SKYWATCHERS
NEWSLETTER OF THE CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 40 No. 2 February 1, 2003
NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, February 3, 2003
Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest, California
FEBRUARY 3 MEETING-RIDGECREST SKIES FOR FEBRUARY
David Hollingsworth will give a slide show introduction to the stars,
constellations, planets, and deep sky objects observable over the
Indian Wells Valley in February.
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND
Monday, February 3, 2003: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango
Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February19, 2003: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter
Monday, March 3, 2003: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum
in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
The next star party will be in March 28 2003. The details and
schedule for the rest of 2003 will be published in the March
Newsletter
BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY 2003
Feb 1 New Moon.
Feb 2 Jupiter at opposition.
Feb 3 Mercury at greatest western elongation.
Feb 9 First quarter Moon
Feb 16 Full Moon (Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, or Wolf Moon).
Feb 19 Zodiacal Light visible in west after evening twilight for
next two weeks.
Feb 22 Saturn stationary.
Feb 23 Last quarter Moon.
OBSERVING IN FEBRUARY 2003
With the new Moon on Saturday, the 1st, and the last quarter Moon on
Sunday, the 23rd, the best deep sky observing will be during the
first and last weeks of February. Astronomical twilight ends around
18:40 at the beginning of the month and at about 19:10 at the end of
the month.
Meteor Showers: No significant meteor showers this month.
Planets: Saturn and Jupiter are well placed for good viewing in
February. Saturn will be high in the south above Orion early in the
evening. Saturn's rings are still open to their maximum possible
extent in February, so this is a good month to examine the rings'
features. Jupiter will be high enough for decent views after 21:00
as it moves towards the Beehive Cluster (M44) all month. Venus rises
a couple of hours before the Sun and is low in the southeast during
morning twilight. Mars rises ahead of Venus, but is not impressive
at this time; wait until summer for potentially spectacular views of
Mars.
Binocular and Telescope Highlights: M 31 (Andromeda Galaxy); gamma
And (blue and gold double); M 42 (Orion Nebula); R Leporis (Crimson
Star); NGC 2244 (Rosette Nebula, in Mon, use O-III or UHC filter);
Mel 25 (Hyades cluster), M 45 (Pleiades), and M 1 (Crab Nebula) in
Tau; M 44 (Beehive Cluster, in Cnc); M35 (OC, in Gem); NGC 869/884
(The Double Cluster, in Per); and M 81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M 82
(Exploding Galaxy) in UMa.
Comets: C/2001 RX14 (LINEAR), at mag. 10.2, in Ursa Major, see
finder chart in Feb S&T.
MESSIER MARATHON
Information gathered so far (see
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/xtra/marathon/marathon.html)
indicates that the weekend of 28-30 March (new Moon on April 1st)
will be the best weekend to do the Messier Marathon in 2003. There
is a good chance all of the planets plus a couple of comets will be
visible during the Marathon as well. Use February to practice
finding the ones that set early after sunset while the sky is still
darkening--M 74, M 77, M 31, M 32, M 33, and M 110. These objects
will be easy to locate about 30-450 high in the west at the end of
astronomical twilight during the non-moon evenings in February.
OBSERVER'S HANDBOOKS AND CALENDARS ARE HERE-There are still plenty of
them.
The Royal Canadian Astronomical Society Observer's Handbooks and
Observer's Calendars for 2003 have arrived. You can arrange for your
copy by calling Carroll Evans at 760-375-5681 or sending an email to
clevans@ridgenet.net. We are selling the handbooks for $15.00 and
the calendars for $10.00. These items together make an excellent way
to plan your astronomical activities for the coming year.
ASTRONOMY ON THE INTERNET, VIA EARL TOWSON
THE 'EVENING STAR': Right now, Jupiter rises well above the Eastern
horizon, to an altitude of nearly 30 degrees by around 8:45 p.m.
local time. (Your fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10
degrees. So when we say Jupiter rises to an altitude of 30 degrees,
it would appear to be roughly "three fists" above the horizon.) A
moderately sized backyard telescope will reveal these moons as
pinpricks of light near Jupiter, and one can observe them changing
positions from night to night. Jupiter currently holds the title of
the brightest 'evening star,' outshining even Saturn. Look for this
dazzling silvery-white object of magnitude -2.6.
PLANETARY & LUNAR ASTRONOMY:
NEPTUNE'S MOON COUNT CLIMBS: A team of astronomers from the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered three
previously unknown moons orbiting the planet Neptune. Since they're
only 30-40km across, the moons were a challenge to spot. The team had
to digitally merge multiple exposures of the planet moving across a
background of stars. Over time, the planets and their motions were
picked up as points of light. This brings the gas giant's total to 11
known moons http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0303.html also see
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/pr0303_image.html.
DEEP SPACE & COSMOLOGY:
SPEED OF GRAVITY CLAIM CONTESTED: The brewing controversy, which
illustrates the fits and spurts with which science sometimes
grudgingly moves forward, appears to have ground to a stalemate for
now as the two scientists who conducted the experiment categorically
defended their work. "The claim that they've measured the speed of
gravity is simply incorrect," said Clifford Will, a physicist at
Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, and an expert in the
field. Interestingly, Will is friends with one of the researchers
whose work he knocks. In a telephone interview this morning, Will
hailed the intricate observations as possibly "a great achievement"
but said the interpretation of the data "clouded what would otherwise
have been a really cool result." Ed Fomalont of the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory and Sergei Kopeikin from the University of
Missouri in Columbia, performed the experiment. They watched light
from a faraway galaxy bend as the planet Jupiter passed almost
directly between the galaxy and Earth. Their theory stated that the
bending would occur due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter.
Very Long Baseline Array Image of Jupiter. CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF
By noting the extent of the bending, the researchers claimed to have
measured whether gravity acted instantly or somewhat more slowly, at
light-speed. Proving that gravity works at the speed of light would
add support to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and place
limits on fringe theories in cosmology. Most physicists are confident
that this is the case, but no one has ever confirmed it by direct
measurement. The finding, was announced at the Jan. 7 meeting of the
American Astronomical Society (AAS), was controversial well before it
was reported to the general public. Two papers on the work had in
prior weeks been submitted for peer review and possible publication
in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. One describes the technique,
another details the results. Both are still being reviewed.
Will explained his reasoning: A moving body, like Jupiter, produces
additional gravitational effects that Kopeikin did not take into
account in his theoretical calculations. Will was surprised that the
findings were announced last week, before the papers had been
accepted for publication. It is not uncommon for discoveries to be
presented to reporters at AAS meetings prior to having been through
peer review. Numerous other findings, by NASA scientists and others,
are announced in press releases every year prior to any formal peer
review. Scientists are sometimes critical of this so-called "science
by press release" process. Others see it as a natural and inevitable
flow of information into scientific and public hands. Ultimately,
Will said, the scientific community will sort out the truth in this
case. "Will is one of the giants in this field," Fomalont said. He
added that Kopeikin and Will have gone politely back and forth on
their differing interpretations of subtleties in what might be observed in
the experiment, and are simply at loggerheads over which app
roach is correct. Kopeikin said he has found a mistake hidden deep in
Will's calculations, and that other mathematicians concur. "He does
not agree," Kopeikin said of Will today. "But mathematics is against
him." Kopeikin, too, said the review process would ultimately reveal
the truth. See:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/gravity_speed_030116.html
HST GETs A 'CLEAR' SHOT OF A QUASAR: The Hubble Space Telescope's new
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) has provided the clearest view yet
in visible light of the nearby quasar, 3C 273. Using the new camera's
coronagraph to block the light from the brilliant central quasar,
astronomers discovered that the quasar's host galaxy is significantly
more complex than had been suggested in previous observations.
Features in the surrounding galaxy that are normally drowned out by
the quasar's glow now show up clearly. The ACS reveals a spiral plume
wound around the quasar and a red dust lane. Material in the form of
a clump and a blue arc are shown in the path of a jet that was
blasted from the quasar. Credit for WFPC2 image:
NASA and J. Bahcall (IAS)
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/2003/03/
MISCELLANEOUS & INSTRUMENTATION:
BRUSH FIRES DESTROY AUSTRALIAN OBSERVATORY: The bush fires that have
wreaked havoc in Canberra, Australia, have destroyed the Mount
Stromlo Observatory. The fires burnt down four telescopes, an
equipment workshop and several staff buildings at the observatory on
Sunday. Initial estimates put the damage at over $20 million.
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/7/1/10
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION!
Basic CLAS dues are $20.00 per year, which includes the Skywatchers
Newsletter. As a benefit of membership you may also receive
Astronomy Magazine and/or Sky and Telescope Magazine. The fee
schedule is as follows:
Basic membership $20.00 per year
Membership with Astronomy magazine $44.00 per year
Membership with Sky and Telescope magazine $50.00 per year
Membership with both S & T and Astronomy $74.00 per year
Send your check to: Carroll Evans, Treasurer, China Lake Astronomical
Society, P.O. Box 1783, Ridgecrest, CA 93556.
PRESIDENT - Roger Brower - 760-375-1181 (email brower@iwvisp.com)
VICE-PRESIDENT - Bruce Churchill - 760-375-7247 (email
bchurchill@atsecure.net)
SECRETARY--TREASURER - Carroll Evans (email clevans@ridgenet.net)
NEWSLETTER EDITOR - Carroll Evans Jr. - 760-375-5681 (email
clevans@ridgenet.net)
WESTERN AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS WEB SITE http://www.waa.av.org/
Meetings of the China Lake Astronomical Society are held at the
Maturango Museum at 7:30 p.m. on the first Monday evening of each
month, except when the first Monday is a holiday.
SKYWATCHERS
Newsletter of the
CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
POST OFFICE BOX 1783
RIDGECREST, CA 93556-1783
THE OBSERVER'S HANDBOOKS AND CALENDARS ARE HERE, SEE INSIDE.
NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m., MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2003 - "RIDGECREST SKIES "
AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES AVE.
CLAS WEB PAGE http://www1.iwvisp.com/brower/clas.html