February 2014

Minutes from Feb. 3, 2014 meeting:

Lilly Montet was a new visitor—she rides the school bus with Steve so she was his guest! She was encouraged to visit again…and bring her friends!

Financials:

Dec 31, 2013 ending balance $1562.74.

4 membership renewals

Ending balance Jan 31, 2014 $1647.74.

So far, 25 members have renewed their annual membership.

Fund-raiser March 8 (weather permitting):

Symphony fundraiser at Prairie Song—bring and operate a telescope and get a free chili dinner. Contact is Judy Moreland.

Astronomy news:

Jan. 11 large sunspot

Feb. 3 Sunspots in solar center. The diameter of the sun is 110 times the diameter of the earth. Hence, sunspots are bigger than the earth itself.

More info: see www.skyandtelescope/observing/ataglance

Feb 5: 2 large asteroids near Virga

Mars will be 4-5 degrees from Spica in Virga.

Saturn is now coming up around 5 am, before dawn

Next meeting:

Aurora Borealis tour by Kelly Fox. She took a trip in late 2013 to Canada with good northern-lights viewing.

Supernovae:

Daryl showed a picture of one (taken with a 30-second exposure) near M81 above the tail of the Big Dipper. It is 17 million light years away with brightness absolute magnitude -19.3 at peak.

SN 1014J is the 9th supernova seen this year. None seen in the Milky Way since 1604. Magnitude right now about 11.

Previous supernovae:

SN185 in Centaurus, a 1A, recorded by the Chinese. 8,280 light years away.

SN 393 in Scorpius, a 1A, recorded by the Chinese , 14,000 light years away.

SN 1006 in Lupus, a 1A, -7.5 magnitude, 7200 light years away. Brightest ever recorded—14 times brighter than Venus.

SN 1054 in Taurus, a level II, -6 magnitude. 6500 light years away. The Crab Nebula is a remnant of this supernova.

SN 1572 in Cassiopeia, a level 1A, -4.0 magnitude. 8000 light years away

SN 1604 in Ophichus, a level 1, -3 magnitude. 14000 light years away

Cas A @1680 in Cassiopeia, a level 1B, magnitude +5, 9000 light years away. (This and above supernovae in the Milky Way.)

SN 1987A in Dorado, magnitude -2.9, 160000 light years away, in the Magellanic Cloud.

SN 2041J in Ursa Major. Level 1A in M82 galaxy. Closest supernova since SN 2004DJ in galaxy NGC 2403.

Some supernovae events aren’t symmetrical and don’t have a central star.

The Crab Nebula has a central neutron star.

Type 1A supernovae come from a white dwarf and are 10 to the 10th brighter than the sun. They are the remnant of a star that is usually less than 8 times as massive as the sun.

A star expands to be a red giant, then ejects material to form a planetary nebula. It becomes a carbon cinder. If it keeps up its activity, the star blows up and nothing is left but an expanding shell of material. This can only occur in a binary system.

Massive star supernovae:

Type 1B

Type 1C

Type II

These shed their outer layers and form planetary nebulae.

Most of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are red dwarfs.

If there were a supernova of level 1A that would be less than 3000 light years away, it would get rid of our ozone layer.

Massive star evolution:

Helium

Carbon

Neon

Oxygen

Silicon

Iron

All elements heavier than Helium foirmed or exist because a supernova blew up.