September 2018

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Setup and casual conversation starts at 6:30 p.m.

Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.

Bartlesville Public Library

Meeting Room C (downstairs)

Program:

Meteor Showers by Denise Gregg

Meetings are open to the public and guests are welcome.

The Astronomical League has announced their plans for next year's national convention, ALCon 2019. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, the Astro League's convention will include a tour of Kennedy Space Center in Florida and a three-day Southern Sky cruise to the Bahamas. It will take place July 25 - 29, 2019.

Thanks!

Kristi Herrman

BAS ALCor

Here’s a link to a timelapse video I took during our members-only stargazing event at Civitan Park (aka Dinosaur Park).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdd8J1y2Sqw

John G

1. Webinar: Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS): Mission update & early results - August 29

NSN members are invited to a special webinar on Wednesday, August 29 at 6:00pm Pacific Time (9:00pm Eastern) when we'll hear from Dr. Knicole Colon of the TESS mission science team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. TESS, NASA's latest exoplanet hunter, is just now beginning to send back its science data after achieving its unique orbit. NSN members will get to hear the latest news!

Register for this webinar here. You can also find updates on our webinar news page. Find additional info at this resource page (NSN login required)

Next Month's Webinar: One Month Until International Observe the Moon Night with Andrea Jones (resource page link - NSN login required)

Apps for consideration

Distant Suns, your personal guide to the cosmos, lists Night Sky Network astronomy club star parties, safe solar gazing events, and lectures in the main navigation bar. Distant Suns is available for Android, Apple iOS, Kindle, and Nook.

SkySafari, a powerful planetarium that fits in your pocket, lists Night Sky Network astronomy club star parties, safe solar observing events, and lectures in the help menu. SkySafari is available for Android and Apple devices and computers.

Family Fun with Sky Watching

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/stargazing-basics/family-projects-and-experiments/

Please use link below to access Member Presentations.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4CQup8TdDvCfnBiUlE5RURWWTl4Y0IyVVlyMnVwWlVtQW9uWnAxTDJHMHk4VmVuNFkxeXc

Hello BAS Members --

With so many people interested in AstroPhotography in the group, we have thought of having a "Astro Picture of the Month" competition each month at our meetings.

Entry Rules:

Send one picture of the night sky/ object of the current month with a description of the picture and the equipment used to take this.

Mail it to bvilleastro@gmail.com.

Best picture is chosen in the next meeting and uploaded to our Facebook/Twitter pages with your mention!

Thanks

BAS President .

Sky and Telescope News http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/

Arecibo Observatory Emerges from Storm with $6M Upgrade

By: Elizabeth Howell | August 27, 2018 | Comments 0

The famed Arecibo Observatory has faced down several funding challenges in recent years, and a hurricane to boot, but now a new project is making the radio dish more relevant to astronomy than ever.

Direct Evidence of Water Ice at Moon’s Poles

By: Kelly Beatty | August 24, 2018 | Comments 4

After more than a decade of tantalizing but inconclusive hints, new research shows convincingly that patches of water ice lie exposed on the floors of many permanently shadowed lunar craters. The quest to find water on the Moon is a scientific pendulum that has swung widely over the centuries. Long ago we used "seas" to…

Rover Call Home: NASA Listens for Opportunity’s Wake-up

By: Elizabeth Howell | August 24, 2018 | Comments 0

The Opportunity rover fell silent in June after nearly 15 years of work on the Red Planet. Now the dust storm that prevented its batteries from charging is clearing. NASA expects its long-running Opportunity Mars rover will wake up sometime in the next few weeks from its hibernation — if the rover has enough power…

60-second Astro News: Three Stunning Astronomy Pictures

By: Monica Young | August 22, 2018 | Comments 19

In astronomy news this week: A stunning just-released photo of last year's eclipse, 15,000 galaxies revealed in Hubble's new ultraviolet view of the deep sky, and watching star formation in action in the spiral galaxy M74.

Iron and Titanium Found in Ultrahot Jupiter

By: Julie Freydlin | August 21, 2018 | Comments 0

New observations provide solid evidence of heavy metals in a gas giant exoplanet’s atmosphere.

Planet Formation Caught in the Act

By: AAS Nova | August 20, 2018 | Comments 0

A team of scientists has captured evidence that PDS 70b, the first directly imaged instance of early planet formation, is actively accreting material, and they’ve measured the rate at which it’s growing.

Tips for Shooting the Milky Way

It’s summer time, and the Milky Way is beckoning. Here are a few tips to help get you started photographing our galaxy.

Shadow Play — Summertime Dark Nebulae for Binoculars

By: Bob King | August 15, 2018 | Comments 2

Using only binoculars, we explore a host of inky dust clouds, the dark nebulae that smudge the Milky Way on late summer nights.

Auroras Discovered Around Rogue Brown Dwarf

By: John Bochanski | August 14, 2018 | Comments 0

Astronomers have discovered auroras around a set of brown dwarfs — including one that wanders the galaxy by itself — indicating surprisingly strong magnetic fields in these failed stars.

The Storm Begins: Canadian Telescope Spots Its First Radio Burst

By: Shannon Hall | August 13, 2018 | Comments 0

The first "fast radio burst" detected by the Canadian CHIME radio telescope is a tantalizing hint of what’s to come.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Launches to “Touch the Sun”

By: David Dickinson | August 12, 2018 | Comments 1

The unique Parker Solar Probe launched on Sunday, August 12th, set to fly faster and come closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before it.

Sibling Rivalry Caused Eta Carinae’s Historic Explosion

By: Elizabeth Howell | August 9, 2018 | Comments 4

Faint echoes of light illuminate what really happened during the Great Eruption of the super-star Eta Carinae.

R Coronae Borealis Awakes and Pluto Blocks a Star

By: Bob King | August 8, 2018 | Comments 3

Sometimes, it's just as exciting to watch a celestial object fade or disappear as it is to see it explode. We celebrate the "return" of a mysterious variable star and prepare for Pluto to occult a star.

Andromeda Collided with Galactic Sibling Billions of Years Ago

By: Elizabeth Howell | July 24, 2018 | Comments 0

A new study says our neighbor galaxy’s big stellar halo and stellar evolution are due to a major collision that ended 2 billion years ago.

HaloSat: A Small Satellite for a Big Question

By: David Dickinson | July 25, 2018 | Comments 0

HaloSat, a mini-satellite recently deployed from the International Space Station, is on the hunt for the universe's missing matter.

August 26 - Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 11:57 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Sturgeon Moon because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes and other major lakes were more easily caught at this time of year. This moon has also been known as the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon.

August 26 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. The planet Mercury reaches greatest western elongation of 18.3 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

September 7 - Neptune at Opposition. The blue giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Neptune. Due to its extreme distance from Earth, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

September 9 - New Moon. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 18:01 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

September 23 - September Equinox. The September equinox occurs at 01:54 UTC. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the Southern Hemisphere.

September 25 - Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 02:53 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Corn Moon because the corn is harvested around this time of year. This moon is also known as the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox each year.

October 8 - Draconids Meteor Shower. The Draconids is a minor meteor shower producing only about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was first discovered in 1900. The Draconids is an unusual shower in that the best viewing is in the early evening instead of early morning like most other showers. The shower runs annually from October 6-10 and peaks this year on the the night of the 8th. This will be an excellent year to observe the Draconids because there will be no moonlight to spoil the show. Best viewing will be in the early evening from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

October 9 - New Moon. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 03:47 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

October 21, 22 - Orionids Meteor Shower. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Halley, which has been known and observed since ancient times. The shower runs annually from October 2 to November 7. It peaks this year on the night of October 21 and the morning of October 22. The nearly full moon will block some of the fainter meteors this year, but the Orionids tend to be fairly bright so it could still be a good show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

October 23 - Uranus at Opposition. The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

October 24 - Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 16:46 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon.

November 5, 6 - Taurids Meteor Shower. The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the the night of November 5. The thin crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for viewing. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

• • (Source: http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2018.html)

2018 BAS Programs

October 5, Monday. Bartlesville Public Library Meeting Room (tentative)

Newsletter Contributions Needed

Our club newsletter is reaching more people each month, and member contributions in the form of short articles, interesting news items, alerts of upcoming astronomical events or activities, descriptions of personal observations or useful equipment, and observing tips, are encouraged. Recurring columns or multipart articles are also welcome. Please submit your contributions to Mike Woods or to bvilleastro@gmail.com .

Bartlesville Astronomical Society - Membership

B.A.S. is an organization of people interested in Astronomy and related fields of science.

The current officers are:

President : Karen Cruce

Vice President : Evan Zorn

Secretary : Denise Gregg

Treasurer : Vicky Travaglini

Members at Large : Duane Perkins, Craig Brockmeier

Appointed Positions

Newsletter : Mike Woods

Website and Social Media : Derek Herrman

Program Chairman : Bob Young

Meeting Arrangements : Daryl Doughty

Youth Leader : Rick Bryant

Observing Program : Evan Zorn

Astronomical League Coordinator : Kristi Herrman