-light view if clear.; Free.

S t a r W a t c hS t a r W a t c hS t a r W a t c hS t a r W a t c h

October 3, 10, 2020 7:30 p

Cancelled until further notice. View the night sky with large telescopes. If poor weather, an alternate live tour of the night sky will be held in the planetarium theater.; Free. If you are a club member and have completed the

Park volunteer program, you are welcome to help out with this public program. Please show up at least 30 minutes prior to the official start time.

October 17, 24, 31, 2020 7 pCancelled until further notice. View the night sky with large telescopes. If poor weather, an alternate live tour of the night sky will be held in the planetarium theater.; Free. If you are a club member and have completed the


November 7, 14, 21, 28, 2020 6 p

Cancelled until further notice. View the night sky with large telescopes. If poor weather, an alternate live tour of the night sky will be held in the planetarium theater.; Free. If you are a club member and have completed the


Bays Mountain Astronomy Club

853 Bays Mountain Park Road

Kingsport, TN 37650

(423) 229-9447

www.BaysMountain.com

[email protected]

Annual Dues:

Dues are supplemented by the Bays Mountain Park Association and volunteerism by the club. As such, our dues can be kept at a very low cost.

$16 /person/year

$6 /additional family member

Note: if you are a Park Association member (which incurs an additional fee), then a 50% reduction in BMAC dues are applied.

The club’s website can be found here:

https://www.baysmountain.com/astronomy/astronomy-club/#newsletters

Regular Contributors:William Troxel

William is the current chair of the club. He enjoys everything to do with astronomy,

including sharing this exciting and interesting hobby with anyone that will

listen! He has been a member since 2010.

Robin Byrne

Robin has been writing the science history column since 1992 and was chair in 1997.

She is an Associate Professor of Astronomy & Physics at Northeast State

Community College (NSCC).

Jason Dorfman

Jason works as a planetarium creative and technical genius at Bays Mountain Park.

He has been a member since 2006.

Adam Thanz

Adam has been the Editor for all but a number of months since 1992. He is the

Planetarium Director at Bays Mountain Park as well as an astronomy adjunct for

NSCC.


http://www.BaysMountain.com

http://www.BaysMountain.com

mailto:[email protected]?subject=

mailto:[email protected]?subject=





Footnotes:1. The Rite of SpringOf the countless equinoxes Saturn has seen since the birth of the solar system, this one, captured here in a mosaic of light and dark, is the first witnessed up close by an emissary from Earth … none other than our faithful robotic explorer, Cassini.Seen from our planet, the view of Saturn’s rings during equinox is extremely foreshortened and limited. But in orbit around Saturn, Cassini had no such problems. From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini’s wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings, and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun’s disk was exactly overhead at the planet’s equator.The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun’s angle to the ring plane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and to cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn’s equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Before and after equinox, Cassini’s cameras have spotted not only the predictable shadows of some of Saturn’s moons (see PIA11657), but also the shadows of newly revealed vertical structures in the rings themselves (see PIA11665).Also at equinox, the shadows of the planet’s expansive rings are compressed into a single, narrow band cast onto the planet as seen in this mosaic. (For an earlier view of the rings’ wide shadows draped high on the northern hemisphere, see PIA09793.)The images comprising the mosaic, taken over about eight hours, were extensively processed before being joined together. First, each was re-projected into the same viewing geometry and then digitally processed to make the image “joints” seamless and to remove lens flares, radially extended bright artifacts resulting from light being scattered within the camera optics.At this time so close to equinox, illumination of the rings by sunlight reflected off the planet vastly dominates any meager sunlight falling on the rings. Hence, the half of the rings on the left illuminated by planetshine is, before processing, much brighter than the half of the rings on the right. On the right, it is only the vertically extended parts of the rings that catch any substantial sunlight.With no enhancement, the rings would be essentially invisible in this mosaic. To improve their visibility, the dark (right) half of the rings has been brightened relative to the brighter (left) half by a factor of three, and then the whole ring system has been brightened by a factor of 20 relative to the planet. So the dark half of the rings is 60 times brighter, and the bright half 20 times brighter, than they would have appeared if the entire system, planet included, could have been captured in a single image.The moon Janus (179 kilometers, 111 miles across) is on the lower left of this image. Epimetheus (113 kilometers, 70 miles across) appears near the middle bottom. Pandora (81 kilometers, 50

miles across) orbits outside the rings on the right of the image. The small moon Atlas (30 kilometers, 19 miles across) orbits inside the thin F ring on the right of the image. The brightnesses of all the moons, relative to the planet, have been enhanced between 30 and 60 times to make them more easily visible. Other bright specks are background stars. Spokes -- ghostly radial markings on the B ring -- are visible on the right of the image.This view looks toward the northern side of the rings from about 20 degrees above the ring plane.The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, beginning about 1.25 days after exact equinox, using the red, green and blue spectral filters of the wide angle camera and were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained at a distance of approximately 847,000 kilometers (526,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 74 degrees. Image scale is 50 kilometers (31 miles) per pixel.The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

2. Leo RisingA sky filled with stars and a thin veil of clouds.Image by Adam Thanz

3. The Cat's Eye Nebula, one of the first planetary nebulae discovered, also has one of the most complex forms known to this kind of nebula. Eleven rings, or shells, of gas make up the Cat's Eye.Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Acknowledgment: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain) and Z. Tsvetanov (NASA)

4. Jupiter & GanymedeNASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught Jupiter's moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp Hubble image, Ganymede is shown just before it ducks behind the giant planet.

Footnotes



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http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

http://ciclops.org

http://ciclops.org

Ganymede completes an orbit around Jupiter every seven days. Because Ganymede's orbit is tilted nearly edge-on to Earth, it routinely can be seen passing in front of and disappearing behind its giant host, only to reemerge later.Composed of rock and ice, Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It is even larger than the planet Mercury. But Ganymede looks like a dirty snowball next to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is so big that only part of its Southern Hemisphere can be seen in this image.Hubble's view is so sharp that astronomers can see features on Ganymede's surface, most notably the white impact crater, Tros, and its system of rays, bright streaks of material blasted from the crater. Tros and its ray system are roughly the width of Arizona.The image also shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the large eye-shaped feature at upper left. A storm the size of two Earths, the Great Red Spot has been raging for more than 300 years. Hubble's sharp view of the gas giant planet also reveals the texture of the clouds in the Jovian atmosphere as well as various other storms and vortices.Astronomers use these images to study Jupiter's upper atmosphere. As Ganymede passes behind the giant planet, it reflects sunlight, which then passes through Jupiter's atmosphere. Imprinted on that light is information about the gas giant's atmosphere, which yields clues about the properties of Jupiter's high-altitude haze above the cloud tops.This color image was made from three images taken on April 9, 2007, with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in red, green, and blue filters. The image shows Jupiter and Ganymede in close to natural colors.Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

5. 47 TucanaeIn the first attempt to systematically search for "extrasolar" planets far beyond our local stellar neighborhood, astronomers probed the heart of a distant globular star cluster and were surprised to come up with a score of "zero".To the fascination and puzzlement of planet-searching astronomers, the results offer a sobering counterpoint to the flurry of planet discoveries announced over the previous months."This could be the first tantalizing evidence that conditions for planet formation and evolution June be fundamentally different elsewhere in the galaxy," says Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, MD.The bold and innovative observation pushed NASA Hubble Space Telescope's capabilities to its limits, simultaneously scanning for small changes in the light from 35,000 stars in the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, located 15,000 light-years (4 kiloparsecs) away in the southern constellation Tucana.Hubble researchers caution that the finding must be tempered by the fact that some astronomers always considered the ancient globular cluster an unlikely abode for planets for a variety of reasons. Specifically, the cluster has a deficiency of heavier elements that June be needed for building planets. If this is the case, then planets June have formed later in the universe's evolution, when stars were richer in heavier elements. Correspondingly, life as we know it June have appeared later rather than sooner in the universe.Another caveat is that Hubble searched for a specific type of planet called a "hot Jupiter," which is considered an oddball among some planet experts. The results do not rule out the possibility that 47 Tucanae could contain normal solar systems like ours, which Hubble could not have detected. But even if that's the case, the "null" result implies there is still something fundamentally different between the way planets are made in our own neighborhood and how they are made in the cluster.

Hubble couldn't directly view the planets, but instead employed a powerful search technique where the telescope measures the slight dimming of a star due to the passage of a planet in front of it, an event called a transit. The planet would have to be a bit larger than Jupiter to block enough light — about one percent — to be measurable by Hubble; Earth-like planets are too small.However, an outside observer would have to watch our Sun for as long as 12 years before ever having a chance of seeing Jupiter briefly transit the Sun's face. The Hubble observation was capable of only catching those planetary transits that happen every few days. This would happen if the planet were in an orbit less than 1/20 Earth's distance from the Sun, placing it even closer to the star than the scorched planet Mercury — hence the name "hot Jupiter."Why expect to find such a weird planet in the first place?Based on radial-velocity surveys from ground-based telescopes, which measure the slight wobble in a star due to the small tug of an unseen companion, astronomers have found nine hot Jupiters in our local stellar neighborhood. Statistically this means one percent of all stars should have such planets. It's estimated that the orbits of 10 percent of these planets are tilted edge-on to Earth and so transit the face of their star.In 1999, the first observation of a transiting planet was made by ground-based telescopes. The planet, with a 3.5-day period, had previously been detected by radial-velocity surveys, but this was a unique, independent confirmation. In a separate program to study a planet in these revealing circumstances, Ron Gilliland (STScI) and lead investigator Tim Brown (National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO) demonstrated Hubble's exquisite ability to do precise photometry — the measurement of brightness and brightness changes in a star's light — by also looking at the planet. The Hubble data were so good they could look for evidence of rings or Earth-sized moons, if they existed.But to discover new planets by transits, Gilliland had to crowd a lot of stars into Hubble's narrow field of view. The ideal target was the magnificent southern globular star cluster 47 Tucanae, one of the closest clusters to Earth. Within a single Hubble picture Gilliland could observe 35,000 stars at once. Like making a time-lapse movie, he had to take sequential snapshots of the cluster, looking for a telltale dimming of a star and recording any light curve that would be the true signature of a planet.Based on statistics from a sampling of planets in our local stellar neighborhood, Gilliland and his co-investigators reasoned that 1 out of 1,000 stars in the globular cluster should have planets that transit once every few days. They predicted that Hubble should discover 17 hot Jupiter-class planets.To catch a planet in a several-day orbit, Gilliland had Hubble's "eagle eye" trained on the cluster for eight consecutive days. The result was the most data-intensive observation ever done by Hubble. STScI archived over 1,300 exposures during the observation. Gilliland and Brown sifted through the results and came up with 100 variable stars, some of them eclipsing binaries where the companion is a star and not a planet. But none of them had the characteristic light curve that would be the signature of an extrasolar planet.There are a variety of reasons the globular cluster environment June inhibit planet formation. 47 Tucanae is old and so is deficient in the heavier elements, which were formed later in the universe through the nucleosynthesis of heavier elements in the cores of first-generation stars. Planet surveys show that within 100 light-years of the Sun, heavy-element-rich stars are far more likely to harbor a hot Jupiter than heavy-element-poor stars. However, this is a chicken and egg puzzle because some theoreticians say that the heavy-element composition of a star June be enhanced after if it makes Jupiter-like planets and then swallows them as the planet orbit spirals into the star.The stars are so tightly compacted in the core of the cluster – being separated by 1/100th the distance between our Sun and the next nearest star — that gravitational tidal effects June strip nascent planets from their parent stars. Also, the high stellar density could disturb the subsequent migration of the planet inward, which parks the hot Jupiters close to the star.


Another possibility is that a torrent of ultraviolet light from the earliest and biggest stars, which formed in the cluster billions of years ago June have boiled away fragile embryonic dust disks out of which planets would have formed.These results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in December. Follow-up observations are needed to determine whether it is the initial conditions associated with planet birth or subsequent influences on evolution in this heavy-element-poor, crowded environment that led to an absence of planets.Credits for Hubble image: NASA and Ron Gilliland (Space Telescope Science Institute)

6. Space Place is a fantastic source of scientific educational materials for children of all ages. Visit them at:http://spaceplace.nasa.gov

7. NGC 3982Though the universe is chock full of spiral-shaped galaxies, no two look exactly the same. This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw material for future generations of stars. The bright nucleus is home to an older population of stars, which grow ever more densely packed toward the center.NGC 3982 is located about 68 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy spans about 30,000 light-years, one-third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. This color image is composed of exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The observations were taken between March 2000 and April 2009. The rich color range comes from the fact that the galaxy was photographed invisible and near-infrared light. Also used was a filter that isolates hydrogen emission that emanates from bright star-forming regions dotting the spiral arms.Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Acknowledgment: A. Riess (STScI)

8. Vega possesses two debris fields, similar to our own Solar System’s asteroid and Kuiper belts. Astronomers continue to hunt for planets orbiting Vega, but as of May 2020 none have been confirmed. More info: https://bit.ly/VegaSystem. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

9. Can you spot Vega? You may need to look straight up to find it, especially if observing after midnight.


http://spaceplace.nasa.gov

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov

https://bit.ly/VegaSystem

https://bit.ly/VegaSystem

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