Nene ValleyAstronomical Society

StargazerJuly & August 2016

M57 - The Ring Nebula In Lyra

www.neneastro.org.uk

Welcome to the latest edition of the NeneValley Astronomical Society’s Stargazernewsletter.

After a few months break we are re-launching your newsletter as a new lookbi-monthly publication which will bedistributed as before by PDF, but fromnow on will be available at our events forcollection as an A5 full colour publication.

As previously, we’ll be featuring Dave Eagle’s sky notes, providing thelatest society news and notes and featuring contributions from NVASmembers and friends.

I very much hope that the new look Stargazer will encourage more peopleto contribute. So, if you’d like to contribute an article, write a report on ameeting, or share your observations with your fellow members, thenplease get in touch.

Over recent months we’ve been enjoying a whole range of visiting guestspeakers at our meetings,including Professor Andrew Norton, Mike Frost,Jerry Stone, Dr Mike Leggett and Dr Robin Catchpole. Our speakerorganiser, Peta Jellis has been doing sterling work and will shortly bestarting organise the lecture programme for 2017. So if you have anysuggestions for speakers or topics you’d like to see covered, then pleaselet Peta know.

We have a couple of guest speakers visiting us during July. Dr AnnBonnell will be at Sudborough on 7th July and Jerry Workman will be atChelveston on 18th July. Further information is on the next page.

Clear Skies,

Steve Williams

Co-ordinator: Steve Williams (astrosteveuk@yahoo.co.uk)

Speaker Organiser: Peta Jellis

Treasurer: David Jones

Web Site: Tony Stock & Mick Price

Meeting Refreshments: Alec Parker & Penny Smith

Society Meetings & EventsThursday 7th July: ‘The Search For Vulcan and Other Solar SystemEngimas’ by Dr Ann Bonnell. Sudborough Village Hall, Main Street,Sudborough at 8pm. Admission £3. The history of astronomy is litteredwith observations and theories about planets and moons that weresubsequently shown not to exist. This evening Dr Ann Bonnell from theLeicester Astronomical Society will tell you about some of these e.g. thehypothetical planet Vulcan that was thought to be closer to the Sun thanMercury. You will also hear about how some ‘sightings’ did in fact makesome important contributions to astronomy.

Monday 18th July: ‘Pluto and Other Small Bodies Of The Solar System’by Jerry Workman at Chelveston Village Hall, Caldecott Road,Chelveston at 8pm. Admission £3. This evening Jerry will talk aboutAsteroids including information on Vesta and Ceres. Ceres and Vesta arethe two most massive residents of the asteroid belt, Vesta is a rockybody, while Ceres is believed to contain large quantities of ice. He willthen talk about comets including the latest mission to comet67P/CG(Churyumov-Gerasimenko) from the Rosetta mission finishing histalk on Pluto from New Horizons mission and other planets and moons.

Thursday 4th August: ‘The Sky Guide & Astronomical News’ along withshort talks. Sudborough Village Hall, Main Street, Sudborough at 8pm.Admission £2.

Friday 12th August - ‘Perseid Meteor Watch & Observing Session’ atChelveston Village Hall, Caldecott Road, Chelveston from 8.30pm.

Monday 15th August: ‘The Sky Guide & Astronomical News’ along withshort talks. Chelveston Village Hall, Caldecott Road,Chelveston at 8pm.Admission £2.

Thursday 1st September: ‘The Fermi Paradox and The Search ForExtra-Terrestrial Life’ by Dr Martin Braddock. Sudborough Village Hall,Main Street, Sudborough at 8pm. Admission £3.

Friday 2nd September: Observing Evening at Chelveston Village Hall,Caldecott Road, Chelveston from 8pm onwards. To check thatconditions will permit observing, please check our Twitter feed on thehome page of our web site from 6.30 on the evening.

Mercury Transit ReportOn the afternoon of Monday 9th May, a number of NVAS members met upat Chelveston Village Hall to view the Mercury solar transit. Conditionswere very favourable for much of the afternoon and members were able towatch the slow progress of the tiny disc of Mercury as it progressed acrossthe Sun’s disc through a variety of telescopes. By late afternoon,however cloud started to obscure the view and by around 6.30pm (aroundan hour before the transit ended) we were totally obscured. Neverthelessan enjoyable session was had by all.

The next Mercury transit occurs on the afternoon of 11th November 2019,although the Sun will set for UK observers with Mercury still on the solardisc.

Below: Paul Blackman’s image of the Mercury transit on 9th May

Steve Williams’ view of the Mercury transit from Chelveston, shortlybefore the clouds rolled in.

Eagle’s Eye - July 2016

Taken from heavens-above.com, the above Starchart shows how the night skylooks on July 1st at 11pm and July 15th at 10pm.

High above at the zenith, Draco sprawls between Ursa Minor and Hercules. Thedistinct asterism of “The Lozenge” marks the dragons head. In the south belowHercules lies another giant, Ophiuchus. This area is swarming with globularclusters. Even lower in the south, the head of Scorpius is at its highest, just pokingup from the southern hemisphere. Towards the north the bright yellow star Capellacan be seen just skirting the horizon. In the western sky, Leo is now just about todisappear, as is Virgo.

The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair, in the constellations of Lyra,Cygnus and Aquila respectively, is now visible, bringing a fabulous region of ourMilky Way into view. This area abounds with nebulae and clusters. With darkernights now starting to draw in, let’s look forward to some clearer skies this comingautumn and some great observing / imaging.

The Moon:

New - July 1st First Quarter - July 12th

Full - July 9th Last Quarter - July 26th

The crescent Moon will be visible in the western evening sky on the 5th & 6th andin the eastern morning sky on the 30th & 31st.

The Moon will be nearby Jupiter on July 8th & 9th, Spica on July 11th, Mars on July14th, Saturn on July 15th & 16th, Neptune on July 23rd and Aldebaren on July29th.

The Planets:

MERCURY – Passes superior conjunction on the 7th and is unlikely to be viewedthis month as it stays far too close to the Sun.

VENUS – Still far too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

MARS – Now past its best and shrinking rapidly as the distance from Earthincreases. Shrinks from 16.3 to 13.1 seconds of arc throughout the month. It stayslow to the horizon from the UK and the Earth’s atmosphere will be very turbulentinterfering with seeing small details. However the patient observer and webcamimager should be able to tease out some of its most distinctive surface features.

JUPITER – Now low down in the western sky after dark. At magnitude -1.4 lyingbelow the tail of Leo. This majestic planet will soon be lost in the evening twilight.

SATURN – Located a little above Antares in Scorpius in the southern sky afterdark. It does remain low throughout this years apparition, but the rings are wideopen and is still a beautiful site even in a small telescope. The atmosphere willinhibit seeing fine detail.

URANUS – Moving into the eastern morning sky before dawn in the constellation pfPisces. At magnitude 6.15 it is just below naked eye visibility and requiresbinoculars or a small telescope to identify.

NEPTUNE – Visible in the southern sky morning sky in the constellation ofAquarius. At a faint magnitude 7.7 it will require binoculars or a small scope tospot it amongst the faint background stars.

PLUTO –Visible as a 14th magnitude star around midnight hiding amongst thenumerous background stars within the Milky Way in Sagittarius.

For more details and my latest activities visit my Web site:www.eagleseye.me.uk

Dave Eagle

Taken from heavens-above.com, the above Starchart shows how the sky will lookon August 1st at 11pm and August 15th at 10pm.

Fireworks in ‘Skyrocket’ Galaxy

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular fireworks display in asmall, nearby galaxy.

A firestorm of star birth is lighting up one end of the diminutive galaxy Kiso 5639. Thedwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is tilted edge-on, itresembles a skyrocket, with a brilliant blazing head and a long, star-studded tail.Kiso 5639 is a rare, nearby example of elongated galaxies that occur in abundance atlarger distances, where we observe the universe during earlier epochs. Astronomerssuggest that the frenzied star birth is sparked by intergalactic gas raining on one endof the galaxy as it drifts through space.

"I think Kiso 5639 is a beautiful, up-close example of what must have been commonlong ago," said lead researcher Debra Elmegreen of Vassar College, inPoughkeepsie, New York. "The current thinking is that galaxies in the early universegrow from accreting gas from the surrounding neighbourhood. It's a stage thatgalaxies, including our Milky Way, must go through as they are growing up."

Observations of the early universe, such as Hubble's Ultra Deep Field, reveal thatabout 10 percent of all galaxies have these elongated shapes, and are collectivelycalled "tadpoles." But studies of the nearby universe have turned up only a few ofthese unusual galaxies, including Kiso 5639. The development of the nearby star-making tadpole galaxies, however, has lagged behind that of their peers, which havespent billions of years building themselves up into many of the spiral galaxies seentoday.

Elmegreen used Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 3 to conduct a detailedimaging study of Kiso 5639. The images in different filters reveal informationabout an object by dissecting its light into its component colors. Hubble's crispresolution helped Elmegreen and her team analyze the giant star-forming clumpsin Kiso 5639 and determine the masses and ages of the star clusters.

The international team of researchers selected Kiso 5639 from a spectroscopicsurvey of 10 nearby tadpole galaxies, observed with the Grand CanaryTelescope in La Palma, Spain, by Jorge Sánchez Almeida and collaborators atthe Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The observations revealed that in most ofthose galaxies, including Kiso 5639, the gas composition is not uniform.

The bright gas in the galaxy's head contains fewer heavier elements (collectivelycalled "metals"), such as carbon and oxygen, than the rest of the galaxy. Starsconsist mainly of hydrogen and helium, but cook up other "heavier" elements.When the stars die, they release their heavy elements and enrich the surroundinggas.

"The metallicity suggests that there has to be rather pure gas, composed mostlyof hydrogen, coming into the star-forming part of the galaxy, becauseintergalactic space contains more pristine hydrogen-rich gas," Elmegreenexplained. "Otherwise, the starburst region should be as rich in heavy elementsas the rest of the galaxy."

Hubble offers a detailed view of the galaxy's star-making frenzy. The telescopeuncovered several dozen clusters of stars in the galaxy's star-forming head,which spans 2,700 light-years across. These clusters have an average age ofless than 1 million years and masses that are three to six times larger than thosein the rest of the galaxy. Other star formation is taking place throughout thegalaxy but on a much smaller scale. Star clusters in the rest of the galaxy arebetween several million to a few billion years old.

"There is much more star formation going on in the head than what you wouldexpect in such a tiny galaxy," said team member Bruce Elmegreen of IBM'sThomas J. Watson Research Center, in Yorktown Heights, New York. "And wethink the star formation is triggered by the ongoing accretion of metal-poor gasonto a part of an otherwise quiescent dwarf galaxy."

Hubble also revealed giant holes peppered throughout the galaxy's starbursthead. These cavities give the galaxy's head a Swiss-cheese appearancebecause numerous supernova detonations -- like firework aerial bursts -- havecarved out holes of rarified superheated gas.

The galaxy, located 82 million light-years away, has taken billions of years todevelop because it has been drifting through an isolated "desert" in the universe,devoid of much gas.

What triggered the starburst in such a backwater galaxy? Based on simulations byDaniel Ceverino of the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University in Germany,and other team members, the observations suggest that less than 1 million yearsago, Kiso 5639's leading edge encountered a filament of gas. The filament droppeda large clump of matter onto the galaxy, stoking the vigorous star birth.

Debra Elmegreen expects that in the future other parts of the galaxy will join in thestar-making fireworks show. "Galaxies rotate, and as Kiso 5639 continues to spin,another part of the galaxy may receive an infusion of new gas from this filament,instigating another round of star birth," she said.

From Science Daily

Hubble Confirms New Dark Spot On Neptune

The Hubble Space Telescope has observed a new vortex in the upper atmosphereof the planet Neptune.

The images taken on 16th May 2016 show the dark vortex below some brightclouds in the planets southern hemisphere. The dark spot measures roughly 3,000miles across.

The vortex is similar to the 'Great Dark Spot' that was observed by the Voyager 2spacecraft which flew past the planet in 1989 and are high pressure systems in theNeptunian atmosphere. Numerous other high altitude clouds can also be seen inthe images at various latitudes.

Jupiter’s Vivid Aurora

Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras --stunning light shows in a planet's atmosphere -- on the poles of the largest planet inthe Solar System, Jupiter. This observation programme is supported bymeasurements made by NASA's Juno spacecraft, currently on its way to Jupiter.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, is best known for its colourful storms,the most famous being the Great Red Spot. Now astronomers have focused onanother beautiful feature of the planet, using the ultraviolet capabilities of theNASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

The extraordinary vivid glows shown in the new observations are known asauroras. They are created when high energy particles enter a planet's atmospherenear its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas. As well as producingbeautiful images, this programme aims to determine how various components ofJupiter's auroras respond to different conditions in the solar wind, a stream ofcharged particles ejected from the Sun.

This observation programme is perfectly timed as NASA's Juno spacecraft iscurrently in the solar wind near Jupiter and will enter the orbit of the planet in earlyJuly 2016. While Hubble is observing and measuring the auroras on Jupiter, Junois measuring the properties of the solar wind itself; a perfect collaboration betweena telescope and a space probe.

"These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have ever seen,"says Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester, UK, and principalinvestigator of the study. "It almost seems as if Jupiter is throwing a firework partyfor the imminent arrival of Juno."

To highlight changes in the auroras Hubble is observing Jupiter daily for aroundone month. Using this series of images it is possible for scientists to create videosthat demonstrate the movement of the vivid auroras, which cover areas biggerthan the Earth.

Not only are the auroras huge, they are also hundreds of times more energeticthan auroras on Earth. And, unlike those on Earth, they never cease. Whilst onEarth the most intense auroras are caused by solar storms -- when chargedparticles rain down on the upper atmosphere, excite gases, and cause them toglow red, green and purple -- Jupiter has an additional source for its auroras.

The strong magnetic field of the gas giant grabs charged particles from itssurroundings. This includes not only the charged particles within the solar wind butalso the particles thrown into space by its orbiting moon Io, known for itsnumerous and large volcanoes.

The new observations and measurements made with Hubble and Juno will help tobetter understand how the Sun and other sources influence auroras. While theobservations with Hubble are still ongoing and the analysis of the data will takeseveral more months, the first images and videos are already available and showthe auroras on Jupiter's north pole in their full beauty.

From Science Daily

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Completes Primary Mission

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has completed its historic primary mission, during whichthe probe became the first ever to visit a dwarf planet and the first to orbit twodifferent bodies beyond the Earth-moon system.

Dawn's primary mission came to an end on 30th June. But the spacecraft isn'tshutting down; Dawn is still studying the dwarf planet Ceres from orbit, and theprobe may soon head out to visit a third cosmic object, if NASA approves aproposed extended mission.

The $467 million Dawn mission launched in September 2007 to study Vesta andCeres, the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Dawn orbited the 330-mile-wide (530 kilometers) Vesta from July 2011 throughSeptember 2012, and the probe has been circling the 590-mile-wide (950 km)Ceres since March 2015.

Dawn's observations are helping researchers better understand how these two verydifferent worlds formed and evolved, mission team members have said.

"Dawn has revealed that while Vesta is a dry body, Ceres could be as much as 25percent water ice by mass," NASA officials said in a statement. "Dawn alsodiscovered many intriguing features at both bodies — Vesta is home to a mountainwhose height is more than twice that of Mount Everest, and Ceres has a cratercalled Occator with mysterious bright features that continue to spark scientificinvestigation."

During the course of its primary mission, Dawn traveled more than 3.5 billion miles(5.6 billion km), orbited Vesta and Ceres a combined 2,450 times and beamedhome a total of 69,000 images of both bodies, NASA officials said.

The spacecraft's work isn't done, however. Dawn is still observing Ceres, andmission team members recently proposed to fly the probe to a third object in theasteroid belt on an extended mission. (Dawn scientists have not revealed theidentity of the targeted body.)

NASA must decide soon whether or not to approve the extension; if Dawn doesn'tleave Ceres by July 12, the spacecraft won't have enough hydrazine fuel left tomake the journey to the third object.If Dawn stays put at Ceres, it should have enough hydrazine to keep operatinguntil early 2017, mission officials have said.

Stargazing Evenings At Chelveston Village HallOn the evening of Friday 12th August, we will be holding our annual PerseidMeteor Observing session at Chelveston Village Hall from 8.30pm onwards.

Although the Moon will be above the horizon for most of the evening, it will besetting by around 11.30pm, so we should be able to see a reasonable number ofPerseid meteors, given that the shower reaches maximum activity on the eveningof the 12th/ morning of the 13th. Additionally Saturn and Mars will be observable,

so bring your telescope along.

Our ‘main’ Stargazing eveningsre-commence on Friday evenings from 8pm witheffect from 2nd September. As previously these will take place on clear Friday

evenings or those where it’s decided that there is at least a reasonable prospectof observing taking place. To determine whether a session is taking place please

either follow us on Twitter or check the Twitter feed on the front page of ourwebsite, where an announcement will be made after 6.30 on the evening.

We also plan to hold additional short notice sessions, on various evenings thisAutumn,when the weather forecast looks promising. Such sessions will be

announced around 24 hours before, by e-mail on Twitter and Facebook.Hopefully these will allow us all the opportunity to do some more observing from

an out of town location this Autumn!

Steve Williams

On the evening of Saturday 8th October,we are returning to Stanwick Lakes for oursecond public stargazing event of the year.

This time we are being joined by our friendsfrom the Astronomy Section of theNorthampton Natural History Society, whowill be helping us to increase the number oftelescopes for the public to use and buildon the success of this popular event.

Further details will be announced at ourmeetings and in the next edition of theStargazer.

Members ObservationsAs a regular feature of this newsletter, we encourage NVAS members to submitrecent observations for publication. These can be in the form of images, asketch or a written description. First up is a recent image of Jupiter taken byPaul Blackman.

Left: Saturn imaged by SteveWilliams on 8th June 2016

through a 6” Refractor.

Below: Jupiter imaged bySteve Williams on 2nd May2016 through a 6” Refractor.

Mars imaged on 12th May 2016 by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Nene Valley Astronomical Society

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