The Last Carnival of Summer

Carnival of Space #118 is now online at the Cumbrian Sky blog. I've got AAVSO newsletter articles and grant proposals to write, variable star charts and data to upload and other astronomy related busy-ness to work on, so it will be a day or two before any new content shows up here. So hurry on over to Cumbrian Sky and the Carnival of Space #118 NOW!

Reach For The Citizen Sky

The press release for Citizen Sky came out yesterday. It was picked up on right away by WIRED magazine. Here is the official version, complete with awesome illustrations.

This fall a bright star will begin a puzzling transformation that only happens every 27 years. To help study this event, astronomers have launched a new citizen science project called “CitizenSky” at www.citizensky.org.

Epsilon Aurigae is a bright star that can be seen with the unaided eye even in bright urban areas of the northern hemisphere from fall to spring. This Fall it is predicted to gradually lose half its brightness until early winter. It will remain faint during all of 2010 before slowly regaining its normal brightness by the summer of 2011.

An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Brian Thieme of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at high inclination and from within the system. Image credit: www.citizensky.org and Brian Thieme

Since its discovery in 1821, the cause of this dip in brightness has remained a mystery to astronomers. But this time they have a powerful new resource to help study the upcoming event: thousands of citizen scientists.

“This star is too bright to be observed with the vast majority of professional telescopes, so this is another area where public help is needed,” said Dr. Arne Henden, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).

Supported by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, CitizenSky will recruit, train, and coordinate public participation in this project. What makes this project different from previous citizen science projects is its emphasis on participation in the full scientific method. Participants are not being asked simply to collect data. They will also be trained to analyze data, create and test their own hypotheses, and to write papers for publication in professional astronomy journals. Participants can work alone on all phases of the project or they can focus on one stage and team up with others.

“Citizen science can be much more than data collection. Participants often have real-world experience and/or advanced degrees in areas that can be applied to astronomy. Our goal is to introduce the public to authentic science and at the same time use this talent to help astronomers,” Henden said.

The lead astronomer for this project is Dr. Robert Stencel, the William Herschel Womble Professor of Astronomy at Denver University. Dr. Bob, as the amateur astronomy community knows him, studied the last event in 1982-84 while working at NASA. “This is truly an amazing star system. It contains both a supergiant star and a mysterious companion. If the supergiant was in our solar system, its diameter would extend to Earth, engulfing us,” Stencel said. “The companion only makes its presence known every 27 years and is a type of ‘dark matter’ in that we indirectly detect its presence but don’t know what it is.

“To make things even more fun, we also have some evidence of a substantial mass, perhaps a large planet, spiraling into the mysterious dark companion object. Observations during the upcoming eclipse will be key to understanding this and predicting what will happen if the putative planet does eventually fall into the star,” Dr. Bob added.

An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Nico Comargo of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at low inclination. Image credit: www.citizensky.org and Nico Comargo

CitizenSky is a collaboration of the AAVSO, Denver University, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Johns Hopkins University, and the California Academy of Sciences. The United Nations and the United States Congress have both endorsed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). CitizenSky was developed as part of the coordinated United States’ IYA effort.

The AAVSO (www.aavso.org) is one of the oldest citizen science organizations in the United States. It has been training and coordinating amateur astronomers since 1911. Their database of variable star brightness estimates includes over 18 million observations of over 8,000 stars. They currently have around 1,200 active observers located in 45 countries. They also publish the Journal of the AAVSO, a professionally-reviewed publication in which amateur astronomers can publish research papers.

Carnival of Space #117 on Simostronomy

Ladies and Gentelmen...step right up to experience this week's Carnival of Space.


The fantabulous 117th edition, is hosted right here at Simostronomy! Brought to you absolutely FREE by Fraser Cain of Universe Today, as well as all the bloggers who submitted content for this week's Carnival.

We have pieces on spacecraft, spectacular amateur imaging, talking to aliens, software used in space missions, light pollution, space elevators, asteroids, cosmology and space squirrels, just to name a few. There is something for everyone. So come on in...

X-15
2009 is also 50th birthday of the first reusable spaceship. In October, 1959, the X-15 made its first flights, starting a test program that lasted until 1968.

Text Messages to Aliens
Australia’s COSMOS Magazine has decided to lower Earth’s galactic credibility by beaming a bunch of text messages at some aliens they hope might exist and be listening. They’ve even somehow roped NASA into the deal.

Mission Updates from the Planetary Society
Time to step back and take stock of what's going on with all our favorite robotic missions exploring space beyond Earth.

Lunar Sample Atlas
The Lunar Planetary Institute has made available a database of lunar sample data and images.

Minerva is a Triple Asteroid
High resolution images provided by the Keck Adaptive Optics system reveal that asteroid 93 Minerva has 2 tiny km-sized moons in orbit around the large 140-km primary.

Heating A Star
Even though they’ve charted its cycles and measured the Sun’s surface temps for years and years, some aspects of the Sun’s behavior and characteristics have been tough for astronomers to understand as well as they’d like. Take its corona, for example.

Q and A with Mike Deliman of Wind River Systems
Mike Deliman, Senior Engineering Specialist at Wind River Systems, answers a few questions related to the new VxWorks MILS Platform 2.0. VxWorks is a real-time operating system that is widely used in the aerospace industry.

Analemmas and the Equation of Time

Cheap Astronomy presents Analemmas and the Equation of Time, which starts out sounding like a great title for a Doctor Who episode but ends up being a podcast about sundials.

Titanium Manufacturing With Eight Times Lower Cost
Finished Titanium parts from Titanium Hydride can be over 8 times cheaper than regular titanium manufacturing. Cheaper, stronger and lighter components are always better for
increasing performance of rocket systems and other equipment for space.

Two Moons Circling
On August 16, 2009, amateur astronomer Christopher Go caught the shadow of the moon Io going right over the moon Ganymede.
This. Is. So. Cool.

Space Elevator Faces Reality
Like almost everyone else in the space vision business, the enthusiasts who envision building a "railway to orbit" are adjusting to down-to-earth realities.

Dark Skies
Australia as the driest continent on earth has a great expanse of dry inland air and wonderful dark sky sites.

Banff Ground Squirrel Witnessed Moon Landing
This is one Moon conspiracy solved, once and for all!

Defining Alien Life and the Weird Forms It Could Take
What is life? Well, it’s not that guy down at the pub on his 20th beer throwing up all over the floor. It is something like this...

And Now, the Morning Sky From Mars
Up until now, if you wanted to see what the sky looked like from the surface of Mars, you needed to use the program Celestia, but now Stellarium 10 has made viewing Martian skies a whole lot easier.

The Real Visitors From Space
Last month a real interplanetary face-to-face encounter took place between two chunks of metal. One is the Mars rover Opportunity; the other is a 1,800-pound piece of iron.


Xunantunich and the Large Hadron Collider Support Maslow Window Forecasts
Built around 1500 years ago, Xunantunich, the sacred Mayan pyramid, was the product of a lofty, cosmically sophisticated society that mysteriously disappeared.

How Sure Are We That the Big Bang Is Correct?
The answer is that not only is the Big Bang the best theory to explain the start and evolution of the Universe, it's the only one that doesn't make incorrect predictions.



Spirit- 2000 Sols on Mars
Today we celebrate the amazing achievements of a rover that has been on an alien planet for more than five years, has witnessed 2000 sunrises and 2000 sunsets, and has made us look up at that glittering red point of light in the sky in a new way.

Thanks for stopping in, and if you'd like to read more from these fine bloggers, here is a list of links to their home pages.


A Babe in the Universe
New Frontier News
The Planetary Society Blog
The Lunar and Planetary Institute
Simostronomy
The Spacewriter's Ramblings
Orbital Hub
Cheap Astronomy
Next Big Future
Bad Astronomy
Cosmic Log
AARTSCOPE Blog
AstroENGINE
Weird Warp
AstroBlog
Cosmic Ray
21st Century Waves
Starts With A Bang
Cumbrian Sky

The Edgar Wilson Award 2009

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory announced August 22nd that the 2009 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets is being divided among five individuals for five different comets.

Robert E. Holmes, Jr. (Charleston, IL, U.S.A.) for C/2008 N1, Stanislav Maticic (Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia) for C/2008 Q1, Michel Ory (Delemont, Switzerland) for P/2008 Q2; Koichi Itagaki (Yamagata, Japan) for C/2009 E1, and Dae-am Yi (Yeongwol-kun, Gangwon-do, Korea) for C/2009 F6.

Comet Holmes image credit: Alan Dyer

Each award is composed of a monetary award from the Edgar Wilson Charitable Trust Fund and an award plaque. The award is given annually to the amateur astronomers who, using amateur equipment, have discovered one or more new comets. Only comets officially named for their discoverers shall be included in the annual count.

Past winners include, David H. Levy, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A. (P/2006 T1), Donald Edward Machholz, Jr., Colfax, CA, U.S.A. (C/2004 Q2), William A. Bradfield, Yankalilla, S. Australia (C/2004 F4), and some variable star observers I know, among them; Vance Avery Petriew, Regina, SK, Canada (P/2001 Q2), Albert F. A. L. Jones, Stoke, Nelson, New Zealand (C/2000 W1), and Peter Williams, Heathcote, N.S.W., Australia (C/1998 P1).

It is amazing to me the number of comets still discovered by amateurs each year, and how many of them are made the old fashioned way- visually. During the first eight years of Wilson Awards (1999-2006), 17 awards went to visual discoverers of comets, 10 awards went to CCD discoverers, and one award went to a photographic discoverer of a comet.

Congratulations to this year's amateur comet sleuths.

(93) Minerva is a Triple Asteroid

It doesn't happen often, sometimes with variable stars or new novae, but today I get to scoop the IAU before it puts out a circular.

The headline reads: (93) Minerva is a Triple Asteroid

Minerva was discovered on August 24, 1867 and named after Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. It is a large main belt, C Type asteroid (carbonaceous asteroids). This type of asteroid has very similar spectra to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. This chemical composition is approximately the same as the Sun and the primitive solar nebula, except that they do not contain hydrogen, helium and other volatiles. C-type asteroids have extremely dark albedos, so even the largest ones require a telescope to view them.

The story of the discovery of Minerva's two companions was actually a matter of some luck. The astronomers (F. Marchis, B. Macomber, J. Berthier, F. Vachier, J.P. Emery) using the Keck Adaptive Optics system found they had extra time in their observing program because the slewing and imaging of the telescope was more efficient than they had anticipated. Even though their observing program was to look for binary S-type asteroids (which have brighter albedos) they decided to look at a few large C-type asteroids, not previously observed with adaptive optics, to fill in their observing run.

The high resolution images provided by the Keck AO system revealed that asteroid 93 Minerva has 2 tiny km-sized moons in orbit around the large 140-km primary. The two moons are 4 and 3 km in size and orbit the primary some 630 km and 380 km away respectively.

There are not many known triple asteroids. We know that (87) Sylvia (45) Eugenia and (216) Kleopatra each possess two moonlets. These were all discovered by the same team that discovered (93) Minerva's satellites. There are two triple asteroids in the Near-Earth Asteroids and 2 more (including Pluto) in the TransNeptunian Object population. And that is where the count stands as of today.

So why do we care about binary or triple asteroids? Astronomers anticipate finding clues to their formation and evolution, as well as conditions in the early solar system. For example, an article published in Nature (Aug 2005), claims the 87 Sylvia triple system was most probably formed through the disruptive collision of a parent asteroid. The new primary formed from accretion of fragments, while the moonlets formed from the debris. These asteroids can teach us about the violent collisions and processes that made our solar system what it is today.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

During the summer, astronomical darkness comes so late that if I think it might be clear that night, I go to bed shortly after dinner and wake up around 11PM or midnight to go out and observe. Sometimes the weather prediction is wrong and I wake up to cloudy skies. Sometimes I can go back to bed, especially if I've had several late nights at the telescope, and sometimes I stay up and catch up on emails or shows I've recorded on DVR. I keep checking, and if my luck is good the sky clears up and I can go out before dawn for a while.

Eventually the short nights of sleep accumulate and catch up to me, and I crash in front of the TV around 9PM and stagger up to bed whenever a cat jumps on my head, chest or otherwise wakes me up.

Last night was one of those crash in front of the TV nights. I made my way upstairs around midnight and slept like a stone, until about 4AM. I woke up and looked out the window to the east to see if the clouds had thinned. I could make out a few bright stars through the mist, but it wasn't clear, so I dozed a little more. Around 5AM I woke up again and stared out the window into the darkness of pre-dawn.

It was glorious. A faint sliver of the waning Moon was above the horizon, up and to the right was Venus blazing bright. Mars sat in the no-man's land between Gemini and Taurus' bright stars. It was one of those times where you could draw a line through the Moon and planets to explain to a visitor how the ecliptic is the plane of the solar system on the sky.

I looked for Auriga, and epsilon Aurigae was almost past the top of my window view. I could make out the Pleiades and that lower branch of Perseus that seems to flow right into them. But what surprised me, as it always does each year, was the fact that almost half of Orion's body was above the horizon already! It looked like a November-December evening!

The ancients used to mark the rise of Sirius with some importance, but to me, seeing Orion again after a long spring and summer without him marks the change of seasons. Soon the weather will get cooler at night, the nights will get drier, the seeing will improve and the best part of the observing year will be here- Autumn! Man, I love fall. The color of the leaves, the cool air, football and great nights at the telescope.

Eventually, as the nights get longer and longer, and the Sun rides lower and lower across the sky, winter will set in. I hope its not as bad as last winter. I'm still getting over the shock of having zero clear nights from the end of October last year until March. And the snow piled higher than I can remember since I was a kid.

Whatever we're in store for, it's coming soon. Orion told me so this morning.


Sky map credit: Sky and Telescope and check out this great article

Orion picture credit: http://www.freewebs.com/worldstarsofpeace/worldstarsofpeaceflag.htm

A Busy Week at the Office Today

Just like the old saying, "when it rains, it pours" sometimes the sky opens up and deluges us in other ways. Today was one of those interesting mornings gone mad, turning into a weeks' worth of things to deal with in a single day. Here are the highlights.

7:30AM- Slept in a little after two very long nights at the telescope. Staggered into the kitchen to make coffee, booted up computers in office.

8:00AM- Open up email. 102 messages since yesterday. Doesn't anyone take Sunday off anymore?

8:15- With coffee in hand, plow through observation reports for new outbursts of cataclysmic variables to update the AAVSO CV Section website.

8:20- Discover a report of an unusual/rare outburst of NSV 5285. NSV 5285 does not register in my foggy early morning mind. Must do research and look up references to be sure this is real before posting an announcement to the website. Find references, read articles and available papers, and then post announcement and a link to an image and background information.

8:45- Discover emails regarding an outburst of an old nova, X Serpentis. What outburst? AAVSO is releasing a special notice? The comparison star sequence needs revisions? Now I am fully awake and moving quickly through the paces.

I log into the sequence plot program and variable star comparison database at AAVSO, plot charts with the existing photometry and check email notes regarding sequence issues. I make several revisions to the comparison stars, add some extra comps to the sequence and update the database within an hour or so of the announcement going out.

10:00AM- Doctor's office calls to remind me of my 9AM appointment for a physical! Oops. Completely forgot in all the rush. Re-schedule for Thursday.

10:15- While I have the sequence plotter and comp database open I address several other sequence issues in the current sequence team queue. Some revisions to the sequence for Nova Sgr 2009 #3 based on new photometry, revisions to the Mira W Aql sequence, and review the Chart Error Tracking Tool for new submissions and corrections made.

11:00AM- Call AAVSO to discuss education and outreach proposal with the Director.

11:30AM- Mom calls, while I'm in the middle of three things. Her timing is perfect as always. I tell her I love her and will call her back when I have a minute to breathe.

11:45- I notice my article for this week's Carnival of Space has been left out. I email the host and Fraser Cain at Universe Today.

12:00Noon- After a few emails back and forth, my article is now included in the Carnival and, 'oh by the way', I will be hosting the Carnival of Space this week! Fraser will send me all the material Saturday morning.

12:15- I make all the updates to the CV Section website, send out links to alert notices on Twitter, AAVSO Facebook and my Facebook page. I try to spread as much news about AAVSO and variable star activity over the net as I can every day. Today a lot is happening!

12:30- Lunch time?! What happened to breakfast?
I call Mom and tell her all about the trip to Chicago and New York city last week; and we discuss visitation and funeral arrangements for my nephew Matt Landry. I am also typing madly while talking to her to get my blog post Carnival of Space #116 posted before I have to go back to work.

12:50- While its on mind, I order flowers for the funeral home, make a donation to the memorial fund and make arrangements with Irene and Mom to go to the funeral Wednesday morning together.

1:30PM- Back to work, I send out a message to the southern observers on the AVSON mailing list that revisions have been made to the Nova Sgr sequence.

2:00PM- Call new members and print out thank you letters for donors. Update the mentor program student/teacher list. Scan read blogs for submissions to the Writers Bureau. Scan Portal to the Universe for astronomy and variable star news items.

2:30- Work on articles and format for Inner Sanctum, the AAVSO benefactor newsletter, due out in September.

3:00PM- Call Astronomics technical information to ask about LX90 and LX200 12" telescopes, features, mounts, databases, optics, etc. My Classic 12"LX200 is on its last leg and I need to buy another scope.

3:30- Work on AAVSO Newsletter articles for October 1 issue.

4:00PM- Email Michael Koppelman and Doug Welch to set up a Slacker Astronomy recording session. We settle on Tuesday night. OMG, that's tomorrow!

4:15- Work on reviewing VSX submissions for new variable stars. I send out questions on submission status to VSX moderators to clarify some questions I have.

4:30- Start dinner. Pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, pepper corn. Should be ready around 5:30. Start writing Simostronomy post about this crazy day.

5:00PM- Irene walks in, reminds me I don't have to work 18 hours a day, changes and heads out to water plants.

5:30- Dinner is served. See- planning is everything.

6:15- Call new young observer in CT, who was going to observe DQ Her for the AAVSO campaign with his club's 16" LX200 and CCD. Nobody home. I leave a message and compose an email to find out how he did.

6:45- Simostronomy post goes live. I make my To Do List for tomorrow, which includes all the things I didn't do today because the Universe had other plans.

7:00PM- Make a few more calls to new members on the left coast and southwest. Nobody home; Bummer. One of my favorite parts of this job is talking to the members. Draft emails and send them to be sure they hear from me within a week or two of joining AAVSO. I guess its quitting time for real now. Check the weather forecast. Bleh..
Add a little blurb to Simostronomy post and log off. See you tomorrow.

Clear Skies

Here are the things that truly make an obsessed astronomer happy...weather maps. Weather maps with good news. Weather maps with good news on a weekend, and under a waning gibbous third-quarter moon!

Here is the Clear Sky Clock for my observatory.



You can find out all about CSS here.

Then there is the clear dry surface map. I can't remember the last time the weather over Michigan looked this promising.


And then there is the satellite image. I've practically wet myself now...


Last night was productive. I logged over 100 variable star estimates, mostly monitoring cataclysmic variables for outbursts. I caught several. Here is what a nightly report of visual observations looks like.

Date:August 14 , 2009
Observer: Mike Simonsen (SXN)
C. E. Scovil Observatory
Imlay City, MI, USA
Equipment: 12" LX200 SCT
Charts: AAVSO, Henden, Simonsen
Conditions: Clear, slight haze at times.

Con/Name yymmdd Vmag obs code comments

ANDAR 090814.3028 <14.2 SXN
ANDDX 090814.2958 15.0 SXN
ANDFN 090814.3007 <14.6 SXN
ANDFO 090814.3014 <14.8 SXN
ANDIW 090814.3056 14.1 SXN OUTBURST
ANDLL 090814.2986 <14.6 SXN
ANDLS 090814.2993 <14.8 SXN
ANDRX 090814.3042 13.2 SXN
ANDZ 090814.2972 10.2 SXN
AQLCI 090814.1708 <14.4 SXN
AQLDH 090814.1653 <14.3 SXN
AQLES 090814.1722 12.0 SXN
AQLFO 090814.1715 <14.6 SXN
AQLKX 090814.1792 <15.0 SXN
AQLPQ 090814.1778 <14.8 SXN
AQLUU 090814.1674 13.6 SXN ACTIVE
AQLV1141 090814.1743 <15.0 SXN
AQLV725 090814.1764 <14.8 SXN
AQRVY 090814.266 <14.5 SXN
AQRVZ 090814.2674 <15.0 SXN
CETWW 090814.2792 13.2 SXN OUTBURST
CYGCI 090814.2181 10.4 SXN BRIGHT
CYGEM 090814.2097 12.8 SXN ACTIVE
CYGEY 090814.2139 14.6 SXN
CYGSS 090814.2472 10.6 SXN
CYGV1006 090814.2222 <15.0 SXN
CYGV1028 090814.2278 <14.6 SXN
CYGV1062 090814.2382 <14.7 SXN
CYGV1062 090814.2396 <14.8 SXN
CYGV1081 090814.2396 <14.8 SXN
CYGV1089 090814.25 <14.8 SXN
CYGV1113 090814.2257 <15.1 SXN
CYGV1114 090814.2056 <14.5 SXN
CYGV1251 090814.2486 <14.6 SXN
CYGV1316 090814.234 <14.8 SXN
CYGV1329 090814.2375 13.3 SXN
CYGV1363 090814.2306 <14.9 SXN
CYGV1454 090814.216 <14.6 SXN
CYGV1504 090814.225 <14.9 SXN
CYGV1505 090814.2049 <14.8 SXN
CYGV2176 090814.2264 <14.8 SXN
CYGV337 090814.2229 <14.8 SXN
CYGV404 090814.2313 <15.2 SXN
CYGV482 090814.2153 11.2 SXN
CYGV503 090814.2354 <14.9 SXN
CYGV516 090814.2326 <14.9 SXN
CYGV542 090814.2292 <15.1 SXN
CYGV550 090814.2299 <15.0 SXN
CYGV630 090814.2458 <14.9 SXN
CYGV632 090814.2438 <14.6 SXN
CYGV792 090814.2125 14.7 SXN OUTBURST
CYGV793 090814.2132 <14.8 SXN
CYGV795 090814.2111 <14.5 SXN
CYGV811 090814.2215 <15.0 SXN
CYGV868 090814.2069 <14.6 SXN
DELEZ 090814.1965 <14.9 SXN
DELHO 090814.1979 <14.9 SXN
DRAAB 090814.1618 12.9 SXN ACTIVE
DRADV 090814.1535 <15.0 SXN
DRAEX 090814.1583 <14.8 SXN
HERAH 090814.125 12.5 SXN ACTIVE
HERAM 090814.1549 13.3 SXN
HERCH 090814.1299 <15.0 SXN
HERPR 090814.1382 <14.9 SXN
HERV1008 090814.1368 <14.9 SXN
HERV589 090814.1222 <14.4 SXN
HERV592 090814.1229 <14.9 SXN
HERV844 090814.1264 <15.0 SXN
HS1857+71 090814.1604 <14.8 SXN
LACAY 090814.2556 <15.0 SXN
LACBL 090814.2514 <14.6 SXN
LACKM 090814.2542 <14.7 SXN
LACPS 090814.2528 <14.6 SXN
LYRAY 090814.1417 <14.9 SXN
LYRCY 090814.1313 13.2 SXN ACTIVE
LYRDM 090814.1354 <15.0 SXN
LYRLL 090814.1403 13.7 SXN ACTIVE
LYRMV 090814.1465 13.6 SXN
LYRV344 090814.1431 15.1 SXN OUTBURST
LYRV391 090814.1389 <14.9 SXN
LYRV415 090814.1486 <14.6 SXN
LYRV419 090814.15 <14.9 SXN
LYRV493 090814.1444 <15.1 SXN
LYRV585 090814.1521 <15.1 SXN
LYRV587 090814.1514 <14.8 SXN
NSV14652 090814.2757 <14.5 SXN
NSV24663 090814.1813 <14.6 SXN
NSV7883 090814.1243 12.2 SXN
PEGEF 090814.2701 <14.7 SXN
PEGHX 090814.2764 13.7 SXN ACTIVE
PEGIP 090814.2743 <14.4 SXN
PEGRU 090814.2729 12.7 SXN
PEGV368 090814.2736 <14.9 SXN
PEGVAR79 090814.2715 <14.7 SXN
PERDY 090814.3139 13.0 SXN
PERKT 090814.309 <14.5 SXN
PERPT 090814.3153 <14.5 SXN
PERQY 090814.3167 <14.7 SXN
PERTZ 090814.3125 13.1 SXN OUTBURST
PERUV 090814.3111 <14.9 SXN
PSCEI 090814.2806 <14.6 SXN
PSCTY 090814.284 <15.1 SXN
PSCXY 090814.2826 <14.4 SXN
SGEAW 090814.1854 <14.7 SXN
SGEFG 090814.1896 <14.7 SXN
SGERZ 090814.1868 <14.8 SXN
SGESV 090814.1819 10.4 SXN
SGEV 090814.191 11.3 SXN
SGEWZ 090814.1889 <14.5 SXN
TRITU 090814.2875 <14.9 SXN
TRITW 090814.2778 <14.3 SXN
TRITX 090814.2889 <14.8 SXN
TRIWY 090814.2903 <14.8 SXN
VULFY 090814.1924 14.2 SXN ACTIVE
VULRZ 090814.1938 12.4 SXN
VULSW 090814.1951 <14.9 SXN
VULTY 090814.1993 <15.0 SXN
VULVW 090814.2021 <14.8 SXN

Tonight we should be able to get all those plus many in Triangulum, Perseus and Andromeda that were too close to the moon last night. Time to get some rest. Its gonna be a long one.

The Scorpions Eye and Heart Grow Faint

Based on recent visual observations, my friend Sebastian Otero brought up some interesting facts about stars in the constellation of Scorpius. It seems the brightest star in the constellation, Antares (alpha Scorpii) is fainter than usual. Antares is a variable star, whose apparent magnitude varies from +0.88 to +1.16.

According to Sebastian, " I have never seen Antares so faint. It is fading to a very faint minimum in its short-term pulsation cycle but it is in the middle of a minimum of its long-term periodicity. This combination results in this very faint state. It is almost as faint as beta Crucis tonight (I made it V= 1.23). You can see light curves in my webpage."

Light curve from Sebastian Otero

Sebastian, a native of Argentina, is one of the world's leading variable star observers. He has what many consider to be near photometric capabilities. His binocular and naked eye magnitude estimates rival the precision of observers using CCDs and photoelectric photometers.

In June 2000, Sebastian discovered the variability of delta Scorpii, a previously unknown variable star. Delta Scorpius' brightness has varied since then and has reached as high as magnitude 1.6, altering the familiar appearance of the constellation Scorpius.

"Delta Sco also happens to be in a faint state, almost reaching quiescence. The 60-day periodicity that was dominant over the past years seems to be disappearing. Is the star going to stop varying for now?" asks Argentina's famous variable star observer. With irregular, unpredictable variable stars like delta Scorpii, no one knows for sure what comes next. That's half the fun of observing variable stars.

Light curves from Sebastian Otero's website

Taking all this into account, its easy to see that the appearance of the constellation Scorpio will be dramatically altered from its normal state. As Sebastian explains, "This means that the scorpion looks very much dimmer as a whole!"

If you get a chance tonight or tomorrow, go take a look for yourself. You may never see the Scorpion like this again.

Science Made Fun

In case you haven't seen this yet, you've got to see the Lite Brite video on the Citizen Sky website. It's a humorous and fun explanation of what the epsilon Aurigae eclipse and Citizen Sky are all about.

The Astronomical League Convention 2009

This years Astronomical League Convention, ALCon 2009, was held at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, August 7-8. The convention was hosted by the Amateur Observer's Society of New York.

The list of speakers was impressive, including speakers from Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines, the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) and the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) of which I was one.

Topics ranged from amateur radio astronomy to cosmic rays, exoplanet research, astrophotography, meteorites, comet hunting, light pollution, and of course- variable stars. Phil Harrington's talk on the development of the amateur telescope was an excellent historical overview, and Phil does a great job of presenting material.

I saw some remarkable results from amateurs studying our solar system's planets, but was particularly impressed with Frank Melillo's images of the innermost planet, Mercury. Mercury is a devil to even find in the sky, because it is so close to the Sun most of the time. I think I've actually seen it in a telescope maybe three or four times in my whole life! Frank has taken imaging the planet into new territory with his home observatory, and the comparisons to professional results and the Messenger spacecraft images were impressive.

Al Nagler was both a speaker and a vendor at ALCon. He gave a talk on selecting eyepieces and then had his booth set up so you could take his advice and go purchase some excellent TeleVue products! Al was one of the 'legends' of astronomy that I had on my list of people I wanted to meet at this convention.

The AAVSO had its display set up, and my travel companion, Simochick, held down the fort and gave away handouts while I was busy attending and giving talks.

Some variable star related news came out at this meeting. The Astronomical League will soon be announcing it has a variable star observing club program to go along with it's well-known and popular Messier, Herschel 400, Lunar and other club programs. These are observing challenges that observers take on and when they have completed them they earn certificates and pins as a reward for their observing accomplishments.

It was an especially rewarding weekend for Sue Rose, president emeritus of the Astronomical League. On Friday night, at the "Star B Cue" banquet held at the Custer Institute, the AOS held a special ceremony to name its observatory the Susan F. Rose Observatory in her honor. On Saturday afternoon, Sue was informed that Minor Planet 1993 SR3 has been renamed 7194 Susanrose. As if that weren't enough, she also cleaned up in the raffle drawings at the end of the convention, winning a Galileoscope and the AL variable star observing book, written by Roger Kolman soon to be coming out!

Gordon Myers from AAVSO gave a talk entitled "The Facinating Universe of Variable Stars" that is available as a PowerPoint from the AAVSO Education and Outreach pages. My talks on "Epsilon Aurigae" and "Variable Stars and the Stories They Tell" are also available as ppt files in the AAVSO Presentation Library.

I got to meet several people who I have only known through email, Twitter and facebook for some time now, including Vivian White from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and Deirdre Kelleghan the 'skysketcher', from Ireland and Robert Sparks of NOAO.

Vivian is a Night Sky Network Administrator and astronomy educator for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Night Sky Network: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/, a nationwide coalition of amateur astronomy clubs dedicated to astronomy outreach. Also a board member of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers, she is passionate about communicating astronomy with the public.

Deirdre is a former President of the Irish Astronomical Society (2005 - 2009) she is now The Outreach Officer for the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies. She enjoys writing articles on the wonders of astronomy and space, and her work has been published in Irish, English and American astronomical magazines. Her background has been in graphic design for print and magazines before computers.


Rob Sparks is a Science Education Specialist at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona where he works on a variety of project including Hands-On Optics, the Galileoscope, Dark Skies Awareness, and Building Information Technology Skills Through Astronomy.

Overall, ALCon was an impressive display of the people and capabilities of amateur astronomy in the 21st century. We are keeping tabs on the planets, stars and galaxies and doing education and outreach to inform the public about astronomy, space science and light pollution issues. ALCon 2009 clearly demonstrated the enthusiasm and expertise of the amateur astronomy community. The Simostronomer gives it two thums up.

Frank Melillo photo: Robert Naeye

Two Eclipses, an Occultation and a Meteor Shower All At Once!

As many of you probably know, Wednesday, in the early morning hours before dawn is the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. The meteors are dusty remnants of the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle that are trapped by Earth's gravity and burn up as the plunge through the atmosphere. The all appear to be coming from a point in the constellation Perseus, which is how they got their name.

You may also see occasional meteors from two lesser showers that are also active; the Delta Aquarids and Kappa Cygnids. These move noticeably slower than Perseids, and their paths seem to originate from different constellations, so you should be able to tell them apart.

Meteor watching doesn't require any equipment at all. It is the perfect naked eye astronomy activity. Find a spot with an open view of the sky, wrap up warmly in winter clothes or a sleeping bag, lie back in a lounge chair and watch whatever part of your sky is darkest.

Even though the Earth will be traveling through the thickest part of the comet debris on Wednesday morning, a few days either side of the predicted maximum will still yield higher than normal hourly counts of meteors.

This is a good thing, because on Friday morning in the hours before dawn several other interesting and bright astronomical phenomena are happening at the same time.

The Moon will be crossing the path of the Pleiades star cluster. Even though the Plieades is a naked eye cluster, this event will best be viewed with binoculars or a telescope with a wide field of view. As the morning hours turn to dawn you can witness the sunlit side of the Moon passing in front of several stars in the cluster as it moves across the sky, and you'll see stars reappearing on the other side as the Moon moves away from them. This is called an occultation. Its fascinating to be able to actually see the Moon's motion across the sky as stars get closer and closer to the edge of the Moon and then suddenly disappear from view.

As if the tail end of a meteor shower and an occultation of a star cluster weren't enough, you can also witness the eclipses of two famous eclipsing binary stars on this same morning. The first is Algol, also known as beta Persei and the Demon Star, in the constellation Perseus.

Algol fades and rebrightens like clockwork every 2.87 days. Its variations are obvious to the naked eye. In the middle of an eclipse it shines dimly at magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1. Algol will be at minimum at 3:30am EST (7:23 UT) also. Algol stays nearly that faint for two hours. It takes about four hours to fade to minimum, and again to brighten to maximum. So if you start observing Algol around midnite, you will be able to see it fade from maximum brightness to minimum in one night. Saturday night it will be back to maximum as if nothing had happened.

And finally, in the same part of the morning sky lies epsilon Aurigae. Epsilon Aurigae is an eclipsing binary also, but its eclipses happen very infrequently. In fact, they only occur once every 27.1 years! The entire eclipse takes about 600 days from start to finish, so you won't be able to watch the whole thing happen Friday morning, but you can make a mental note of where the star is and how bright it is, because the next time you look at it, in a week or month from now, it will not look the same.

The primary star is a giant F star orbited by what we think is a giant torus shaped cloud of dust and gases, that may or may not have one or two stars in its center. There is much we don't know about this spectacular enigma.

This absolutely awesome image of epsilon Aurigae was created by Brian Thieme.

Epsilon Aurigae is the subject of the largest citizen science project ever undertaken. To learn more about this mysterious, baffling star, and how you cna contribute to science by observing it, visit the Citizen Sky website.

With any luck, the skies overhead at your house will be clear this coming Friday morning, so you can watch astronomy happening in real time right before you eyes.

Simochick Visits the Adler Planetarium

For those of you not familiar with my travel companion from my Facebook album, I introduce Simochick. Here are some new pictures from the album, "The Amazing Adventures of Simochick" taken at the Citizen Sky Workshop at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

See kids, astronomy can be fun! Do you see any frowns here?

The Workshop Continues

Aaron Price began his talk explaining the Citizen Sky website and how visual observers will upload their observations to the database. Once we got to the light curve display the talk turned into more of a town hall meeting. There were many, many, questions and comments about Julian Dates, light curves, the value of teaching the science ad making things simpler or more complicated. One thing is for sure, the audience is into it!

I'm pretty sure we missed out on a lot of material Aaron planned to present, but I think the points and questions raised will go a long way to making this whole project better.

Rebecca is introducing the 'team' concept behind some of the activities of Citizen Sky. The flagship team is the team currently developing VSTAR, the educational and analytical software being developed for Citizen Sky.

My talk with Aaron on Education and Outreach is after the next coffee break. This will be my last blog from Adler today.Tomorrow I am back on the road, driving to New York for the Astronomical League Convention.

Dr. Bob Stencel at Adler

'Dr. Bob' is explaining to the crowd here at Adler what is so interesting about epsilon Aurigae.

Thankfully, all these talks will be posted online at Citizen Sky. Dr. Bob's talk is going into a great deal of depth regarding the history and mystery of epsilon Aurigae. His overview of the evolution of the theories and models of eps Aur shows how the observations drove the theory. Lots of ideas fell by the wayside because they didn't match the observations.

Another interesting set of infrared data was taken during daylight! If you have the right equipment you don't have to stay up late or get up early to take data...cool. That should make a lot of people happy.