FROM THE PRESIDENT ! Bill Hanagan

~ What We Did Last Summer ~DAS Members giving Mini-Talks on Varied Topics

plus Photo Review of DAS Member Star Parties by Bill Hanaganat the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory

Next Meeting � September 20th, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Vol. 56, No. 7, September, 2011

Each issue of FOCUS is full of useful hyperlinks. Just click onany graphic or telltale blue web address and your browser shouldtake you to additional linked web resources.

Welcome back! I hope you had a safe summer andthat you managed to make it through Hurricane Irene withoutincident. With a little luck, the cloudy and rainy weather thathas dominated in recent weeks will clear up in time for thefall star parties. Forecasters are already predicting a majorchange in the path of the jet stream which will bring uscooler and dryer air.

Our main meeting schedule begins anew in Septem-ber with �What We Did Last Summer�. If you have anyphotos or stories of your astronomical adventures over thesummer you should be sure to bring them along to theSeptember meeting. The topics and speakers currentlyscheduled for other months appear elsewhere in the FOCUS.We still need another 4-5 mini-talks to fill out the schedule.

We have some exciting Member Star Parties(MSPs) coming up this fall, including our MSP in conjunctionwith the Delmarva Stargazers� �No-Frills� Star Party (Sept. 29� Oct. 2) and our Messier ½ Marathon MSP (Oct. 21, 22,28, or 29). I�ll also be watching the weather for September23 and 24 for a possible MSP at Cherry Springs State Parkin Pennsylvania.

The Astrophotography Special Interest Group (AP-SIG) is currently holding a series of meetings �On-Site� atthe various imaging sites used by its members. This hasbecome an annual feature of the AP-SIG. It�s a great way tosee astrophotography gear and techniques in action.

On the ATM front, I have been working recently on aproject to add digital setting circle (DSC) functionality to theSawin 12.5� telescope using a Meade Magellan 1 DSCcontroller. I�m still working through some issues with this, butI hope to have the system up and running in the near future.Also, the refiguring of the 17.5� Coulter primary mirror shouldhave gotten underway by the time you read this. If you�reinterested in participating in this be sure to let me know.

7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 20, 2011 In the Library at the Mt. Cuba Observatory

The PRESIDENT�S DAS BOARDMEETING AGENDA for SEPTEMBER

In addition to routine items of business such as theTreasurer�s report, we�ll be discussing the followingitems:

1) Switching over to a November 1 renewal date forall DAS members;

2) Re-coating of two DAS 6� mirrors;

3) Digital Setting Circles for the Sawin 12.5� tele-scope.

As always, DAS board meetings are open to all DASmembers. You are encouraged to join us.

I�d like to remind all of you to keep thinking abouthow YOU can contribute to the DAS and how you can makethe DAS a better astronomy club. While we�ve had somevolunteers step forward, and we�ve received a variety ofdonations, more volunteers and donations are needed.

A club works best when essentially all of its able-bodied members pitch in and help out in whatever way theycan. If you haven�t found a way to contribute to the DAS, callme at 302-239-0949. I�m sure we can come up with some-thing that you can do to help the DAS that also suits yourparticular interests.

�PUBLIC NIGHTS� at the Mt. CUBA OBSERVATORY...MCAO PUBLIC NIGHTS ! Greg Weaver

Sept. 26 J. Dalessio The Life of a Star

Oct. 10 J. Fisher The Mystery of the missingSolar neutrinos.

Oct. 24 S. Vincent Tales of the Night Sky

Nov. 7 B. Hanagan How to choose yourfirst Telescope.

Nov. 21 L. King How Uranus and Neptunewere discovered.

Dec. 12 D. Wilson Wonders of the Universe

Date Speaker Topic

the latest updated version off the website at: http://MountCuba.org. Programs are presented on Mondaynights at 8pm. Please check the website for programsplanned, full details and updates.

DAS Member Star Parties (MSP�s) ! Bill Hanagan

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The Mt. CubaObservatory PublicNights continue yearround! In addition tolearning about manyaspects of the heavens,you�ll have a chance to

visit and view our all-digital full-dome planetarium. You canpick up a schedule when you next come to a meeting or get

Nearly all of the potential MSP dates since theJune 3 MSP at Elk River have been clouded over or rainedout. The exception was the MSP we held on July 23 at theSawin Observatory.

July is often a bad time of year for observing deep-sky objects from the Sawin Observatory because the highhumidity and poor transparency typical of July, together withthe �red� light pollution level over the Sawin (as depicted bythe �Dark Sky Finder� web site) can easily obscure evenmagnitude 3-4 stars. When you lose the ability to see starsof this magnitude naked eye, for example the brightest sixstars in Hercules, it becomes very difficult to star hop to�and find�many deep-sky objects of interest.

On the night of July 23, all six of the brightest starsin Hercules were visible and we were able to star hop to�and observe�many of the brighter �showpiece� deep-skyobjects that were high in the sky at the time. Having thoseconditions at our July 23 MSP was no accident. �Flex-scheduling� lets us �Cherry Pick� the best nights of the yearfor our MSPs and it gives the MSP supervisor the ability tobypass dates that offer only mediocre conditions, even ifsuch conditions are typical for the month in question. Thus,an MSP supervisor can be expected to issue a �GO�announcement only when all aspects of the weather,including the transparency, are good enough in their view forholding an MSP.

The next opportunity for an MSP will be September23 and 24, roughly 3 days ahead of the new moon. I�ve

revised the MSP schedule to reflect the possible use of thesetwo dates for a road trip to Cherry Springs State Park inPennsylvania. There are no regional star parties scheduledfor this weekend and the weather in late September is oftenidyllic, making this weekend an excellent choice for a poten-tial road trip to Cherry Springs.

Cherry Springs State Park has been designated an�International Dark Sky Park� by the International Dark SkyAssociation (IDA) and is a worthy destination for both visualobservers and astro-imagers who are willing to travel toexperience the darkest skies possible. However, for many ofour club�s core observers, the 6 hour drive to Cherry Springs isgenerally warranted only if both weekend nights are expectedto be clear. So, if the weather does not look good for BOTHNIGHTS (September 23 AND 24), it�s very likely that we�ll beholding an MSP closer to home instead.

Moonrise occurs at 3:32 A.M. and 4:45 A.M. onSeptember 23 and 24. Even after the moon rises it will onlybe 13% and 6% illuminated on these dates and will have littleto no effect on visual observing.

On the following weekend (Sept. 29 � Oct. 2), theDelmarva Stargazers will hold their �No-Frills Stargaze� StarParty. If the weather allows, we�ll hold an MSP at Tuckahoeon Friday Sept. 30 and / or Saturday, October 1 in conjunc-tion with the �No-Frills� Star Party. We�ve held several �con-current� MSPs at previous Delmarva Stargaze Star Partiesand many of these have been well attended by our core groupof visual observers.

If you would like to go on one of (continued on page 4)

NEW

The remaining Public Nights schedule for2011 follows:

Observing with the Delaware Astronomical Society...

Sun with Solar Prominences-Photo by DAS Member Ron Worden through aCoronado SolarMax 40 utilizing a Canon 40D camera.

The DAS astrophotography special interest group (DASAP SIG) meets on Friday nights at 7:30pm every other month at Mt.Cuba regardless of weather. The SIG also meets for photo shootsscheduled on 1-2 day notice to synchronize with the weather.

The monthly meetings are informal and typicallyinclude the presentation of astrophotos taken by the membersalong with an extended question and answer period. Objectscommonly photographed include constellations, auroras, lunareclipses, and planetary photos, as well as a wide variety of deep-sky objects such as nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, etc. Thetopics discussed cover the entire gamut of astrophotography,from how to get started with a minimum of equipment, to polaraligning your telescope, all of the way to the fine points of usingauto-guiders and post-processing digital images.

You can get started in astrophotography with justyour current camera mounted on a tripod or a motorizedtelescope by taking wide field photographs of meteor showers,conjunctions, constellations, and star trails. As you move toprogressively fainter and smaller subjects, you�ll need betterequipment. Joining the AP SIG is a great way to learn whatequipment you�ll need and what works well before you spendyour money. If you are interested in joining the AP SIG, justemail your name, address, and phone number to me athanaganw@verizon.net.

.

The DAS Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) SpecialInterest Group (SIG ) meets on evenings and weekendsaccording to the availability of the members and the particu-lar projects that are underway. Currently the ATM SIG has amedium Dob building program under way. The general rangeof activities of the ATM SIG includes all manner of telescopemaking, mirror making, and the making of accessories fortelescopes and observing.

Anyone interested in joining the ATM SIG should

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DAS Special Interest Groups for Photography and Telescope Construction...DAS ASTROPHOTOGRAPHYSPECIAL INTEREST GROUP ! Bill Hanagan

DAS AMATEUR TELESCOPE MAKING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP ! Bill Hanagan

email their name, address, and phone number to me athanaganw@verizon.net.

Meeting dates are announced primarily by email, soif you are interested in telescope making, be sure to letme know!

The DAS also maintains a club observatory on thegrounds of the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory. TheSawin Observatory houses the club�s permanently mounted12.5" reflecting telescope and a 17.5" Coulter Odyssey 2Dobsonian telescope. They are for the use of club membersonce they are trained and checked-out in a simple operatingprocedure. Members who are interested in becoming keyholders of the Sawin Observatory should contact me at 239-1844 to arrange for training in the use of the facility.

One of the best advantages of being a member ofthe Delaware Astronomical Society is that all members havethe privilege of being trained to use and then borrow equip-ment owned by the club for personal use. Currently, wehave two scopes available for loan: a Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a 6" Orion Sky-Quest XT6 Dobsonianreflector. The loan is for at least a month. If you�re interestedin checking out either of these scopes, contact Tom Sidowskiat 239-1844.

LOANER TELESCOPES and SAWIN OBSERVATORY REMINDER !Tom Sidowski

As always, please consider submitting one or more ofyour favorite astrophotos for publication in the FOCUS. Arecent photo is not required. You can email your photo(s) as.jpg files to our FOCUS editor, Joe Neuberger at his address atjrneuberger@gmail.com. Please include a text file brieflydescribing how you made each photo (in Microsoft Wordformat) along with any by-lines or captions you would like Joeto use. If you would like, you can write a more in-depthdiscussion to go with your photos. Joe can make a masterfullayout, but if you would like to suggest a layout of your ownyou can insert copies of your photos into the Word documentto give him an idea what you would like to see. Either way,don�t forget to attach a high resolution .jpg file to your email foreach photo. Joe has done a great job improving the look of theFOCUS and adding relevant links to take advantage of the factthat the FOCUS is now on-line, but like all newsletter editors,he needs as much material as he can get from club members.

NEW

.FOCUS uses plenty of photos

in banners & elsewhere each issue, andwe want to use YOURS...not Hubble�s!!

Photos need NOT be current.

So how about you?? HAVE ANY OLD or NEW ASTROPHOTOS?? PLEASE email to FOCUS editor (or tell us where they can be found on the web if your photos reside there)

The next AP SIG meeting will be another in our seriesof �On-Site� meetings. It will be held at Rick Davis�s home oneither September 16 or 17; the exact date will be flex-sched-uled based on the weather. Rick will act as host and willreview his astro-imaging rig and give us an update on hisrecent imaging efforts. Even if you aren�t an AP-SIG member,you�re welcome to attend to learn more. Be sure to sign up forthe DAS Yahoo Group in order to receive the email announce-ments that provide directions and the date of the meeting.

The refiguring of the club�s 17.5� f/4.5 mirror isproceeding. If you would like to participate in this effort,please let me know.

NEW

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Notes on the Member Star Parties (MSPs) ! Bill HanaganFor each MSP cycle there are usually four potential dates designated in advance, but which of these is used for the

event is �flex-scheduled� according to the weather using the DAS Yahoo Group email system.Please be sure to mark your calendars with the potential MSP dates that appear in the table! Obviously, you need

to keep as many of these dates open as possible so when a GO announcement is made you�re in a position to attend theDAS Member Star Party regardless of which date the weather favors!

The DAS has a core group of visual observers and astro-imagers who travel to Tuckahoe, Cherry Springs, WestVirginia, and other dark sky sites as opportunities and the weather allow. If you�re interested in going along or meeting up onany of the road trips mentioned in the MSP schedule, let me know and I�ll fill you in on the details and keep you apprised asplans develop.

Several potential road trips are listed on the schedule. Road trips require that several DAS members commit togoing in advance should the weather prove favorable for both nights. When the weather forecast only looks good for onenight, the MSP will often be redirected to a closer site such as the Elk River site or the Sawin observatory.

While DAS members who go on road trips are often involved in both observing and imaging, these road trips areparticularly valuable for visual observers because they offer the best opportunity to see deep sky objects through largeaperture telescopes under dark skies. If you are truly interested in visual observing, you owe it to yourself to see first-handwhat dark skies and a large aperture will allow you to see.

Finally, I�d like to remind you that you need to be signed up for the DAS Yahoo Group to receive the schedulingannouncements for the MSPs. A full description of the MSP program appears on the DAS website at http://delastro.org/ andin the December 2009 issue of the FOCUS.

DAS Member Star Parties (MSP�s)(continued from page 2)

the �road trip� star parties, but you�ve never camped beforeor you lack the necessary equipment, give me a call.Several of our members have extra camping equipment thatthey�re eager to let you borrow.

All DAS star parties, including the MSPs, are

scheduled via DAS Yahoo User Group email. If you have anyinterest in observing, even if it�s just casually looking througha telescope with other friends in the DAS, you should besure to join the DAS Yahoo Group and read the email.

The remaining MSP dates for 2011 are listed in the�Notes on the Member Star Parties (MSPs)� which appearsat the top of this page..

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Click above to go to Mt. Cuba�swebsite aand click on the

�Harcourt C. �Ace� VernonMemorial Lecture Series� link.

Vernon LectureRegistration

FREE AND OPENTO THE PUBLIC

Sponsored by theMt. CubaAstronomical Observatoryin conjunction with theDelaware AsteroseismicResearch Centerat theUniversity of Delaware

2011Harcourt C. �Ace� Vernon

Memorial Lecture

October 19, 20117:30 pm, Clayton Hall, U of D

Featuring Guest Speaker

Dr. Greg LaughlinUniversity of California Santa Cruz

Extra Solar planets, or �exoplanets,� existoutside our solar system. Just a few yearsago, it was mere speculation that planets evenorbited other stars. Today, using advancedtelescopes, astronomers have found over 300.Could any of these worlds be similar to Earth?Dr. Greg Laughlin chairs the Astronomy andPhysics department at Santa Cruz. He�s partici-pated in the discovery of dozens of exoplanetsand is co-author of the popular book �The FiveAges of the Universe.� Join us for an eveningtrek among the stars as Dr. Laughlin leads anexciting tour of planets beyond the solar system.

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DAS FORUM / E-MAIL SITE ON YAHOO ! Don Shedrick

This is a restricted e-mail service for use byDAS members for DAS purposes. To use this site,go to http://groups.yahoo.com; search for DelawareAstronomical Society; and click on the link that comesup. To join, you must have a Yahoo ID and password;if you don�t, you can register at this time by followingYahoo�s instructions. You will then be allowed to �Jointhe group� upon clicking in that box. You must thenregister for the DAS group and add your profile byclicking on �add new profile� and completing the form.

When adding or editing your profile, you will needto enter your actual name in the �Real Name� box so youcan be identified as a DAS member so Don Shedrickcan approve your application to join the DAS group, andeveryone will know to whom they are communicating.

Finally, specify your desired email address fordelivery of messages. Note: you may choose to nothave your name and email address displayed to anyoneother than DAS members who are members of theYahoo DAS email group.

For more detailed instructions, go to the DASwebsite under DAS Resource Links.

LIBRARY NEWS ! Glenn Bentley

MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS ! Bill McKibbonSKY & TELESCOPE will be processed by the

club for the first subscription year only. The publishershould then send renewal notices directly to thesubscriber at the club rate of $32.95. The subscribercan then pay the publisher directly.

NOTE: If you receive a renewal notice for anamount other than $32.95, check to see if there areany special offers included in the rate. Also check therenewal date printed on the magazine address label.These �special offers� are likely to occur severalmonths prior to the renewal date. However, if you areapproaching your renewal date and have not receivedthe correct renewal notice, contact me and I willprocess the renewal through the club.

ASTRONOMY will continue to be processedby the club for all subscription years.

Please see the renewal form at the end of theFOCUS for additional renewal information.

MEMBERSHIP EXPIRATION NOTICES! Bill McKibben

If you receive the FOCUS by email, you will benotified of your membership renewal by email. If youreceive the FOCUS in the mail and the mailing labelon the envelope containing your FOCUS is markedwith red marker, your membership is expiring or hasexpired. Please see the renewal form at the end ofthe FOCUS for additional renewal information. Alsosee the �Magazine Subscriptions� section in theFOCUS for information about subscription renewal.

I invite the membership to drop by the library afterthe September meeting to see what we have to offer for yourlate summer reading enujoyment. Welcome back!

ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE MEMBERSHIPDAS members have the opportunity to become

members in the Astronomical League at the dis-counted rate of $7.50 per year. Benefits include theReflector (a quarterly newsletter), observing programs,awards, discounts on books and educational materi-als. For questions on joining the Astronomical League,contact Lynn King at meetings, call 302-764-8816 oremail KLynnKing@verizon.net.

MT. CUBA LENDING LIBRARY ! Paul Stratton

May I first extend a hardy thanks to all of thoseusing the Lending Library. Your interest has made this arewarding effort.

BOOK OF THE MONTH--PLANETS FOR MENby Stephen H. Dole and Isaac Asimov

The Kepler Telescope has now found many hundredplanets in the Milk Way system. The data being collected isindicating that some of these may very well be inhabitableby humans.

May I quote. � In the course of millions of years thehuman species has adapted itself to the narrow ranges oftemperature and air pressure, the availability of food andwater, the chemical and physical components of our earthlyenvironment.. Now that means are at hand to transcendthis enviroment, the question arises: Where else in theuniverse can such physical conditions be found.�

Read PLANETS FOR MEN and let the thoughts begin.

Earth�s Moon -Photo Credit: by DAS Member Ron WordenTaken with an SBIG STV CCD camera and aMeade 10� LX200 at a focal length of 1600 mm.

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This is what the MoonLooks like from SpacePhoto Credit: Astronaut Rod Garan

WEBSITE of the

MONTH

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/

ASTRO-PHOTO of the

MONTH

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2027.htmlOn Sunday, July

31, 2011, when Expedition28 astronaut Ron Garanaboard the InternationalSpace Station looked outhis window, this is whathe saw: the moon. And,he saw it 16 times. SaidGaran, �We had simulta-

neous sunsets and moon-sets.� For Garan and therest of the station crew,

this extraordinary event isa daily occurrence. Since

the station orbits theEarth every 90 minutes,

each day the crew experi-ences this about 16 times

a day.

Astronomy for children, students, and kids of all ages. KidsAstronomy.com, part of the KidsKnowItNetwork, is the absolutely free astronomy resource designed to teach children about the exciting world ofouter space.

Learning about science should never be boring. We will take you to the moons of Jupiter, andexplore the possibility of life on these distant worlds. Travel through the expanse of the universe anddiscover just how much SPACE there is in Space. And we will learn how modern day scientists are pushingthe limits of space exploration every day.

So strap yourself in for a great ride. Our astronomy website is packed with games, activities, funfacts, and resources to help Teachers, Parents, and Students of all ages reach out and touch our uni-verse.

KidsAstronomy.com is owned andoperated by the KidsKnowIt Network. Visit theKidsKnowIt Network Online to find resources onother topics including dinosaurs, biology, math,memory, and more. To reach that website justclick the link to the left.

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Dawn�s Smooth Move

Using its framing camera, Dawn obtained this image of Vesta on July 24, 2011, from a distance of about3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). The three vertically-aligned craters on the left have been nicknamed �thesnowman� by camera team members. Press release: Dawn Begins Science Orbits of Vesta

August 1, 2011: When a NASA spacecraft goes into orbit around a new worldfor the first time, the control room is usually packed to capacity with scientists,engineers, and dignitaries ready to leap and shout when the retro-rockets fire. It�s abig, noisy event.

July 15, 2011, was one of those days. NASA�s Dawn spacecraftapproached Vesta and became the first probe from Earth to orbit a main belt asteroid.Dawn�s cameras revealed a desolate world of transcendent beauty, thrillingeveryone who worked on the project.

Needless to say, the control room was .... silent?�Actually it was empty,� says Dawn Chief Engineer Marc Rayman of

JPL. �Dawn entered orbit on a Friday night; I myself was out dancing with my wifeand friends.�

What gives? Rayman, an avid folk dancer, explains: �Our mission has aunique choreography.�

Indeed, Dawn has its own way of doing things. While most spacecraftblast off Earth atop a firestorm of conventional rocket exhaust, then coast to theirdestinations with engines turned off to conserve fuel, Dawn was able to continuethrusting throughout its voyage. Fuel-efficient ion engines gently propelled thespacecraft toward Vesta for more than three years, never exerting more force thanthe weight of a feather held in your open palm yet, over time, gathering enoughspeed to catch an asteroid racing halfway across the solar system.

With engines firing almost constantly, mission controllers were able toactively steer the probe, gradually reshaping Dawn�s orbit around the sun until itmatched the orbit of Vesta itself. Meeting Vesta for orbital insertion wasn�t a jarring

encounter of mismatched velocities. It was more like two dancers merging inpracticed rhythm to a familiar tune.

�Dawn did not miss a beat as it flew into Vesta�s grasp,� says Rayman.�The spacecraft moved gently into orbit with the same grace it has displayed duringits nearly 1000 days of ion propulsion through the solar system.�

The capture was so smooth, so low-key, that personnel felt no particularneed to monitor the probe�s operation. �I really was out dancing,� says Rayman,�confident that the pas de deux being performed 188 million kilometers away wouldbe executed with graceful beauty and flawless precision.�

Calculations show that the moment of �orbit insertion� occurred on Fridaynight, July 15th, around 9:47 pm PDT. At that moment, Dawn�s orbit around the sunfinally was so close to that of Vesta that the protoplanet�s gravity could take hold of it.Radio signals picked up on schedule by the Deep Space Network later confirmedthat the spaceship and asteroid were truly a pair.

Dawn will spend the next year circling Vesta in a series of descendingpasses, bringing the giant asteroid�s ancient surface ever closer to Dawn�s camerasand other science instruments. Because Vesta is a relic of long-ago planet formation,the history of our solar system could be revealed under Dawn�s careful scrutiny.

�This really beautiful dance,� says Rayman, �is just getting started.�

More Information:Dawn � JPL home pageDawn � NASA HQ home page

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

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What Lies Inside Jupiter?

An artist�s concept of Junoat Jupiter.

July 29, 2011:Jupiter�s swirl-

ing clouds can be seenthrough any departmentstore telescope. Withno more effort than ittakes to bend over aneyepiece, you canwitness storm systemsbigger than Earthnavigating ruddy beltsthat stretch hundreds ofthousands of kilometersaround Jupiter�s vast

equator. It�s fascinating.It�s also vexing. According to many researchers, the

really interesting things�from the roots of monster storms tostores of exotic matter�are located at depth. The cloudsthemselves hide the greatest mysteries from view.

NASA�s Juno probe, scheduled to launch on August5th, could change all that. The goal of the mission is toanswer the question, What lies inside Jupiter?

�Our knowledge of Jupiter is truly skin deep,� saysJuno�s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the SouthWestResearch Institute in San Antonio, TX. �Even the Galileoprobe, which dived into the clouds in 1995, penetrated nomore than about 0.2% of Jupiter�s radius.�

There are many basic things researchers would liketo know�like how far down does the Great Red Spot go?How much water does Jupiter hold? And what is the exoticmaterial near the planet�s core?

Juno will lift the veil without actually diving throughthe clouds. Bolton explains how: �Swooping as low as 5000km above the cloudtops, Juno will spend a full year orbitingnearer to Jupiter than any previous spacecraft. The probe�sflight path will cover all latitudes and longitudes, allowing usto fully map Jupiter�s gravitational field and thus figure outhow the interior is layered.�

Jupiter is made primarily of hydrogen, but only theouter layers may be in gaseous form. Deep inside Jupiter,researchers believe, high temperatures and crushing pres-sures transform the gas into an exotic form of matter knownas liquid metallic hydrogen�a liquid form of hydrogen akin tothe slippery mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer.Jupiter�s powerful magnetic field almost certainly springsfrom dynamo action inside this vast realm of electricallyconducting fluid.

�Juno�s magnetometers will precisely map Jupiter�smagnetic field,� says Bolton. �This will tell us a great dealabout the planet�s inner magnetic dynamo [and the role liquidmetallic hydrogen plays in it].�

Juno will also probe Jupiter�s atmosphere using aset of microwave radiometers.

�Our sensors can measure the temperature andwater content at depths where the pressure is 50 timesgreater than what the Galileo probe experienced,�says Bolton.

Jupiter�s water content is of particular interest. Thereare two leading theories of Jupiter�s origin: One holds that

Click above to view a ScienceCast video entitled, �WhatLies Inside Jupiter?�

Jupiter formed more or less where it is today, while the othersuggests Jupiter formed at greater distances from the sun,later migrating to its current location. (Imagine the havoc agiant planet migrating through the solar system couldcause.) The two theories predict different amounts of water inJupiter�s interior, so Juno should be able to distinguishbetween them�or rule out both.

Finally, Juno will get a grand view of the mostpowerful Northern Lights in the Solar System.

�Juno�s polar orbit is ideal for studying Jupiter�sauroras,� explains Bolton. �They are really strong, and wedon�t fully understand how they are created.�

Unlike Earth, which lights up in response to solaractivity, Jupiter makes its own auroras. The power source isthe giant planet�s own rotation. Although Jupiter is ten timeswider than Earth, it manages to spin around 2.5 times asfast as our little planet. As any freshman engineering studentknows, if you spin a magnet�and Jupiter is a very bigmagnet�you�ve got an electric generator. Induced electricfields accelerate particles toward Jupiter�s poles where theaurora action takes place. Remarkably, many of the particlesthat rain down on Jupiter�s poles appear to be ejecta fromvolcanoes on Io. How this complicated system actuallyworks is a puzzle.

It�s a puzzle that members of the public will witnessat close range thanks to JunoCam�a public outreachinstrument modeled on the descent camera for Mars roverCuriosity. When Juno swoops low over the cloudtops,JunoCam will go to work, snapping pictures better than thebest Hubble images of Jupiter.

�JunoCam will show us what you would see if youwere an astronaut orbiting Jupiter,� says Bolton. �I amlooking forward to that.�

Juno is slated to reach Jupiter in 2016.Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

More Information:Juno � SWRI home pageJuno � NASA home pageNASA�s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Juno mission for the principalinvestigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute. The Juno mission is part of theNew Frontiers Program managed at NASA�s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch managementfor the mission is the responsibility of NASA�s Launch Services Program at the KennedySpace Center in Florida.

Berkeley Scientists Discoveran �Instant Cosmic Classic� SupernovaSupercomputing, fast networks key to early discovery of explosionAugust 25, 2011 Author: Linda Vu lvu@lbl.gov

These images show Type Ia supernova PTF 11kly, the youngest ever detected�over three nights. The left image taken onAugust 22 shows the event before it exploded supernova, approximately 1 million times fainter than the human eye candetect. The center image taken on August 23 shows the supernova at about 10,000 times fainter than the human eye candetect. The right image taken on August 24 shows that the event is 6 times brighter than the previous day. By the end ofthe first week in September it should be visible with a good pair of binoculars.

A supernova discovered August 23rd is closer toEarth � approximately 21 million light-years away � thanany other of its kind in a generation. Astronomers believethey caught the supernova within hours of its explosion, arare feat made possible with a specialized survey telescopeand state-of-the-art computational tools.

Go here to watch a video describing how to see thesupernova with binoculars or a telescope.

The finding of such a supernova so early and soclose has energized the astronomical community as they arescrambling to observe it with as many telescopes as pos-sible, including the Hubble Space Telescope.

Joshua Bloom, assistant professor of astronomy at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, called it �the supernova of ageneration.� Astronomers at Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, who made thediscovery predict that it will be a target for research for the nextdecade, making it one of the most-studied supernova in history.

The supernova, dubbed PTF 11kly, occurred in thePinwheel Galaxy, located in the �Big Dipper,� otherwiseknown as the Ursa Major constellation. It was discovered bythe Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey, which isdesigned to observe and uncover astronomical events asthey happen.

�We caught this supernova very soon after explo-sion. PTF 11kly is getting brighter by the minute. It�s already20 times brighter than it was yesterday,� said Peter Nugent,the senior scientist at Berkeley Lab who first spotted thesupernova. Nugent is also an adjunct professor of astronomyat UC Berkeley. �Observing PTF 11kly unfold should be awild ride. It is an instant cosmic classic.�

He credits supercomputers at the National EnergyResearch Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a Depart-ment of Energy supercomputing center at Berkeley Lab, aswell as high-speed networks with uncovering this rare eventin the nick of time. (Continued on the following page)

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The PTF survey uses a robotic telescope mountedon the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at PalomarObservatory in Southern California to scan the sky nightly.As soon as the observations are taken, the data travels morethan 400 miles to NERSC via the National ScienceFoundation�s High Performance Wireless Research andEducation Network and DOE�s Energy Sciences Network(ESnet). At NERSC, computers running machine learningalgorithms in the Real-time Transient Detection Pipelinescan through the data and identify events to follow up on.Within hours of identifying PTF 11kly, this automated systemsent the coordinates to telescopes around the world forfollow-up observations.

Three hours after the automated PTF pipelineidentified this supernova candidate, telescopes in the CanaryIslands (Spain) had captured unique �light signatures,� orspectra, of the event. Twelve hours later, his team hadobserved the event with a suite of telescopes including theLick Observatory (California), and Keck Observatory (Hawaii)had determined the supernova belongs to a special category,called Type Ia. Nugent notes that this is the earliest spec-trum ever taken of a Type Ia supernova.

�Type Ia supernova are the kind we use to measurethe expansion of the Universe. Seeing one explode so closeby allows us to study these events in unprecedented detail,�said Mark Sullivan, the Oxford University team leader whowas among the first to follow up on this detection.

�We still do not know for sure what causes suchexplosions,� said Weidong Li, senior scientist at UC Berke-ley and collaborator of Nugent. �We are using images fromthe Hubble Space Telescope, taken fortuitously years beforean explosion to search for clues to the event�s origin.�

The team will be watching carefully over the next fewweeks, and an urgent request to NASA yesterday means theHubble Space Telescope will begin studying the supernova�schemistry and physics this weekend.

Catching supernovae so early allows a rare glimpseat the outer layers of the supernova, which contain hintsabout what kind of star exploded. �When you catch them thisearly, mixed in with the explosion you can actually seeunburned bits from star that exploded! It is remarkable,� saidAndrew Howell of UC Santa Barbara Las Cumbres Global

Telescope Network. �We are finding new clues to solving themystery of the origin of these supernovae that has perplexedus for 70 years. Despite looking at thousands of supernovae,I�ve never seen anything like this before.�

�The ability to process all of this data in near real-time and share our results with collaborators around theglobe through the Science Gateway at NERSC is an invalu-able tool for following up on supernova events,� says Nugent.�We wouldn�t have been able to detect and observe thiscandidate as soon as we did without the resources atNERSC.�

At a mere 21 million light-years from Earth, arelatively small distance by astronomical standards, thesupernova is still getting brighter, and might even be visiblewith good binoculars in ten days� time, appearing brighterthan any other supernova of its type in the last 30 years.

�The best time to see this exploding star will be justafter evening twilight in the Northern hemisphere in a week orso,� said Oxford�s Sullivan. �You�ll need dark skies and agood pair of binoculars, although a small telescope would beeven better.�

The scientists in the PTF have discovered more than1,000 supernovae since it started operating in 2008, but theybelieve this could be their most significant discovery yet. Thelast time a supernova of this sort occurred so close was in1986, but Nugent notes that this one was peculiar andheavily obscured by dust.

�Before that, you�d have to go back to 1972, 1937and 1572 to find more nearby Type Ia supernovae,� saysNugent.The project is supported by DOE�s Scientific Discoverythrough Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program and byNASA

The Palomar Transient Factory team is requestinghelp from people who observed the galaxy M101 between thedates August 22 and August 24, 2011. Images of the galaxyrecorded during these nights may help establish the exacttime of the PTF 11kly explosion and its early evolution.People who may have useful data are encouraged to send anemail to ptf11kly@gmail.com.

The Palomar Transient Factory is a survey operated a Palomar Observatory by the California Institute of Technologyon behalf of a worldwide consortium of partner institutions. Collaborators on PTF 11kly with Nugent, Bloom and Li are BradCenko, Alex V. Filippenko, Geoffrey Marcy, Adam Miller (UC Berkeley), Rollin C. Thomas (Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory), Sullivan (Oxford University), and Andrew Howell (UC Santa Barbara/Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network).Read more about how NERSC supports the Palomar Transient Factory.

About Berkeley LabLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world�s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing

sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe.Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab�s scientific expertise has been recognized with 12 Nobel prizes. The University of Californiamanages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy�s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

About NERSCThe National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) is the primary high-performance computing

facility for scientific research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy�s Office of Science. Located at Lawrence Berke-ley National Laboratory, the NERSC Center serves more than 4,000 scientists at national laboratories and universitiesconducting fundamental research in a wide range of disciplines.

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DAS members have restored and refurbished twoclassic Edscorp (Edmund Scientific) scopes and the club isoffering them for sale. Both are 6� f/8 Newtonians onmotorized German equatorial mounts. One has a mirrorwhich has been refigured at the Mid-Atlantic Mirror Makingworkshop and is newly aluminized. The other�s mirror wastested by the experts at MAMM who determined thatrefiguring was not called for. The coating is original butclean. Technical specs for both mirrors will be provided tothe buyers. We have even assembled some Edmundmaterials which show how to use the drive motors, how tocollimate, etc. The scopes will be on display at the Septem-ber meeting for your inspection. Two clean scopes in theclassic style for a beginner or collector.

Below appears an original Edmund Scientificadvertisement for similar telescopes. This sale includes thetelescopes and mounts ONLY as described above.

TELESCOPES FOR SALEby the CLUB

DAS Main Meeting Topics andSpeakers for the Balance of 2011

September 20: What We Did Last Summer, a review of lastsummer�s astronomical activities by YOU! Bring yourphotos! Plus, DAS Member Star Parties (MSPs), a photoreview of past DAS MSP�s and information on upcomingevents, including the Delmarva No-Frills Stargaze by BillHanaganOctober 18: Lasers in Astronomy, which will include thetopics of interplanetary laser communications and adaptiveoptics by Mike Cimorosi. Also, the Fall Messier ½ Mara-thon, a brief update on plans for the event by Gus Swartout.November 15: Backyard Astronomy with your Observatory,a review and analysis of the various types of amateurobservatories by Ron Worden.December 20: One mini-talk: Title to be Determined bySheila Vincent, plus the DAS Christmas Party

July 15th �On Site�AP SIG Meeting

On July 15, members of the AP-SIG including RobLancaster, Rick Davis, Bill Hanagan, and Ron Worden, metnear the Sawin Observatory for the first of this year�s �On-Site� AP-SIG meetings. Rob acted as host and demon-strated his current technique for imaging with the 10� f/6Newtonian telescope that he built himself.

The �On-Site� series of meetings are held at the actualimaging locations of the AP-SIG members to allow everyone,from rank beginner to veteran imager, to see a variety of astro-imaging gear and techniques in action. Rob currently takesimages �on the road� as opportunities come up, so he demon-strated his rig in operation near the Sawin Observatory.

Rob Lancaster (seated) operates his 10� f/6 Newtonian telescope justoutside the Sawin Observatory while Rick Davis (standing) offersadvice. Rob�s telescope is mounted on a Losmandy Gemini G-11GOTO German Equatorial Mount. Photo by Bill Hanagan.

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Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New HorizonsSept. 2, 2011: At this verymoment one of the fastestspacecraft ever launched �NASA�s New Horizons � ishurtling through the void atnearly one million miles perday. Launched in 2006, ithas been in flight longer thansome missions last, and stillhas four more years of travelto go.

New Horizonsheaded for the lonely world ofPluto on the outer edge of thesolar system.

Although astrono-mers now call Pluto a dwarfplanet, �it�s actually a largeplace, about 5,000 milesaround at the equator,� saysAlan Stern, principal investi- Click above to view a ScienceCast video about New Horizons� journey to Pluto.gator for the mission. �And it�s never been explored.�

Indeed, no spacecraft has ever visited Pluto or anydwarf planet1.

�This is a whole new class of worlds,� says Stern.�To understand the solar system, we need to understandworlds like Pluto.�

Pluto is a resident of the Kuiper Belt, a vast regionbeyond the orbit of Neptune. Stern believes �the Kuiper Beltcontains a thousand dwarf planets or more � a whole zooof them! Dwarf planets are, in fact, the most numerousclass of planets in the solar system, and probably in thewhole universe.�

Pluto is a world of mysteries. For one thing, Sternwonders, what are the molasses-colored patches on Pluto�ssurface seen by the Hubble Space Telescope? Somescientists think they could be deposits of primordial organicmatter. �New Horizon�s spectrometers will help us identifythe kinds of organic molecules on Pluto. We expect to findsomething pretty interesting.�

Hubble recently contributed more intrigue by spot-ting a new moon circling Pluto � bringing the total to four.Composite Hubble images of Pluto now resemble a miniatureplanetary system. New Horizons will hunt for even moremoons as it approaches the dwarf planet.

The probe is primed for detective work � equippedwith instruments capable of �knocking the socks off anythingVoyager carried.� In addition to state of the art spectrom-eters, New Horizons wields one of the largest and highestresolution interplanetary telescopes ever flown. It�s calledLORRI, short for Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager.

�At closest approach to Pluto � about 10,000 km up� LORRI can resolve details almost as well as a spy camera.The view will be incredible. If we flew this instrument overEarth at that altitude, we could see individual buildings andtheir shapes.�

The Hubble Space Telescopediscovered strange molasses-colored markings on Pluto. Clickabove for the full story.

What will wesee on Pluto? Someresearchers say wecould spot icy geysers2.Some say we could seethose surface depositsof organic material.Stern says simply,�There could be all kindsof surprises! It�s a firstexploration of a newkind of planet.�

Heading far fromhome, �New Horizons islike Noah�s Ark � ourship has two of every-thing, for backup,� saysStern. �Two heaters, two computer systems, two of every-thing except the scientific instruments. And even those havecapabilities to back each other up.�

When New Horizons reaches Pluto it will havetraveled 9 ½ years � longer than any spacecraft has everflown to reach its main target. To save power and reducewear and tear, it hibernates3 much of the time. But allsystems will be ready to spring into action upon arrivalin 2015.

Mark your calendar.Author: Dauna Coulter | Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips

Credit: Science@NASA

More Information:New Horizons � JHU-APL home pageNew Horizons � NASA home page

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Sunspot Breakthrough

Based on data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, thismovie shows a sunspot emerging from depth in February2011. Click above to begin.Visualization credit: Thomas Hartlep and Scott Winegarden, Stanford Univ.

August 25, 2011: Imagine forecasting a hurricane in Miamiweeks before the storm was even a swirl of clouds off thecoast of Africa�or predicting a tornado in Kansas from theflutter of a butterfly�s wing1 in Texas. These are the kind offorecasts meteorologists can only dream about.

Could the dream come true? A new study byStanford researchers suggests that such forecasts may oneday be possible�not on Earth, but on the sun.

�We have learned to detect sunspots before they arevisible to the human eye,� says Stathis Ilonidis, a PhDstudent at Stanford University. �This could lead to significantadvances in space weatherforecasting.�

Sunspots are the�butterfly�s wings� of solarstorms. Visible to thehuman eye as darkblemishes on the solardisk, sunspots are thestarting points of explosiveflares and coronal massejections (CMEs) thatsometimes hit our planet93 million miles away.Consequences range fromNorthern Lights to radioblackouts to power outages.

Astronomers havebeen studying sunspotsfor more than 400 years, and they have pieced together theirbasic characteristics: Sunspots are planet-sized islands ofmagnetism that float in solar plasma. Although the detailsare still debated, researchers generally agree that sunspotsare born deep inside the sun via the action of the sun�s innermagnetic dynamo. From there they bob to the top, carriedupward by magnetic buoyancy; a sunspot emerging at thestellar surface is a bit like a submarine emerging from theocean depths.

In the August 19th issue of Science, Ilonidis and co-workers Junwei Zhao and Alexander Kosovichev announcedthat they can see some sunspots while they are still submerged.

Their analysis technique is called �time-distancehelioseismology2,� and it is similar to an approach widelyused in earthquake studies. Just as seismic waves travelingthrough the body of Earth reveal what is inside the planet,acoustic waves traveling through the body of the sun canreveal what is inside the star. Fortunately for helioseismologists,the sun has acoustic waves in abundance. The body of thesun is literally roaring with turbulent boiling motions. Thissets the stage for early detection of sunspots.

�We can�t actually hear these sounds across thegulf of space,� explains Ilonidis, �but we can see the vibra-tions they make on the sun�s surface.� Instruments onboardtwo spacecraft, the venerable Solar and Heliospheric Obser-vatory (SOHO) and the newer Solar Dynamics Observatory(SDO) constantly monitor the sun for acoustic activity.

Submerged sunspots have a detectable effect on thesun�s inner acoustics�namely, sound waves travel fasterthrough a sunspot than through the surrounding plasma. Abig sunspot can leapfrog an acoustic wave by 12 to 16seconds. �By measuring these time differences, we can findthe hidden sunspot.�

Ilonidis says the technique seems to be mostsensitive to sunspots located about 60,000 km beneath thesun�s surface. The team isn�t sure why that is �the magicdistance,� but it�s a good distance because it gives them asmuch as two days advance notice that a spot is about to

reach the surface.�This is the first time

anyone has been able topoint to a blank patch of sunand say �a sunspot is aboutto appear right there,�� saysIlonidis�s thesis advisor Prof.Phil Scherrer of the StanfordPhysics Department. �It�s abig advance.�

�There are limits tothe technique,� cautionsIlonidis. �We can say that abig sunspot is coming, butwe cannot yet predict if aparticular sunspot will producean Earth-directed flare.�

So far they havedetected five emerging sunspots�four with SOHO and onewith SDO. Of those five, two went on to produce X-classflares, the most powerful kind of solar explosion. Thisencourages the team to believe their technique can make apositive contribution to space weather forecasting. Becausehelioseismology is computationally intensive, regularmonitoring of the whole sun is not yet possible��we don�thave enough CPU cycles,� says Ilonidis �but he believes itis just a matter of time before refinements in their algorithmallow routine detection of hidden sunspots. (continued on next page)

The original research reported in this story may be found inScience magazine: �Detection of Emerging Sunspot Regions in theSolar Interior� by Ilonidis, Zhao and Kosovichev, 333 (6045): 993-996.

More Information:

Footnotes:

(1) The Butterfly Effect(2) Time-distance helioseismology was

originally developed by NASA scientist Thomas Duvall in 1993Credits: SOHO, a joint project by NASA and European Space Agency,was launched in December 1995 and is still under operation. SDO is aNASA mission and was launched in February 2010. Prof. Scherrer,adviser of Stathis Ilonidis, is the Principal Investigator of both MDIonboard SOHO, and HMI onboard SDO. Data observed by both MDI andHMI were used in this study.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

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False-colors in this SOHO movie represent acoustictravel-time differences heralding a sunspot as it risestoward the sun�s surface in October 2003. Click above tobegin. Visualization credit: Thomas Hartlep, Stanford University.

Sunspot Breakthrough (continued from preceeding page)

Discovered:Stars as Cool asthe Human Body!

This artist�s conception illustrateswhat a �Y dwarf� might look like.Y dwarfs are the coldest star-likebodies known, with temperaturesthat can be even cooler than thehuman body.

August 24, 2011:Scientists

using data fromNASA�s Wide-fieldInfrared SurveyExplorer (WISE) havediscovered six �Ydwarfs�� star-likebodies with tempera-tures as cool as thehuman body.

Astronomershunted these darkorbs for more than adecade without

success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, theyare nearly impossible to see. WISE�s infrared vision allowedthe telescope to finally spot the faint glow of a half dozen Ydwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about40 light-years.

�WISE scanned the entire sky for these and otherobjects, and was able to spot their feeble light with its highlysensitive infrared vision,� says Jon Morse, AstrophysicsDivision director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The Y�s are the coldest members of the brown dwarffamily. Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as �failed�stars. They are too low in mass to fuse atoms at their coresand thus don�t burn with the fires that keep stars like oursun shining steadily for billions of years. Instead, theseobjects cool and fade with time, until what little light they doemit is at infrared wavelengths. The atmospheres of browndwarfs are similar to those of gas giant planets like Jupiter,but they are easier to observe because they are alone inspace, away from the blinding light of a parent star.

So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown

dwarfs. Of these, six are classified as cool Y�s. One of the Ydwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for thecoldest brown dwarf with an estimated atmospheric tempera-ture cooler than room temperature, or less than 80 degreesFahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius).

WISE 1828+2650, the coldest brown dwarf known so far, isdenoted by a green dot in very center of this infrared image.The chilly star-like body isn�t even as warm as a human body,at less than about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

�The brown dwarfs we were turning up before thisdiscovery were more like the temperature of your oven,� saysDavy Kirkpatrick, a WISE science team member at theInfrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. �With thediscovery of Y dwarfs, we�ve moved out of the kitchen andinto the cooler parts of the house.�

The Y dwarfs are in our sun�s neighborhood, fromapproximately nine to 40 light-years away. The Y dwarfapproximately nine light-years away, WISE 1541-2250, maybecome the seventh closest star system, bumping Ross 154back to eighth. By comparison, the star closest to our solarsystem, Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away.

�Finding brown dwarfs near our sun is like discoveringthere�s a hidden house on your block that you didn�t knowabout,� says Michael Cushing, a WISE team member at JPL.�It�s thrilling to me to know we�ve got neighbors out there yetto be discovered. With WISE, we may even find a browndwarf closer to us than our closest known star.�

Once the WISE team identified brown dwarf candi-dates, they turned to NASA�s Spitzer Space Telescope tonarrow their list. To definitively confirm them, the WISE teamused some of the most powerful telescopes and spectrom-eters on Earth to split apart the objects� light and look fortelltale molecular signatures of water, methane and possiblyammonia. For the very coldest of the new Y dwarfs, the teamused NASA�s Hubble Space Telescope. The Y dwarfs wereidentified based on a change in these spectral featurescompared to other brown dwarfs, indicating they have a loweratmospheric temperature.

For more information about WISE, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise.

Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

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Spacecraft Sees Solar Storm Engulf EarthAugust 18, 2011: For the first time, a space-craft far from Earth has turned and watcheda solar storm engulf our planet. The movie,released today during a NASA press confer-ence, has galvanized solar physicists, whosay it could lead to important advances inspace weather forecasting.

�The movie sent chills down myspine,� says Craig DeForest of the SouthwestResearch Institute in Boulder, Colorado. �Itshows a CME swelling into an enormous wallof plasma and then washing over the tiny bluespeck of Earth where we live. I felt very small.�

CMEs are billion-ton clouds of solarplasma launched by the same explosions thatspark solar flares. When they sweep past ourplanet, they can cause auroras, radiationstorms, and in extreme cases power out-ages. Tracking these clouds and predictingtheir arrival is an important part of spaceweather forecasting.

A wide-angle movie recorded by NASA�s STEREO-A spacecraft shows a solarstorm traveling all the way from the sun to Earth and engulfing our planet. A17 MB Quicktime zoom adds perspective to the main 40 MB Quicktime movie.

�We have seen CMEs before, but never quite likethis,� says Lika Guhathakurta, program scientist for theSTEREO mission at NASA headquarters. �STEREO-A hasgiven us a new view of solar storms.�

STEREO-A is one of two spacecraft launched in2006 to observe solar activity from widely-spaced locations.At the time of the storm, STEREO-A was more than 65million miles from Earth, giving it the �big picture� view otherspacecraft in Earth orbit have been missing.

When CMEs first leave the sun, they are bright andeasy to see. Visibility is quickly reduced, however, as theclouds expand into the void. By the time a typical CME crossesthe orbit of Venus, it is a billion times fainter than the surface ofthe full Moon, and more than a thousand times fainter than theMilky Way. CMEs that reach Earth are almost as gossamer asvacuum itself and correspondingly transparent.

�Pulling these faint clouds out of the confusion ofstarlight and interplanetary dust has been an enormouschallenge,� says DeForest.

Indeed, it took almost three years for his team tolearn how to do it. Footage of the storm released today wasrecorded back in December 2008, and they have been workingon it ever since. Now that the technique has been perfected, itcan be applied on a regular basis without such a long delay.

Alysha Reinard of NOAA�s Space Weather PredictionCenter explains the benefits for space weather forecasting:

�Until quite recently, spacecraft could see CMEsonly when they were still quite close to the sun. By calculat-ing a CME�s speed during this brief period, we were able toestimate when it would reach Earth. After the first few hours,however, the CME would leave this field of view and after thatwe were �in the dark� about its progress.�

�The ability to track a cloud continuously from the Sunto Earth is a big improvement,� she continues. �In the past, ourvery best predictions of CME arrival times had uncertainties ofplus or minus 4 hours,� she continues. �The kind of movieswe�ve seen today could significantly reduce the error bars.�

The movies pinpoint not only the arrival time of theCME, but also its mass. From the brightness of the cloud,researchers can calculate the gas density with impressiveprecision. Their results for the Dec. 2008 event agreed withactual in situ measurements at the few percent level. Whenthis technique is applied to future storms, forecasters will beable to estimate its impact with greater confidence.

At the press conference, DeForest pointed out someof the movie�s highlights: When the CME first left the sun, itwas cavernous, with walls of magnetism encircling a cloud oflow-density gas. As the CME crossed the Sun-Earth divide,however, its shape changed. The CME �snow-plowed� throughthe solar wind, scooping up material to form a towering wall ofplasma. By the time the CME reached Earth, its forward wallwas sagging inward under the weight of accumulated gas.

The kind of magnetic transformations revealed by themovie deeply impressed Guhathakurta: �I have alwaysthought that in heliophysics understanding the magnetic fieldis equivalent to the �dark energy� problem of astrophysics.Often, we cannot see the magnetic field, yet it orchestratesalmost everything. These images from STEREO give us areal sense of what the underlying magnetic field is doing.�

All of the speakers at today�s press event stressed thatthe images go beyond the understanding of a single event. Theinner physics of CMEs have been laid bare for the first time�adevelopment that will profoundly shape theoretical models andcomputer-generated forecasts of CMEs for many years to come.

�This is what the STEREO mission was launched todo,� concludes Guhathakurta, �and it is terrific to see it liveup to that promise.�

This 17 MB Quicktimezoom adds perspectiveto the main 40 MBQuicktime movie above ofthe CME engulfing Earth.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

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NASA Plans to Visit a Near-Earth AsteroidAugust 16, 2011: In a fewyears a NASA spacecraftwill seek the building blocksof life in a shovelful ofasteroid dirt. The OSIRIS-REx1 spacecraft, targeted forlaunch in September 2016,will intercept asteroid 1999RQ36, orbit it for a year, andthen reach out a robotic armto touch its surface.

�We call it �touchand go,�� explains principalinvestigator Michael Drake ofthe University of Arizona.�OSIRIS-REx will approachthe surface at 0.1 m/sec(only 0.2 mph, less than a

A YouTube video shows how OSIRIS-REx will approach the aster-oid, gather samples, and propel the sample capsule back to Earth.

tenth of walking pace) and, without landing, stretch out itsarm equipped with a sample collector. We�ll simply agitatethe asteroid�s surface with ultra-pure nitrogen to stir upmaterial for capture.�

Asteroids appear to be as lifeless as Yorick�s skull,yet material captured from 1999 RQ36 could hold clues tolife�s origin on Earth.

Some scientists believe Earth�s surface was steril-ized2 soon after the planet was formed some 4.5 billion yearsago. Planetoids and other debris left over from the genesis ofplanets pummeled Earth, turning it into a cratered wasteland.The tremendous kinetic energy from the collisions heatedEarth to the boiling point.

�Earth at �time zero� had a steam atmosphere thatwas wrung out to make a boiling hot ocean,� says Drake.�Imagine standing on a lava lake in Hawaii, but it�s a planet-wide, 600 mile deep lake. You and everything else, includingany organics and any one-celled organisms, would beconverted to carbon dioxide and water. Gone.�

In this scenario, an infusion of organics from else-where might be required to ignite life here. The buildingblocks for life on our planet may have come, at least in part,from asteroids.

�Observations by ground-based telescopes suggestthat asteroid 1999 RQ36 has a wealth of carbon-basedcompounds, but we don�t know exactly what is there. Arethere amino acids? To find out, we need to bring a samplehome where we have sophisticated, exquisitely preciseinstruments, plus the ability to react to new discoveries.�

Obtaining that sample is a key part of OSIRIS-REx�smission.

Upon reaching 1999 RQ36 in 2019, the spacecraft�ssuite of cameras and instruments will spend a year photo-graphing the asteroid and measuring its surface topography,composition, and thermal emissions while its radio providesmass and gravity field maps. This information will increaseour understanding of asteroids as well as help the missionteam select the most promising sample site.

Like the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, the OSIRIS-REx mission is associated with death as well as life, with both

our destiny and ourorigin. That�s because1999 RQ36 is the NearEarth Object �MostLikely to Succeed� � inaffecting our destiny, thatis. It has a 1/1800chance of hitting Earthby the 22nd century.

Evidencesuggests that a 6-milewide asteroid smashedinto Earth about 65million years ago, wipingout the dinosaurs andaltering the history of life.Instead of dinosaursprevailing, mammals

flourished, evolving into humans.�We�re the first species that can mitigate asteroid

extinction,� notes Drake. �With enough information, we canproject the orbit of a threatening asteroid.�

If researchers can track an NEO�s precise path, theycan devise a way to nudge the object out of a collisioncourse with Earth. OSIRIS-REx wil help NASA learn tonavigate near an asteroid, laying the groundwork for landingon one. That could be pretty tricky, considering asteroids like1999 RQ36 have so little gravity.

�If you simply pushed your finger into the surface,you�d fly off into space, disappear, and never come back!�

OSIRIS-REx, however, will hang close, and itscameras will give us window seats to watch its delicatesampling maneuvers. The mission team plans near-livecoverage of the operations. But the real action starts, saysDrake, when the sample is returned to Earth in 2023.

A future story from Science@NASA will explain howthe sample will be handled upon return and lay out some ofthe experiments researchers will do with it. Stay tuned.

Author: Dauna Coulter | Editor: Dr. Tony PhillipsCredit: Science@NASA

More Information:OSIRIS-Rex is short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identifica-

tion-Security-Regolith Explorer. Dante Lauretta, Deputy Principal Investigator, came upwith the acronym when he was jotting down a list of goals for the mission. �Dante isinterested in Egyptian mythology. He was doodling with a pad and pen, and he reachedover to show me OSIRIS, and how each letter stood for one of the mission goals. Iwasn�t� aware of the mythological significance at first. But we�ll be taking this prebiotic stufffrom the asteroid, chopping it up, and distributing it around the planet for scientists to studywhere we came from. The mythological figure was also chopped up and distributed.�

�OSIRIS of Egyptian mythology is the god of life and fertility, the god whotaught Egyptians agriculture,� said Lauretta, also with the University of Arizona.�There�s an analogy to the proposed 21st century space mission. We�re looking at thekind of object that we think brought life to Earth; that is, objects that seeded Earth withearly biomolecules, the precursors of life.� As for the acronym, �O� stands for thescientific theme, origins. �SI� is for spectral interpretation, or taking images of the NEOat wavelengths that will reveal its composition. �RI,� or resource identification, issurveying the asteroid for such useful resources as water and metals. �S� stands forsecurity, learning how to predict the detailed motion of Earth-approaching asteroids.

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FOR NEW MEMBERSHIPS or RENEWALSIf you have questions, call any of the member representatives listed. Otherwise, just check theappropriate boxes and complete the form below. Print it or cut it off and send it with your check to BillMcKibben at his address on the form. The magazine prices are group rates to DAS members.If you�re just joining us for the first time,

THANKS, and welcome to the DAS!

Observatory: Tom Sidowski -- 239-1884 or Sidowski@udel.edualso, Star Parties

Library Glenn Bentley -- 610-869-0706Board Members at LargeDavid Swartout -- 836-4618 or DaveSwartout@gmail.com

also, Awards Committee ChairDave Groski -- david.m.groski@usa.dupont.comOther Chairs:Sarah Baird - 561- 0810 or SBaird@udel.edu

Youth Coordinator, Elections ChairRene Van Caneghem -- 410-392-3718

ArchivistSheila Vincent --322-4739

Ad-hoc star parties

MCAO Web Page: www.MountCuba.org DAS Web Page: www.DelAstro.org

DAS CONTACTS Please call any of us with your concerns!Board members:OfficersPresident: Bill Hanagan -- 239-0949 or hanaganw@verizon.net

also, ATM and Astronomical PhotographySpecial Interest Group, By-Laws, programs

Vice-President: John Case -- 836-4888 or case@udel.eduSecretary: Lynn King -- 764-8816 or KLynnKing@verizon.net

also, Messier ClubTreasurer: William McKibben -- Billmck21921@gmail.com

Sky & Telescope & Astronomy magazine issuesStanding ChairsPublications: Joe Neuberger -- 723-2734 orJRNeuberger@gmail.com

also, FOCUS contributions/submissionsEducation: Bob Karcha -- 999-9509Observing: Greg Lee -- 762-5358 or GregLee28@hotmail.com

also, What�s Up?

Please make checks payable to DAS and forward to:Bill McKibben, DAS Treasurer, 27 Mary Jane Lane, Elkton, MD 21921

(*First Year Only)

*See the �Magazine Subscriptions� section in the FOCUS for information about Sky & Telescope subscription renewal

FOCUS would like to do a special issue this Fall on Members� activityover the Summer in Astro-Photography. But to make this work we NEEDYOUR COOPERATION in sending us examples of your work photographingthe Heavens above over the past few months. Please send your submissionsto the FOCUS editor, Joe Neuberger, at JRNeuberger@gmail.com.

Participate and show off your efforts! You DESERVE the recognition!

The Last Word. . .

! FOCUS editor Joe Neuberger

We�re Back After a Great Summer...And We�d Like to See What You�ve Been Looking At...