May 2022 News and research items

 Research_News_20_05_2022

Further links and discussion can be found at the groups/links below

Astronomy in New Zealand - Facebook
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Astronomy in New Zealand - Groups.io
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Google Group
https://groups.google.com/g/nzastrochat
Astronomy in Wellington
https://www.facebook.com/groups/11451597655/
Blogger Posts
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Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/user/Edwin_Rod_NZ
Quaroa
https://www.quora.com/q/astronomyinnewzealand
Twitter
https://twitter.com/EdwinRodham


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Research papers

Impact of Economic Constraints on the Projected Timeframe for Human-Crewed Deep Space Exploration
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.08061

A target list for searching for habitable exomoons
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.11614

Evaluating the Evidence for Water World Populations using Mixture Models
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.00006

Unveiling non-gray surface of cloudy exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.13452

The Outer Edge of the Venus Zone Around Main-Sequence Stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.10919


On the pressure dependence of salty aqueous eutectics
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(22)00130-8

The mercurial Sun at the heart of our solar system
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.03498

Survival strategies of an anoxic microbial ecosystem in Lake Untersee, a potential analog for Enceladus
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10876-8

A global system of furrows on Ganymede indicative of their creation in a single impact event
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.05221

On the origin of molecular oxygen on the surface of Ganymede
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.01659

Particle deposition on the saturnian satellites from ephemeral cryovolcanism on Enceladus
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.11265

Ocean signatures in the total flux and polarization spectra of Earth-like exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.05669

Infrared and Optical Detectability of Dyson Spheres at White Dwarf Stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.09627

Global Mapping of Surface Composition on an Exo-Earth Using Sparse Modeling
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01996

a space-borne astrometric mission for the detection of habitable planets of the nearby solar-type stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.05645


Improved Sensitivity for Space Domain Awareness Observations with the Murchison Widefield Array
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.05868

The Effect of Ocean Salinity on Climate and Its Implications for Earth's Habitability
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.06785

The Origin and Evolution of Saturn
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.06914

The Futility of Exoplanet Biosignatures
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.07921

A Ubiquitous Unifying Degeneracy in Two-Body Microlensing Systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.13696


A Super-Earth Orbiting Near the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone around the M4.5-dwarf Ross 508
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.11986


Exosphere-Mediated Migration of Volatile Species On Airless Bodies Across the Solar System
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.12805

The Detection of Transiting Exoplanets by Gaia
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.10197


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Interesting News items


SwRI-led Team Finds Younger Exoplanets Better Candidates When Looking at Other Earths
http://spaceref.com/astrobiology/swri-led-team-finds-younger-exoplanets-better-candidates-when-looking-dor-other-earths.html

How to Image an Exoplanet with Just a Few Pixels
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/how-to-image-an-exoplanet-with-just-a-few-pixels

Global Mapping of Surface Composition on an Exo-Earth Using Sparse Modeling
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01996

A great update of the effects from the Tongan eruption

Tonga Volcanic Eruption Effects Reached Space
http://spaceref.com/earth/tonga-volcanic-eruption-effects-reached-space.html

If only I had a time machine
https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/27-01-2022/returning-to-a-green-antarctica

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Updates from Andrew B,

Mars Perseverance Rover.
Imaged: Sunday 1st May 2022. Sol 425.
New images, with the MastCam Z (Zoom).
Spectacular views of the Neretva Vallis Delta front.
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives across Cannery Passage, which covers the contact between the volcanic, basalt lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced, with the 'Bacon Strip' area being examined now, with possibly a sample collection being made within the area.
These images show cross bedding and the layering in great detail now in the Neretva Vallis Delta front from Perseverance and these observations are already contributing to how a martian delta formed and compare with deltas on Earth such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, Amazon Delta in Brazil, Mississippi Delta in the USA, etc, and how through weathering, extremely ancient sediments are being revealed. Formed from when Mars was warmer, wetter and more earth like than now with a far denser atmosphere.    
A few small rocks, that may have been part of the Neretva Vallis Delta, or fallen and rolled from it and some layering. I wonder if the greyer rocks are former mudstones? The brighter toned ones appear to be of carbonate origin?
The mast would have been heated during these observations as the mornings on Mars are rather chilly to say the least!!!!
Images taken between: 09:34 HRS to 09:45 HRS LMST.
LMST = Local Mars Standard Time, in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
MastCam Z (Zoom) Camera.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover.


Zhurong Rover.
Image: Friday 1st April 2022.
Image looking north in late afternoon.
Zhurong was a Fire God in ancient China.
Southwest Utopia Planitia. Amenthes Quadrangle.
Landing Position confirmed as: 109.9 East, 25.1 North.
Utopia Planitia (No Where Plain) is a huge lava flooded impact basin, one of the largest if not the largest known impact crater in the solar system. It is about 3,300 KM / 2,051 miles wide and parts of it are within the Casius,  Amenthes, and Cebrenia quadrangles in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Very different to the views from Viking 2 which is 1,721 KM / 1,069 miles to the NE, also in Utopia Planitia, further north in Cebrenia Quadrangle.
Much less rockier here than at Viking 2 as Zhurong landed well away from crater ejecta, unlike Viking 2 which landed within the ejecta from Mie Crater.
As of: Thursday 5th May 2022, Zhurong had driven 1,921 metres.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
CNSA / China National Space Administration.


Mars.
Imaged: Thursday 5th May 2022. Sol 429.
New images.
MastCam Z (Zoom) Cameras and Navigation Cameras.
Spectacular views of the Neretva Vallis Delta front.
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives across Cannery Passage, which covers the contact between the volcanic, basalt lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced, with the 'Bacon Strip' area being examined now, with possibly a sample collection being made within the area.
These images show cross bedding and the layering in great detail now in the Neretva Vallis Delta front from Perseverance and these observations are already contributing to how a martian delta formed and compare with deltas on Earth such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, Amazon Delta in Brazil, Mississippi Delta in the USA, etc, and how through weathering, extremely ancient sediments are being revealed. Formed from when Mars was warmer, wetter and more earth like than now with a far denser atmosphere.    
The Kodiak Mesa looks very alone now.
the mast would have been heated during these photoshoots as the martian mornings are very cold to say the least.
MastCam Z (Zoom) taken between 09:03 HRS to 09:05 HRS LMST.
Navigation Cameras taken between 10:28 HRS to 10:31 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Front & Rear Hazard Cameras and Navigation Cameras.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover.


Mars.
Imaged: Thursday 12th May 2022. Sol 436.
New images.
MastCam Z (Zoom) Cameras and SuperCam Cameras.
Spectacular views of the Neretva Vallis Delta front.
It is difficult to get a scale, but it appears as if the deepest part of the layered cap is about 6 metres deep.
Beautiful cross bedding with layered blocks breaking off from the cap.
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives across Cannery Passage, which covers the contact between the volcanic, basalt lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced, with the 'Bacon Strip' area being examined now, with possibly a sample collection being made within the area.
These images show cross bedding and the layering in great detail now in the Neretva Vallis Delta front from Perseverance and these observations are already contributing to how a martian delta formed and compare with deltas on Earth such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, Amazon Delta in Brazil, Mississippi Delta in the USA, etc, and how through weathering, extremely ancient sediments are being revealed. Formed from when Mars was warmer, wetter and more earth like than now with a far denser atmosphere.    
Yaken between 12:05 HRS to 12:24 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Front & Rear Hazard Cameras and Navigation Cameras.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover.


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RASNZ


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. Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand
. Email Newsletter Number 257, 20 May 2022
==================================================
Affiliated Societies are welcome to reproduce any item in this email
newsletter or on the RASNZ website http://www.rasnz.org.nz/
in their own newsletters provided an acknowledgement of the source is
also included.
--------
1. President's Notes
2. Shadow of Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Imaged
3. The Night Sky in June
4. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition
5. The Dark Skies Retreat - June 24-26
6. Aotearoa Astrotourism Academy - Martinborough, 8-10 July 2022
7. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2022 - September 12-16
8. Variable Star News
9. Quadruple Stars Which May Become a Supernova
10. Tonga Eruption Affected the Ionosphere
11. How to Join the RASNZ
12. Quotes
===========================================================
1. President's Notes
Newsletter Editor
I take this opportunity to thank Alan Gilmore for his amazing work over
20 years as Newsletter editor. Along with all his other contributions to
RASNZ Alan has kept us up to date with happenings around New Zealand and
further afield. And always with a touch of humour or quotes to brighten
our days. Thank you Alan. A few days a month are now yours to do as you
wish.
RASNZ now needs a new editor to carry on the important role. Please
contact me at: president@rasnz.org.nz if you are able and willing to step
into this position. Thank you.
RASNZ Conference Registrations
The 2022 RASNZ Conference and AGM are fast approaching. This year we will
be in Whangarei 3rd June - 5th June. Conference information can be found
at https://rasnzconference.org.nz/
Please register and support the Northland Astronomical Society who are
hosting this year's conference. Whangarei is developing a very
interesting city centre area with new and interesting attractions. These
will be showcased with a walking tour during Friday afternoon.
Two keynote speakers are on the program both talking about their leading
space base astronomy projects.
Dr. John C. Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational
Cosmology Laboratory located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md. He is also the Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb
Space Telescope.
Dr. Emily Kendall is a post-doctoral researcher at Auckland University
and part of the New Zealand contribution to LISA an international
project, lead by the European Space Agency, to develop a space-based
gravitational wave interferometer. Dr Kendall will also give a public
lecture on Sunday after the conference.
RASNZ Membership system
A reminder to ensure you have paid your subscriptions for the 2022 year.
Payments can be made at https://www.rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/payments-anddonations
RASNZ have started the migration to new membership system which will be
implemented over the next two months. This system will improve our
services to you as members. There will be a new website which will form a
major part of this new system. You will be able to check and confirm your
membership details and pay on line with automatic reminders, finances
will be directly connected with our financial software, events such as
our conference will be more easily managed, and communications with you
our members will be much easier.
You can expect to receive emails from RASNZ and the new system as we move
our information across to it. These emails will let you know what is
happening and give you the chance to confirm the information we have for
you.
If you have any questions please contact me at president@rasnz.org.nz
Covid
As the country re-opens please continue to do your bit to keep your
selves and others safe. Wearing masks in indoor settings in crowds is
highly recommended and will be required to be worn at the conference.
President's Note
This is my final newsletter note as President and I would like to express
my thanks to all those who help make RASNZ an interesting and supportive
Society. We are fortunate to have such a cross section of people as
members including age and skills. As we enter the second hundred years of
our Society I wonder what our understanding of the universe will be in
another 100 years. We are fortunate to be able to share knowledge so
easily and quickly.
Please contribute to your Society whenever you can.
Steve Butler
RASNZ President 2020 - 2022
===========================================================
2. Shadow of Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Imaged
Astronomers today released the first image of the supermassive black hole
at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy — or at least a picture of its
shadow. Eight radio observatories around the globe and more than 300
scientists joined forces to image the object known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr
A*), a feat thought impossible until just a few years ago. “It’s a truly
impressive accomplishment,” says black hole expert Roger Blandford of
Stanford University, who is not part of the team.
The team, known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), in 2019 produced
the first ever image of a black hole, at the centre of the nearby giant
galaxy M87. The M87 black hole is 1600 times more massive than Sgr A*.
Yet the similarity of the two images — bright rings of gas trapped in
death spirals around these ultimate sinkholes — shows how Albert
Einstein’s theory of gravity, general relativity, works the same at all
scales. Once you get close to the black hole “gravity takes over,” EHT
team member Sara Issaoun of the Harvard & Smithsonian Centre for
Astrophysics (CfA) told a press conference in Munich today. “We now know
that in both cases, what we see is the heart of the black hole, the point
of no return,” team member Feryal Özel of the University of Arizona told
a parallel press conference in Washington, D.C.
Compared with M87, which converts swirling gas into a powerful jet
thousands of light-years long, Sgr A* is quiet. “M87 was exciting because
it was extraordinary,” says CfA’s Michael Johnson. “Sgr A* is exciting
because it’s common.” Initial analysis of the new image suggests it is
even quieter than thought: Only a trickle of gas makes it to the black
hole, and only one part in 1000 is being converted to light, Johnson
says. “The black hole is ravenous but inefficient.” When the researchers
compared the image with their vast library of simulations, it tended to
match models with a spinning black hole. “It’s intriguing that we may be
seeing the first hints” of a spinning black hole, Özel says.
Although the black holes in the centres of galaxies have enormous masses
— millions or billions of times that of the Sun — their intense gravity
means their outer edge, the event horizon, is tiny in galactic terms. Sgr
A*, which has a mass of 4 million Suns, has an event horizon that is just
15 times the size of the Earth-Moon distance. Imaging something so small
from 27,000 light-years away presents a huge challenge for astronomers.
The first challenge comes from clouds of dust around the galactic centre,
which make observations with optical telescopes impossible. Radio
telescopes can peer through the murk, but their long wavelengths don’t
offer resolution sharp enough to spot a diminutive black hole. But the
shortest radio wavelengths, of about 1 millimetre, offer better
resolution and can still pierce the gloom. Telescopes that observe at
those wavelengths are a relatively new breed. Unlike normal radio
telescopes, they must be built at high-altitude sites to get above most
of the moisture in Earth’s atmosphere.
In astronomy, the bigger the telescope, the sharper the image.
Astronomers calculated decades ago that it would take a telescope as big
as Earth to see Sgr A*, even in millimetre waves. EHT does the next best
thing: It observes the galactic centre simultaneously with telescope
dishes spread across Earth’s face. The EHT team stores the data, and
later processes it with powerful computers as if each dish was a small
patch of an Earth-wide telescope — a technique known as very long
baseline interferometry (VLBI). “Each pair [of telescopes] contributes a
little bit of information to the entire image,” says EHT team member
Katie Bouman of the California Institute of Technology.
By 2017, after developing techniques for processing the data and
enlisting radio telescopes worldwide, the team was ready to take a shot
at Sgr A* and the nearby giant galaxy M87. Data came from eight
observatories, from Hawaii to Spain and from Arizona to the South Pole. A
key addition was the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array in
Chile, a group of 64 dishes with the combined collecting area of an 84-
meter-wide telescope.
The result “was the best vetted image in radio astronomy ever,” says EHT
team member Heino Falcke of Radboud University. In April 2019, the team
released its now famous image of M87, a result chosen as Science’s 2019
Breakthrough of the Year. It shows the event horizon’s silhouette,
magnified 2.5 times by gravitational effects. Some of the light in the
surrounding ring was actually emitted behind the black hole, its path
bent by the intense gravity so that it appears to come from the edge.
Getting an image for Sgr A* proved to be much harder. One reason was that
the telescopes were viewing it through the crowded central plane of the
Milky Way, where electrons from ionized gases scatter the radio waves.
Johnson describes it as peering through “frosted glass.” Another
challenge was motion. Gas moves slowly around M87’s giant black hole,
taking days to orbit the event horizon. But around the much smaller Sgr
A*, an orbit takes anywhere from 4 minutes to 1 hour, meaning an
observation lasting several hours is likely to be blurred. “If an object
changes in a crazy way, you can’t image it with VLBI,” Falcke says. The
team had to develop new techniques to separate blurring from interstellar
electrons and rapid motion, and to emphasize the steady part of the
signal. Falcke says that after 2 years scrutinizing the results, the team
is confident the ring of light surrounding the black hole shadow
represents reality. “On top of the chaotic structure you have a stable
structure,” he says.
The three “knots” visible in the image might be clumps of bright swirling
gas, but Özel says they could also be artefacts of observation process.
“We don’t trust the knots that much,” she says. “They tend to line up
with parts of the [EHT] array where we have the most telescopes.”
Unlike for M87, the mass of Sgr A* is known very precisely from studies
of star orbits close to the black hole, so the EHT researchers had a firm
idea of how big of a ring they should see. “It’s a very tight prediction,
with no wiggle room,” Falcke says. The ring size they found was “bang
on,” says EHT team member Dom Pesce of CfA, giving them more confidence
in the result.
The EHT team carried out further observing campaigns of M87 and Sgr A* in
2018, 2021, and 2022. “All data are in various stages of calibration and
processing,” Pesce says. “Now that the tools are ready, we hope it will
be faster,” Özel says. Further observations could help researchers
understand how matter moves around a black hole and is sometimes
funnelled into power jets. The team produced an image of M87 in 2021
showing how its light was polarized, hinting at the magnetic fields that
play a key role in accretion and jet formation. The EHT array has also
expanded since 2017, adding new dishes in Greenland, France, and the
United States, with plans for another in Namibia.
In the future, the researchers plan to observe at a shorter wavelength —
0.86 millimetres, compared with the 1.3 millimetres used so far — which
will allow them to see even closer to the event horizon. Another aim is
to make time-lapse movies of the gas swirling around the black holes.
Observing M87 every 2 weeks is the first goal. Later, they will try for
Sgr A* - The Movie. “We’re still in the infancy of this field,” Pesce
says. “The first baby steps.”
---------
See Daniel Clery's original article, with image, at
https://www.science.org/content/article/shadow-milky-way-s-giant-blackhole-revealed-astronomers
---------
Hear Kim Hill's interview with Roy Kerr at
https://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20220514-1105-
prof_roy_kerr_first_image_of_black_hole_at_milky_ways_centre-128.mp3
and David Wiltshire's interview with Catherine Ryan at
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018842739/bla
ck-hole-image-incredibly-exciting-development
===========================================================
3. The Night Sky in June
Sirius is the 'evening star'. At the beginning of the month. It appears
due west at dusk and sets in the southwest before 10 pm. By the end of
June it sets at 8 pm. Being bright and white, Sirius twinkles with all
colours when low in the sky.
Canopus, the second brightest star, is higher in the southwest sky,
swinging lower in the south later. Like Sirius it twinkles colourfully.
Crux, the Southern Cross, is south of the zenith. Beside it and brighter
are Beta and Alpha Centauri, often called 'The Pointers' because they
point at Crux.
Arcturus is a lone bright orange star in the north sky. Lacking any blue
light it twinkles red and green when low in the sky. It sets in the
northwest in the morning hours.
Antares is a medium-bright orange star midway up the eastern sky. It
marks the scorpion's body. Below Scorpius is Sagittarius, its brighter
stars making 'the teapot'.
All the naked-eye planets are in the late evening to dawn half of the
sky. Saturn is first up. It rises around 11 pm at the beginning of the
month and 9 pm by the end. It looks like a cream-coloured star and
doesn't twinkle much. It is the brightest object in an empty region of
sky. The Moon will be near Saturn on the night of the 18th-19th.
Jupiter rises around 2 a.m. at the beginning of the month and around
midnight at the end. It is golden-coloured and the brightest 'star' in
the morning sky till Venus appears. Jupiter doesn't twinkle at all. Mars
appears just below Jupiter at the start of June. It looks like a mediumbright orange-red star. Jupiter continues moving up the sky, morning to
morning, leaving Mars behind. The Moon will be near Jupiter on the
morning of the 22nd and very close to Mars on the 23rd.
Venus is the brilliant 'morning star'. It rises around 4:30 at the
beginning of the month and around 5:30 at the end. It is leaving us
behind and moving to the far side of the Sun. Mercury begins a morning
sky appearance in the second week of June when it appears below and right
of Venus. It keeps that position for a fortnight then slips down into the
dawn twilight by the end of the month.
Venus is directly above the Matariki/Pleiades star cluster on the morning
of the 15th, about when Matariki can be first seen. The cluster is 12°
below Venus, roughly half a hand-span at arm's length. Mercury is closer
and at an angle of 2 o'clock from the cluster. By the 27th Venus is 7° to
the right of Matariki. The thin crescent Moon will be just above
Matariki on the 26th.
Evening sky star charts and a morning sky chart for Matariki can be seen
at https://www.rasnz.org.nz/ .
================================================================
4. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition
2022 New Zealand Astrophotography Competition is now open for entries
This year's competition will be judged by Alyn Wallace, arguably one of
the world's top Astro, landscape, and time-lapse photographers.
The competition has four main categories:
1. Deep-Sky
2. Nightscape
3. Solar system
4. Time-lapse
Please read over the rules and conditions of entry at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xMg-rKYyB7afWdlWRgM1k8qrMlt1p818/view
Like previous years, the competition is sponsored by the Australian Sky &
Telescope magazine, with a free 12-month subscription. The nightscape and
deep-sky category winners will have their images printed in the magazine.
Here is the list of prizes provided by our amazing sponsors:
 Star Adventurer 2i Photo Kit Valued at $549 AUD to the competition's
overall winner, provided by Skywatcher Australia.
 Nature DX 12x56 Binoculars - Valued at $490 AUD to the winner of the
Deep Sky category, provided by Celestron Australia.
 A $300 AstroNZ gift voucher for the solar system category winner,
sponsored by AstroNZ (https://astronz.nz/). They are easily New Zealand's
best known and most trusted supplier of Astronomical instruments.
 Skylabs NZ (https://www.skylabs.co.nz) is sponsoring each category with
some fantastic products:
 Deep-Sky and Solar System: Skylabs NZ Cheshire Eyepiece 2" and improved
Sensitivity tri-Bahtinov Mask.
 Nightscape and Time-lapse: Enhanced Bahtinov Focusing Mask and polar
Alignment Adapter
 The Auckland Astronomical Society will provide a cash prize for each
category winner.
The last date for submitting your entries is the 21st of September 2022.
The competition awards will be announced at the Burbidge dinner, Auckland
Astronomical Society's premier annual event. Keep an eye out on the
society's website for details of the forthcoming Burbidge dinner.
This year, the entries are to be submitted via Google Form:
https://forms.gle/GdmNFiUCfaNeLjFj6
-- From the Auckland Astronomical Society's March Newsletter.
===============================================================
5. The Dark Skies Retreat - June 24-26
The Dark Skies Retreat, Supported by ASTRONZ, June 24th to June 26th. A
weekend getaway of astronomical proportions! Astronomy,
astrophotography, night sky education, outreach, with a big focus on dark
skies. Held over the first Matariki Public Holiday in June, under the
dark skies of Camp Iona, Herbert Forest, Herbert (20-minutes south of
Oamaru). Registrations are essential, and forms can be obtained by
contacting Damien McNamara at - solaur.science@gmail.com
-- Damien McNamara
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6. Aotearoa Astrotourism Academy - Martinborough, 8-10 July 2022
The Aotearoa Astrotourism Academy will host its next course in
Martinborough, July 8-10, 2022.
As a special promotion, AAA offers RASNZ members and affiliated society
members a reduced enrolment for the Martinborough course of only $597
(which is $200 off).
The Academy, AAA, was launched last year by Professor John Hearnshaw,
Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at the University of Canterbury, with
Nalayini Davies from the Auckland Astronomical Society to satisfy an
unmet need in the astronomical community.
The primary goal of AAA is to offer educational courses for current or
aspiring astro-tourism night-sky guides, or for anyone interested in
navigating the dark night sky and learning more about astronomy.
AAA has assembled a small team of dedicated and expert instructors, and
the courses offered cover all aspects of night-sky guiding, star-gazing,
how to use a small telescope, astrophotography and the best objects to
view in the night sky. AAA hopes to impart some of the basic skills and
knowledge considered essential for those working in the fast growing
astro-tourism industry. A talk on Matariki and Maori astronomy is also
included.
This intensive course comprises lectures, practical sessions (weather
permitting for evening observing), workshops and plenty of interactions
between instructors and participants. The venue for the Martinborough
course will be the Wellington Room at the Martinborough Hotel.
The Martinborough AAA school will include:
• an immersive programme of lectures, talks, workshops and night-time
observing (weather permitting),
• a visit to the Star Field Observatory on the Friday afternoon (with
thanks to Martinborough astronomer John Whitby)
• an evening reception on Friday 25 March
• morning and afternoon teas and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday.
AAA has chosen the Wairarapa for their third AAA course in recognition of
the strong local support for protecting dark skies from the Wairarapa
Dark Sky Association and also to support the growing astrotourism
industry in this region of Aotearoa.
Full details are on the AAA website at https://aaanz.org and on-line
registrations are now open. Places at the course are limited to 30.
Contact emails: john.hearnshaw@canterbury.ac.nz and nbrito@vinstar.co.nz.
===========================================================
7. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2022 - September 12-16
The world’s largest conference on astronomy communication: Communicating
Astronomy with the Public 2022 (CAP 2022) will be hosted from September
12-16, 2022 at the Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia (with
provisions to attend in-person and online).
The Communicating Astronomy with the Public Conference (CAP2022)
Scientific Organizing Committee is announcing a second and final
extension of the deadline for abstracts and grants applications until May
31.
Under the central theme of “Communicating Astronomy for a Better World”,
the SOC invites proposals for oral presentations, posters, workshops and
panel discussions to be submitted online. Students and young astronomers
are particularly encouraged to participate and share their work.
Submit your application at
https://capconferences.org/2022/registrationabstracts/
The platform for registration payments is also now open at
https://capconferences.org/2022/registration-payment-open/
The IAU CAPjournal, in collaboration with the CAP 2022 SOC, organised an
Abstract Writing Workshop in support of the hybrid Communicating
Astronomy to the Public (CAP) Conference. Resources are available at:
https://capconferences.org/2022/resources-for-abstract-writing/
CAP2022 will be organised from September 12-16, 2022, at Macquarie
University in Sydney, Australia. Catering to all travel and mobility
concerns and needs of our community, the conference will be organized as
a hybrid event, both face-to-face and online. In-person participants will
be able to book a post-conference tour to visit some of the world-class
astronomy facilities in Australia, participate in Macquarie University's
annual Astronomy Open Night, and enrol in a pre-conference training
workshop.
Contact: cap2022@oao.iau.org
-- Thanks to Tim Banks for passing this along.
===============================================================
8. Variable Star News
VSS Symposium 6
Variable Stars South (VSS) is organising a Symposium for late
September/early October 2022, VSSS 6 will be held as a Zoom meeting. This
has arisen because of the failure to hold two previous Workshops,
associated with Conferences, which did not materialise due to Covid 19.
For the symposium any presentations related to variable stars would be
welcome. These include, but are not limited to:
Visual/PEP/DSLR/CCD/CMOS/Spectroscopic observing programs,
Data mining of professional survey databases,
Analysis of pulsating star or eclipsing binary light curves,
Exoplanet transit timings, cataclysmic variables, equipment reviews, etc.
Talks will be 30 minutes including question time, however longer or
shorter presentations could be accommodated if necessary. As at previous
in-person, symposia we encourage poster presentations; for VSSS6 we will
be able to accept PDF posters which would be viewable via links on the
VSS website.
Anyone interested in presenting at the event, either a paper or poster,
should contact Mark Blackford through the Google Discussion Group or by
the website.
Be Stars
Ari Siqueira has recently joined VSS; he is located in SE Brazil. What
attracted him to variable star observing was the neglected Be stars
visible from the Southern hemisphere, which he is beginning to observe
using photometry, CCD, DSLR and CMOS. (For spectroscopy a Star’EX
spectrograph and an SA-100 grating is in the making).
“The stellar type Be is a subgroup of the B stars, subdivided into
Classical Be, B[e], and Herbig Ae/Be; they are receiving growing
attention from several ProAm initiatives, one of which is the BeSS
database, already holding various kinds of data from 2330 Be stars and
258,355 Be star spectra (http://basebe.obspm.fr/basebe/). The
astrophysics and behaviour of the Be stars still hold more mysteries than
certainties. Those are some of the reasons that motivate me to invest my
amateur efforts to exploring the Be zoo”.
Ari was, until recently, a Professor at the Federal University of Minas
Gerais/MG, Brazil, where he worked in the fields of molecular biology and
theoretical chemistry. “Being retired I can now dedicate myself full-time
to the informal study of astronomy”.
Extracted from a posting on VSS Google Group by Ari, 02 May 2022.
Note: Spectral B classification stars are luminous stars which have
temperatures ranging from 10,000 to 20,000K. The Be stars are a subcategory that have emission lines that arise from an outward spiralling
disc around the star. The brightness and spectra both show variation,
which has generated considerable discussion on the physics of the system,
-- Alan Baldwin
===========================================================
9. Quadruple Stars Which May Become a Supernova
A quadruple star system discovered in 2017 and recently observed at the
University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory could represent a new
channel by which thermonuclear supernova explosions can occur in the
Universe, according to results published in Nature Astronomy in May by an
international team of astronomers.
The rare double-binary star system HD 74438 was discovered in the Vela
constellation in 2017 using the Gaia-ESO Survey which characterised over
100,000 stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.
Follow-up observations of HD 74438 were obtained over several years to
precisely track the orbits of the stars in the quadruple star system.
Observations were taken with high-resolution spectrographs at the
University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory in New Zealand, and the
Southern African Large Telescope in South Africa.
The astronomers were able to determine that this stellar quadruple is
made up of four gravitationally bound stars: a short-period binary
orbiting another short-period binary on a longer orbital period (2+2
configuration).
The quadruple system is a member of the young open star cluster IC 2391,
making it the youngest (only 43-million years old) spectroscopic
quadruple discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy to date, and among the
quadruple systems with the shortest outer orbital period (six years).
In the Nature Astronomy paper published today, the authors have shown
that the gravitational effects of the outer binary system is changing the
orbits of the inner binary, causing it to become more eccentric. Stateof-the art simulations of this system’s future evolution show that such
gravitational dynamics can lead to one or multiple collisions and merger
events producing evolved dead stars (white dwarfs) with masses just below
the Chandrasekhar limit. As a result of mass transfer or mergers, these
white dwarf stars can produce a thermonuclear supernova explosion.
Astronomers involved in this study include the Director of the University
of Canterbury Mt John Observatory, Associate Professor Karen Pollard of
the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury;
UC alumni Dr C. Clare Worley and Professor Gerry Gilmore (the first UC
student to receive a doctorate in astronomy), both of the Institute of
Astronomy, Cambridge University, UK.
Associate Professor Pollard says high-precision and high-resolution
spectroscopic observations were taken with the Hercules spectrograph on
the 1.0m McLellan Telescope at the University of Canterbury Mt John
Observatory in Tekapo.
“A star like our Sun will end its life as a small dense dead star known
as a white dwarf, and the mass of white dwarfs cannot go above the socalled Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun),” she
says. “If it does, because of mass transfer or merger events, it can
collapse and produce a thermonuclear supernova. Interestingly, 70% to 85%
of all thermonuclear supernovae are now suspected to result from the
explosion of white dwarfs with sub-Chandrasekhar masses. As a result of
mass transfer or mergers, these white dwarf stars can explode as a
thermonuclear supernova explosion.”
The evolution of stellar quadruples such as HD 74438 thus represents a
new promising channel to form thermonuclear supernova explosions in the
Universe, Associate Professor Pollard says.
Binary stars are now recognised to play a major role in a large range of
astrophysical events, and mergers of binaries are the cause of the recent
gravitational wave emission detection. Binary stars also allow us to
derive fundamental stellar parameters like masses, radii and luminosities
with a better accuracy compared to single stars. They represent the gems
on which various astrophysics topics rely.
Stellar quadruples only represent a marginal fraction (a few percent) of
all multiple systems. The complex evolution of such high-order multiples
involves mass transfer and collisions, leading to mergers that are also
possible progenitors of thermonuclear supernovae. These supernovae
represent standard candles for fixing the Universe distance scale, even
though the evolutionary channel(s) leading to the progenitors of such
supernova explosions are still highly debated.
 The paper, ‘A spectroscopic quadruple as a possible progenitor of
sub-Chandrasekhar type Ia supernovae’, was published in Nature Astronomy
on 12 May 2022. DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01664-5. It is available at:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01664-5
- From UC Media <media@canterbury.ac.nz>
===========================================================
10. Tonga Eruption Affected the Ionosphere
The powerful Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcanic eruption in January
triggered stronger-than-hurricane winds in the highest layer of Earth's
atmosphere, challenging scientists' understanding of the influence our
planet has on outer space.
The eruption, which sent devastating tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean on
January 15, not only blasted hundreds of millions of tons of volcanic ash
into the stratosphere but also generated shockwaves that reached as high
as the ionosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere, at altitudes of
up to 650 km.
The shockwaves were so powerful that they triggered winds with speeds up
to 720 kph that were measurable by satellites at altitudes of up to 190
km. That's way above the official edge of space, the so-called Karman
line at the altitude of 100 km. For comparison, the strongest hurricanes
on Earth can reach a maximum wind speed of around 320 kph.
"I don't think any of us expected to see anything this large," Brian
Harding, a physicist at University of California, Berkeley, and lead
author of a new study describing the observations, told Space.com. "We
expected the disturbances to be small, like little ripples that went into
the ionosphere."
Harding worked with data from a NASA mission called the Ionospheric
Connection Explorer (ICON), which studies how space weather interacts
with Earth's ionosphere. Previously, scientists mostly thought that the
ionosphere is quite isolated from the planet and only affected by the
activity of the sun. But the disturbances detected after the Hunga TongaHunga Ha‘apai eruption were, in fact, the most significant ICON has
measured in its more than two years in orbit. They were more powerful
than any of those caused by the countless geomagnetic storms, which the
planet has experienced in that period of time as a result of the sun's
activity.
These powerful winds were associated with the so-called equatorial
electrojet, an electric current that circles through the ionosphere above
Earth's equator. Measurements by ICON, as well as those by Europe's
three-satellite Swarm mission, revealed that this electrojet went haywire
in the days after the Hunga Tonga eruption. It flipped direction several
times and surged to five times its usual strength, according to a NASA
statement.
"The equatorial electrojet is a very strong electrical current of
hundreds of kilowatts that exists in a narrow band near the equator,"
said Harding. "It's a result of some complicated physics that go on in
Earth's magnetic field. It typically flows eastwards and sometimes can be
reversed by geomagnetic storms. But this was the first time we have seen
it completely reverse and strengthen because of something that happened
on the ground."
The Hunga Tonga eruption was the most powerful volcanic explosion to have
shaken Earth since that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. The
blast could be heard at a distance of over 10,000 km, and the pressure
wave it generated circled the planet four times. Fortunately, only three
people died in the tsunami triggered by the eruption, despite the damage
the waves caused in the Kingdom of Tonga.
The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on
May 10.
See Tereza Pultarova's original article at https://www.space.com/hungatonga-volcano-eruption-triggers-hurricanes-in-space
================================================================
11. How to Join the RASNZ
RASNZ membership is open to all individuals with an interest in
astronomy in New Zealand. Information about the society and its objects
can be found at
http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/membership-benefits
A membership form can be either obtained from treasurer@rasnz.co.nz or
by completing the online application form found at
http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/membership-application
Basic membership for the 2022 year starts at $40 for an ordinary
member, which includes an electronic subscription to our journal
'Southern Stars'.
================================================================
12. Quotes
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and
wrong." - H.L. Menken.
"It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance." -
Thomas Huxley.
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realise the extent of your own
ignorance." - Thomas Sowell.
“Wherever scientific insight is denied and conspiracy theories and
hatred are spread, we need to resist.” - Democracy depends on maintaining
our trust in facts, said quantum chemist Angela Merkel in her farewell
address after 16 years as German Chancellor.
================================================================
Alan Gilmore Phone: 03 680 6817
P.O. Box 57 alan.gilmore@canterbury.ac.nz
Lake Tekapo 7945
New Zealand
==========================



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December Celestial Calendar by Dave Mitsky




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Minor Planet Occultation Updates:




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Further links and discussion can be found at the groups/links below

Astronomy in New Zealand - Groups.io
https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
Astronomy in New Zealand - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5889909863/
Google Group
https://groups.google.com/g/nzastrochat
Astronomy in Wellington
https://www.facebook.com/groups/11451597655/
Blogger Posts
http://laintal.blogspot.com/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/EdwinRodham
Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/user/Edwin_Rod_NZ
Quaroa
https://www.quora.com/q/astronomyinnewzealand

Groups.io

Astronomy in New Zealand
https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
AstronomyNZ@groups.io

Wellington Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/WellingtonAstronomers
WellingtonAstronomers@groups.io

AucklandAstronomers
https://groups.io/g/AucklandAstronomers
AucklandAstronomers@groups.io

North Island Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/NorthIslandAstronomers
NorthIslandAstronomers@groups.io

South Island Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/SouthIslandAstronomers
SouthIslandAstronomers@groups.io

NZAstrochat
https://groups.io/g/NZAstrochat
NZAstrochat@groups.io

NZ Photographers And Observers
https://groups.io/g/NZPhotographers
NZPhotographers@groups.io

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Please note:

My standard caveat that these are the views of a learned amateur, not a professional in the sector, applies as always.
The above post/email/update represents my own words, views, research and opinions, unless stated otherwise the above work
represents my own writing. I’ll give credit or thanks if I have used or represented other people’s words and/or opinions.

The links and references listed below represent the work and research of the respective author’s.
Questions and constructive criticism are always welcome, however I don’t believe anything written here by myself is any reason for impolite behaviour.

Thanks for your time and I hope you have enjoyed reading.
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