The Approach Begins Ceres Pluto
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— February 2015—
The Newsletter Of The Sheep Hill Astronomical Association
The Approach Begins
Ceres Pluto
Two Separate Spacecrafts Appraoch
Two Different Dwarf Planets!!
And More!
2 NOVA — Month 2015
Sheep
Hill
Astronomical
Association ON THE COVER
PUT THUMBNAIL HERE
NOVA is the official newsletter of the
Sheep Hill Astronomical Association. It is Dawn begins ap-
published once each month and a sub-
scription is included with your member- proach to Ceres
ship to SHAA.
Dawn has entered its approach
phase toward Ceres and will arrive
Club Officers on March 6, 2015
President Pat Boyle portant ways. Ceres may have
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has en- formed later than Vesta, and with a
Admin Vice Pres. Robert Moravsik
tered an approach phase in which it cooler interior. Current evidence sug-
Tech Vice Pres. Nick Sperling will continue to close in on Ceres, a gests that Vesta only retained a small
Treasurer Phil Schwartz Texas-sized dwarf planet never be- amount of water because it formed
fore visited by a spacecraft. Dawn earlier, when radioactive material
Secretary Daniel Cleary
launched in 2007 and is scheduled was more abundant, which would
UACNJ Delegate Warren Westura to enter Ceres orbit in March 2015. have produced more heat. Ceres, in
Dawn is currently 400,000 miles contrast, has a thick ice mantle and
may even have an ocean beneath its
Committee Chairs (640,000 kilometers) from Ceres,
icy crust.
approaching it at around 450 miles
Fundraising: Dino Cappello per hour (725 kilometers per hour). Ceres, with an average diameter of
Observatory: Patrick Boyle The spacecraft's arrival at Ceres will 590 miles (950 kilometers), is also the
mark the first time that a spacecraft largest body in the asteroid belt, the
Outreach: Ted Winsch
has ever orbited two solar system strip of solar system real estate be-
Publicity: Nick Sperling tween Mars and Jupiter. By compari-
targets. Dawn previously explored
Program: Phil Schwartz the protoplanet Vesta for 14 son, Vesta has an average diameter
months, from 2011 to 2012, captur- of 326 miles (525 kilometers), and is
ing detailed images and data about the second most massive body in the
Contribute that body. belt.
"Ceres is almost a complete mystery The spacecraft uses ion propulsion to
Producing our newsletter is a tre-
to us," said Christopher Russell, traverse space far more efficiently
mendous undertaking each month.
principal investigator for the Dawn than if it used chemical propulsion. In
We are always looking for help
mission, based at the University of an ion propulsion engine, an electri-
writing articles, compiling data, or
California, Los Angeles. "Ceres, un- cal charge is applied to xenon gas,
even just suggesting ideas. If you
like Vesta, has no meteorites linked and charged metal grids accelerate
have anything to contribute, or
to it to help reveal its secrets. All we the xenon particles out of the thrust-
would like to help out, contact Nick
can predict with confidence is that er. Dawn has now completed five
Sperling.
we will be surprised." years of accumulated thrust time, far
This newsletter is copyright © 2015 Sheep more than any other spacecraft.
The two planetary bodies are
Hill Astronomical Association. All Rights "Orbiting both Vesta and Ceres
thought to be different in a few im-
Reserved.
3 NOVA — Month 2015
would be truly impossible with con-
ventional propulsion. Thanks to ion
propulsion, we're about to make his-
tory as the first spaceship ever to
orbit two unexplored alien worlds,"
said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engi-
neer and mission director, based at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California.
The next couple of months promise
continually improving views of Ceres,
prior to Dawn's arrival. By the end of
January, the spacecraft's images and
other data will be the best ever taken
of the dwarf planet.
The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres
is managed by JPL, a division of the Timeline of the approach and departure phases — surrounding close approach on
California Institute of Technology in July 14, 2015 — of the New Horizons Pluto encounter.
Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. UCLA is
responsible for overall Dawn mission Science Division at the agency’s 135 million miles (220 million kilome-
science. Headquarters in Washington. “The ters) to Pluto.
More information about Dawn: New Horizons team worked very
“We’ve completed the longest jour-
hard to prepare for this first phase,
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov ney any spacecraft has flown from
and they did it flawlessly.”
Earth to reach its primary target, and
The fastest spacecraft when it was we are ready to begin exploring,”
Meanwhile, beyond Neptune: launched, New Horizons lifted off in said Alan Stern, New Horizons princi-
January 2006. It awoke from its final pal investigator from Southwest Re-
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft re-
hibernation period last month after search Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
cently began its long-awaited, histor-
a voyage of more than 3 billion
ic encounter with Pluto. The space- LORRI will take hundreds of pictures
miles, and will soon pass close to
craft is entering the first of several of Pluto over the next few months to
Pluto, inside the orbits of its five
approach phases that culminate July refine current estimates of the dis-
known moons. In preparation
14 with the first close-up flyby of the tance between the spacecraft and
dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 The images captured by New Hori- the dwarf planet. Though the Pluto
billion kilometers) from Earth. zons’ telescopic Long-Range Recon- system will resemble little more than
naissance Imager (LORRI) will give bright dots in the camera’s view until
“NASA first mission to distant Pluto
mission scientists a continually im- May, mission navigators will use the
will also be humankind’s first close
proving look at the dynamics of data to design course-correction ma-
up view of this cold, unexplored
Pluto’s moons. The images also will neuvers to aim the spacecraft toward
world in our solar system,” said Jim
play a critical role in navigating the its target point this summer. The first
Green, director of NASA’s Planetary
spacecraft as it covers the remaining such maneuver could occur as early
4 NOVA — Month 2015
as March. telescopes on Earth. Eventually, the
spacecraft will obtain images good
“We need to refine our knowledge of
enough to map Pluto and its moons
where Pluto will be when New Hori- more accurately than achieved by previ-
zons flies past it,” said Mark ous planetary reconnaissance missions.
Holdridge, New Horizons encounter
mission manager at Johns Hopkins
APL manages the New Horizons mission
University’s Applied Physics Labora-
for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
tory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “The
in Washington. Alan Stern, of the
flyby timing also has to be exact, be-
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI),
cause the computer commands that
headquartered in San Antonio, is the
will orient the spacecraft and point
the science instruments are based on principal investigator and leads the mis-
precisely knowing the time we pass sion. SwRI leads the science team, pay-
Pluto – which these images will help load operations, and encounter science
us determine.” planning. New Horizons is part of the
New Frontiers Program managed by
The “optical navigation” campaign
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
that begins this month marks the first
Huntsville, Alabama. APL designed, built
time pictures from New Horizons will
be used to help pinpoint Pluto’s loca- and operates the spacecraft.
tion.
For more information about the New
Throughout the first approach phase, Horizons mission, visit:
which runs until spring, New Horizons www.nasa.gov/newhorizons
will conduct a significant amount of
additional science. Spacecraft instru- and
ments will gather continuous data on http://pluto.jhuapl.edu
the interplanetary environment
where the planetary system orbits,
including measurements of the high-
energy particles streaming from the
sun and dust-particle concentrations
in the inner reaches of the Kuiper
Belt. In addition to Pluto, this area,
the unexplored outer region of the
solar system, potentially includes
thousands of similar icy, rocky small
planets.
More intensive studies of Pluto begin
in the spring, when the cameras and
spectrometers aboard New Horizons
will be able to provide image resolu-
tions higher than the most powerful
5 NOVA — Month 2015
IN THE SKY THIS MONTH
Lunar Phases
Solar System
MERCURY—Well placed in the morning
sky from 6th to the 28th Feb 03 Feb 11 Feb 18 Feb 25
VENUS—Night of 20/21 Conjunction with
Mars and Moon. Night of 21/22 Conjunc-
The Sun and Astronomical Twilight
Twilight Sun Sun Twilight
tion with Mars
Begin Rise Set End
MARS—See Venus Feb 01 5:34 07:09 17:13 18:48
JUPITER—Opposition on the 6th Feb 15 05:21 06:53 17:31 19:03
Feb 28 05:03 06:34 17:46 19:17
URANUS—Occultation by moon on the
21st Telescopic Tour for February
Object h m ° ‘
ψ Draconis, double star 17 41.9 +72 10
N. American Nebula 20 58.8 +44 20
Highlights M31 Andromeda Galaxy 0 42.7 +41 16
Feb 01 All month comet C/2014 Q2 M33, Trianglum Galaxy 1 33.9 +30 39
Lovejoy visible in binoculars γ Andromadae, dbl star 2 03.9 +42 20
but receding
Perseus double cluster 2 21.5 +57 08
Feb 01 Capricornid/Sagittarid mete- ι Cassiopeiae, triple star 2 29.0 +67 24
ors (radio shower) Pleiades M45 3 47.5 +24 06
Feb 02 Candlemas (a.k.a) Goundhog R Leporis, crimson star 4 59.6 -14 47
day, one of four days halfway M1 Crab Nebula 5 34.5 +22 01
between Solstice and equi-
M42 Orion Nebula 5 35.4 -5 22
nox.
σ Orionis Multiple Star 5 38.7 -2 35
Feb 06 Jupiter Reaches magnitude -
M35 Cluster 6 08.9 +24 21
2.6 during opposition on the
6th Rosette Nebula 6 32.4 +4 52
Castor, double star 7 34.6 +31 54
Feb 08 Alpha Centaurid Meteors
Praesepe Cluster 4 40.4 +19 41
Feb 19 Moon at perigee, large tides M81 Bode’s Galaxy 9 55.6 +69 04
for next three days
γ Leonis, double star 10 19.9 +19 51
Feb 20 Moon, Mars and Venus in
Mizar, double star 13 23.9 +54 55
conjunction
Feb 21 Mars and Venus even closer,
0.5 degrees apart.
Uranus Occulted by the
Moon.6 NOVA — Month 2015
SPACE NEWS
Minor mergers have mas- isolated clump of matter, but by binary black
hierarchical mergers of smaller gal- holes like this.
sive consequences for axies over tremendous timescales. Examples like NGC 3393 and IC 4970
If galaxies with large amounts of are not only confirming our picture of
black holes stars all have black holes at their galaxy growth and formation, but are
centers, then we should be able to teaching us that supermassive relics
By: Dr Ethan Siegel
see some fraction of Milky Way- from ancient, minor mergers might
Courtesy of NASA’s Space Place sized galaxies with not just one, but persist as standalone entities for
multiple supermassive black holes longer than we ever thought!
at their center!
When you think of our sun, the near- Check out some cool images and
est star to our world, you think of an It was only in the early 2000s that artist reconstructions of black holes
isolated entity, with more than four NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory from Chandra: http://
light years separating it from its next was able to find the first binary su- chandra.harvard.edu/photo/
nearest neighbor. But it wasn't al- permassive black hole in a galaxy, category/blackholes.html
ways so: billions of years ago, when and that was in an ultra-luminous
Kids can learn all about Black Holes
our sun was first created, it very like- galaxy with a double core. Many
from this cool animation at NASA’s
ly formed in concert with thousands other examples were discovered
Space Place: http://
of other stars, when a giant molecu- since, but for a decade they were all
spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes.
lar cloud containing perhaps a million in ultra-massive, active galaxies.
times the mass of our solar system That all changed in 2011, with the
collapsed. While the vast majority of discovery of two active, massive
stars that the universe forms—some black holes at the center of the reg-
ninety-five percent—are the mass of ular spiral galaxy NGC 3393, a gal-
our sun or smaller, a rare but signifi- axy that must have undergone only
cant fraction are ultra-massive, con- minor mergers no less than a billion
taining tens or even hundreds of years ago, where the black hole pair
times the mass our star contains. is separated by only 490 light years!
When these stars run out of fuel in It's only in the cores of active, X-ray
their cores, they explode in a fantas- emitting galaxies that we can detect
tic Type II supernova, where the
star's core collapses. In the most
massive cases, this forms a black
hole.
Over time, many generations of
stars—and hence, many black
holes—form, with the majority even-
tually migrating towards the centers
of their host galaxies and merging
together. Our own galaxy, the Milky
Way, houses a supermassive black
hole that weighs in at about four mil-
lion solar masses, while our big sister,
Andromeda, has one nearly twenty
times as massive. But even relatively Images credit: NGC 3393 in the optical (L) by M. Malkan (UCLA), HST, NASA (L); NGC
isolated galaxies didn't simply form 3393 in the X-ray and optical (R), composite by NASA / CXC / SAO / G. Fabbiano et al.
from the monolithic collapse of an (X-ray) and NASA/STScI (optical).7 NOVA — Month 2015
CLUB NEWS
Next Meeting Qualification
The next meeting of SHAA will be Congratulations to Patrice Debe,
held on Feb 8th, 2015 at the Jennifer Graeff, and Gary Scimeca
Boonton Senior Center. who are now qualified observers.
Astronomical Presentation: 7:30PM Anyone interested in becoming a
— Open to the Public. The program qualified observer should contact
for the evening will be “An Observer's Nick Sperling or Pat Boyle. A
Guide for the Sheep Hill Observatory “ qualified observer is permitted to
by Ted Winsch. operate the Sheep Hill Observatory
Business Meeting: 8:30PM—Open for public and private astronomical
to the Public. viewing. A minimum of five events
combined (Public Nights, Club
Nights) and three business meetings
per year are necessary to retain
Annual Dues your qualified observer status.
Yearly club membership dues for Training will be scheduled on
2015 are now due. You may send in request and includes one daytime
your payment to SHAA, PO Box 111, and one nighttime session.
Boonton NJ or give your payment
directly to our club treasurer at one
of the business meetings. Family
membership remains at $40.00 per
year.
Sheep Hill
Astronomical Assn
PO Box 111
Boonton, NJ 07005
www.sheephillastro.org8 NOVA — Month 2015
SHAA CALENDAR
Image Credit: NASA
February 2015
Some prefer windows, and these are the best available on board the International Space Station. Taken on January 4, this snap-
shot from inside the station's large, seven-window Cupola module also shows off a workstation for controlling Canadarm2. Used
to grapple visiting cargo vehicles and assist astronauts during spacewalks, the robotic arm is just outside the window at the right.
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
SHAA Meeting
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Public Night Club Night
22 23 24 25 26 27 289 NOVA — Month 2015
MEMBERSHIP
The Membership List Will Now Be Maintained as a Separate Document
Membership in the Sheep Hill Astronomical Association is open to any individual with an interest in
astronomy. You need not own a telescope or other equipment to become a member of the Sheep Hill
Astronomical Association. Annual dues requirements are:
Adult (All family members included) $40.00
Student Membership $21.25
Senior Citizen $32.50
(under age 14, parent must join)
Business meetings are held on the first Sunday of each month at 7:30 P.M. at the Boonton Senior Center. The
annual dues are payable at the regular January meeting of the Association. For individuals joining the
Association after July 1st, the dues will be one half of the regular annual dues.
Shortly after payment of dues a new member is entitled to receive a membership card and NOVA, the SHAA
newsletter. The new member is entitled and encouraged to begin qualification on the use of the 18”
telescope housed in Sheep Hill Observatory. All members must be at least 18 years of age to be a “qualified
observer”. All “qualified observers” must adhere to the rules of operation of the Sheep Hill Observatory.
Membership Application
Name:
Address:
Membership Type (select one)
City: State: Zip Code:
Adult / Family ($40.00)
Phone:
Senior Citizen ($32.50)
E-mail:
Student (Age 14+) ($21.25)
If you own a telescope, please describe the type and aperture:
Complete this application and bring to a
meeting with your dues, or mail to:
Sheep Hill Astronomical Association
P.O. Box 111
Boonton, NJ 07005You can also read
