June 2022 News and research posts
Research_News_20_06_2022
Further links and discussion can be found at the groups/links below
Astronomy in New Zealand - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5889909863/
Astronomy in New Zealand - Groups.io
https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
Google Group
https://groups.google.com/g/nzastrochat
Astronomy in Wellington
https://www.facebook.com/groups/11451597655/
Blogger Posts
http://laintal.blogspot.com/
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
Jupiter’s inhomogeneous envelope
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2022/06/aa43207-22/aa43207-22.html
Hazy blue worlds: A holistic aerosol model for Uranus and Neptune, including Dark Spots
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../2022JE007189
Dynamics or Geysers and tracer transport over the south pole of Enceladus
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.15732
Changing spatial distribution of water flow charts major change in Mars' greenhouse effect
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.00036
Water storage capacity of the Martian mantle through time
https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.15450
Energetics govern ocean circulation on icy ocean worlds
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.00732
Tidal insights into rocky and icy bodies
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.04370
Laboratory Experiments on the Radiation Astrochemistry of Water Ice Phases
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.11614
Proposed energy-metabolisms cannot explain the atmospheric chemistry of Venus
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.06414
Stability of high-temperature salty ice suggests electrolyte permeability in water-rich exoplanet icy mantles
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30796-5
Salty ice and the dilemma of ocean exoplanet habitability
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30799-2
Thermocline Depth on Water-rich Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.12049
Tidal Heating of Exomoons in Resonance and Implications for Detection
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.11368
A detailed analysis of the Gl 486 planetary system
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.09990
how frequently are we detected by other civilisations through photometric microlensing
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.09820
Science fiction The radium age
https://www.nature.com/articles/489204a#Sec1
Searching for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems with current and future missions
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.00030
To Find the First Earth 2.0
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.06693
Could the "Wow" signal have originated from a stochastic repeating beacon
https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.08374
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Interesting News items
Hazy blue worlds: A holistic aerosol model for Uranus and Neptune, including Dark Spots
Gemini North Telescope Helps Explain Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors
https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2211/?lang
Venus
http://spaceref.com/venus/nasas-davinci-mission-to-take-the-plunge-through-massive-atmosphere-of-venus.html
Back at Mercury
http://spaceref.com/mercury/bepicolombo-surveys-mercurys-rich-geology.html
Ocean planets
http://astrobiology.com/2022/06/is-there-also-long-term-liquid-water-on-non-earth-like-planets.html
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Updates from Andrew B,
Monday 30th May 2022.
Very new interesting results from the CNSA / China National Space Agency / Chang'e 4, Yutu 2 rover on the floor of the Von Kármán Crater.
The LPR / Lunar Penetrating Radar has revealed distinct layering. First the dense lava bedrock, which formed from, volcanic basalt lava flooding of the original crater floor. Then there appears to be a layer of impact ejecta, most likely from other craters nearby such as Alder Crater and Finsen Crater which some rocks are identified within Von Kármán Crater, then on top, the regolith, pulverized lunar rock.
Added some general views during the mission as these never get boring, a view of Tai Mons, the central mountain about 45 KM away and a NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter view of Von Kármán Crater.
China National Space Agency's Chang'e 4 landing site.177.61° East. 45.47° South. Von Kármán Crater.
The 180 KM / 112 mile wide, 8,000 metre / 26,250 foot deep Von Kármán Crater. which in turn is within the 2,500 KM / 1,553 mile wide & 13,000 metre / 42,650 foot deep South Pole–Aitken Basin in the southern hemisphere on the Moon's farside, the side that never faces Earth.
Von Kármán Crater offers a real window into the geology of the Moon, being well inside the deepest part of the South Pole–Aitken Basin. Von Kármán Crater has lava flows, lava flooded floor which may well contain material from the moon's mantle erupted from under the crust. The finding and analysis of this is a key mission objective of the Yutu 2 rover carried to the surface by the Chang'e 4 lander.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
CNSA / China National Space Agency. Chang'e 4.
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/forth/aa42803-21.pdf
Mars Perseverance Rover .
Imaged: Wednesday 1st June 2022. Sol 455.
New images.
Navigation Cameras.
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives up Hawkesbill Gap onto the Neretva Vallis Delta, up from the lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced.
These images show cross bedding and the layering 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 northern hemisphere of Mars is now in late Autumn, temperatures are dropping and would have been cold even during high Summer at this location.
Taken between 15:07 HRS to 15:29 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Navigation Camera.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover.
Mars Perseverance Rover.
Imaged: Sunday 24th April 2022. Sol 418.
Only just returned today from Perseverance. Wonder if data is being emptied from Perseverance in preparation for the Neretva Vallis Delta campaign?
Ingenuity Experimental Helicopter flight #27.
Ingenuity experimental helicopter black & white images of the crash landed backshell and supersonic parachute on the floor of Jezero Crater, which were crucial in Mars Perseverance Rover's successful landing on Thursday 18th February 2021.
From what can be seen, damage to the backshell is consistent with a 126 KPH / 78 MPH uncontrolled crash landing on the surface on Mars.
These observations are timely as the martian dust will cover the site and be harder to make out.
The photographs will also assist in making newer landing hardware that will be useful for the Mars Sample Return mission and future uncrewed and even crewed missions.
The average atmospheric density on the mean surface level on Mars is about the same as Earth's atmosphere is at an altitude of about 35 KM / 22 miles above sea level or about four times the altitude of the summit of Mt Everest.
Taken between 11:39 & 11:40 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Ingenuity. Monochrome Navigation Camera.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover. Mars Ingenuity Helicopter.
Mars Perseverance Rover .
Imaged: Thursday 2nd June 2022. Sol 455.
New images.
Navigation Cameras, Hazard Cam, MastCam Z (Zoom) & SuperCam.
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives up Hawkesbill Gap onto the Neretva Vallis Delta, up from the lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced.
These images show cross bedding and the layering 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 northern hemisphere of Mars is now in late Autumn, temperatures are dropping and would have been cold even during high Summer at this location.
Taken between 11:55 HRS to 14:15 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Navigation Camera.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / LANL / CNES / IRAP. Mars Perseverance Rover.
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity.
Sol 3,491: Thursday 2nd June 2022.
Not only is Mars Perseverance Rover over in Jezero Crater about 3,730 KM / 2,318 miles away delivering historic, unique views of a very rare feature (ancient river delta front) on Mars, MSL Curiosity continues do do likewise whilst climbing a very large mountain on Mars within Gale Crater.
MastCam Left: 15 degree wide views, These are the colour images.
MastCam Right: 5 degree wide views. These are the monochromatic images.
These Mast Camera images appear monochromatic, but they contain colour information. These are Bayer images and I do not have the software to debayer them to show them in colour.
Some of the layering is thinner than playing cards or sheets of paper.
The layering and some of the patterns in some of the blocks are amazing. There had clearly been a great deal going on here during the very remote past some 3.5 billion years or more ago. These observations will be a nice contemporary set to those also being made by Mars Perseverance Rover in front of the Neretva Vallis Delta in Jezero Crater. Both data sets will certainly nail down the past habitability & hydrological cycle on very ancient Mars.
Another crop of beautiful and very scientifically important images from the veteran & venerable MSL Curiosity
HazCam / Hazard Cameras and both MastCam views of the layering and dust on the flanks of Aeolis Mons aka Mt Sharp.
MSL Curiosity was climbing the 5,500 metre / 18,044 foot tall Aeolis Mons aka Mt Sharp, in turn inside the 4,850 metre / 15,900 foot deep and 154 KM / 96 mile wide Gale Crater, within the Aeolis Quadrangle on Mars.
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity continues to operate flawlessly.
It has been just announced that MSL Curiosity's mission has been extended for at least a further three years from this October to climb right up to the upper part of Aeolis Mons. There is still plenty of power being produced by the MMRTG, the instruments are still in full working order, and damage to the wheels has not continued and is somewhat less serious than previously feared, it is more cosmetic rather than actually damaging to motability.
Gale Crater, Aeolis Quadrangle.
MastCams / Mast Cameras.
Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA / JPL / Malin Space Science Systems. Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity.
Mars Perseverance Rover .
Imaged: Sunday 12th June 2022. Sol 466.
New images.
MastCam Z (Zoom).
Remember what we are looking at here. A River Delta on Mars!!!!!
Mars Perseverance Rover is now taking short drives up Hawkesbill Gap onto the Neretva Vallis Delta, up from the lava floor of Jezero Crater and the Neretva Vallis Delta sedimentary formation in front of the delta. The Delta Front Campaign has now commenced.
These images show cross bedding and the layering 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 northern hemisphere of Mars is now in late Autumn, temperatures are dropping and would have been cold even during high Summer at this location.
MastCam Z Taken between 11:57 HRS to 12:47 HRS LMST.
Local Mars Standard Time in Jezero Crater.
Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle.
Navigation Camera.
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 258, 20 June 2022
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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.
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Contents
1. Message from the President
2. Message from the Immediate Past President
3. The 2022 Conference
4. Asteroid Named after Roy Kerr
5. Symposium on Occultations - June 25 & July 2
6. The Night Sky in July
7. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition
8. Central Star Party - January 12-17
9. C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)
10. Variable Star News
11. Gaia's Latest Data Release
12. Bright Southern Quasar Found
13. Liquid Mirror Telescope Opens in India
14. Fire Threatens Kitt Peak Observatory
15. Last Words from the Retiring Editor
16. Quote
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1. Message from the President
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This is my first opportunity to speak to you as the newly elected President of RASNZ.
Regarding our recent Annual Conference which took place at Whangarei, I would like to congratulate Dr Duncan Steel of Nelson who was the 2022 recipient of the Murray Geddes Prize. As noted in his citation, this was awarded in recognition of his important contribution to New Zealand astronomy through research, outreach and education. My congratulations also go to Alan Gilmore who was recognised with the President’s Award for his contributions to RASNZ made in numerous areas over many decades. A particular highlight of mine at the conference was the positive contribution of the SWAPA students in attendance, a number of whom made inspiring speeches, that most certainly give me hope for the future of astronomy in New Zealand. I should also like to thank the conference organising committee and hosts Northland Astronomical Society, as well as the conference speakers, helpers and sponsors for their individual contributions.
Every incoming President and their Council face new challenges, or rather… are presented with opportunities to improve things! Given the obvious benefits of growing our membership and strengthening engagement with all, we are now looking to utilise specific advances in ‘membership management’ software and social media connectivity to improve our communications with you, with our affiliated societies and with the public at large. We also plan to address specific ways in which we can support the associated groups and subgroups of RASNZ such as the Professional Astronomers Group, as well as Sections and Groups focused on scientific observational work and/or on areas of specialist interest. We
have also commenced efforts to build a stronger relationship with the Royal Society of New Zealand and our fellow associated Constituent Organisations whose activities complement that of ours. These will be priorities for us in the coming months and we will keep you updated on progress.
These are indeed positive times for astronomy in New Zealand. None of us can fail to see the significance of the Matariki public holiday in increasing the profile of astronomy and also the beneficial impact of our nation looking skyward at this time. In addition, our national ‘Dark Sky Movement’ is progressing apace with numerous locations country-wide preparing applications to become IDA certified international dark sky places. This in turn has seen the launch on the Dark Sky Network NZ website to share resources across all the regions and to assist in progressing the goal of dark sky nationhood for New Zealand.
Astronomy worldwide has had its share of positives too with ever more new discoveries and breakthroughs. Take for example the recent imaging of Sagittarius A* and of course the successful launch, deployment and imminent operation of JWST. Sadly, there are negatives too such the ever-increasing number of low earth orbit satellites, epitomised by the Starlink trains that are visible in our evening skies; concerns about the sustainability of the ISS given the situation with Russia; and the long-term sustainability of the JWST given the recent small meteor strike.
For us at RASNZ, we must continue to do ‘our bit’ going forward, seeking to accentuate the positives and eliminating, or at least minimising, the negatives both nationally and internationally in relation to all things astronomical. I am personally looking forward to working with our Society’s new Vice President, Anthony Gomez, our immediate Past President, Steve Butler and all our Council members. My aim is to continue the process of building a diverse and engaged astronomic community in New Zealand which will include both professional and amateur astronomers as well as those just starting out on their astronomy journeys. Essentially, this approach will be inclusive and will seek to embrace all the opportunities and addresses any challenges that lie ahead.
I will be in touch again soon.
Nalayini Davies, FRASNZ
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2. Message from the Immediate Past President
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The past couple of years as President have flown past with both enjoyment and hard work. It has been a real pleasure being involved with RASNZ leadership and especially with each of you who have contributed to the well-being of our Society. COVID has provided its share of uncertainty, but work has continued by many to bring the society together through our conferences, our newsletters and Southern Stars. I am pleased to see work continuing to update the society's processes in line with technology, legislation and needs. I am confident that Nalayini will bring her governance experience to the President's role and the Society will be in good hands.
Nga mihi nui
Steve Butler, FRASNZ
Immediate Past President - Royal Astronomical Society of NZ
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3. The 2022 Conference
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This year's Conference was a great success for Whangarei and the Northland Astronomical Society. The Conference venue of the Barge Events Centre provided plenty of room for attendees to mix, and to investigate poster displays and the range of telescopes and equipment exhibited by ASTRONZ. The Park-like setting was very restful and provided a pleasant environment during breaks in proceedings. The range of speakers and topics was wide and varied but all presented interesting talks. Again the successful SWAPA program revealed a very enthusiastic group of young students. This group had the chance to listen to the ASTRONZ-supported tertiary level astro-physics students providing a realistic insight into the possible pathways ahead.
The Northland Astronomical Society Clubrooms were adjacent to the conference venue and provided the scene for the Friday evening refreshments and conversation. These clubrooms with a planetarium included are a credit to the society.
The conference Dinner was held in Whangarei at the Hihiaua Cultural Centre. Awards were presented, including a Fellowship of the RASNZ for Nalayini Davies, the 2022 Murray Geddes Prize to Duncan Steel and the President's Award to Alan Gilmore.
Well done to Northland Astronomical Society for your first hosting of an annual RASNZ Conference and AGM. A special thanks to Peter Felhofer's team including Trent Roberts who looked after the projector and other IT matters, Naomi McFarlane who ran the reception desk, Owen Saunders, Bob Adam editor of the Northland Society's journal 'Octantis', Terry Hickey, and Jane and Brian Painter. Thank you.
Summaries of the Conference papers will appear in 'Southern Stars'.
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4. Asteroid Named after Roy Kerr
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Asteroid (5718) Roykerr has been named for Roy Kerr who in 1963 discovered the solution to Einstein's equation that describes a rotating black hole. The naming was announced in WGSBN Bulletin Volume 2, #8, at
https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/wgsbn-bulletins/
The naming citation reads: "Roy Patrick Kerr (b. 1934) is a New Zealand mathematician. He was awarded the 2016 Crafoord Prize, as well as many other awards, for his 1963 discovery of the solution of Einstein's equation which exactly describes a rotating black hole. This work revolutionized both physics and astronomy."
(5718) Roykerr is around 3 km in diameter. It is in the Main Belt of asteroids, averaging 2.21 AU, 332 million km, distance from the Sun. It does one orbit in 3.3 years. It was discovered in August 1983 by Mt John observers Pam Kilmartin and Alan Gilmore.
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
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5. Symposium on Occultations - June 25 & July 2
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The Trans-Tasman Occultation Alliance announces the 16th Trans-Tasman Symposium on Occultations (TTSO16) to be held online over two Saturday’s – 25th of June and 2nd of July 2022. The symposium will be presented in Zoom courtesy of the generosity of the Wellington Astronomical Society.
The format will be similar to TTSO15 last year with a short nominally two-hour session commencing at 6 UTC on a (local to Australia and New Zealand) Saturday afternoon. There is no cost for participants or presenters beyond those necessary to access the Zoom platform. At this stage, we have only planned for two sessions on an assumption about
the amount of content we will have to present. If additional presentations are volunteered, then additional days can be arranged and
will be announced.
The details of the Zoom meeting have not yet been setup but potential attendees are invited to register for the meeting by sending a short email to <director@occultations.org.nz> so we can send out meeting invitations in due course.
We are in the very early stages of preparing a program for TTSO16. In due course it will appear on the TTOA website – www.occultations.org.nz. Anyone interested in making a presentation to TTSO is encouraged to contact the organisers at director@occultations.org.nz. This could be on any topic relevant to occultations including a case study experience, reviews or demonstrations of equipment or software, results of observations etc. Presenters do not need to be from Oz or NZ… in fact we would really appreciate presentation by observers from outside the region. Presenters will need to be able to use the Zoom platform but we are happy to offer support and advice if you are not confident or could even make a presentation on your behalf.
-- Steve Kerr, Occultation Section Director.
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6. The Night Sky in July
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Sirius, the brightest star, sets in the southwest as twilight ends, twinkling like a diamond. Canopus, the second brightest star, is also in the southwest at dusk. It swings south later. South of the zenith are 'The Pointers', Beta and Alpha Centauri. They point to Crux the Southern Cross on their right. Midway down the north sky is orange Arcturus. It sets in the northwest around midnight, twinkling red and green as it goes. Vega rises in the northeast around 9 pm. It is on the opposite side of the sky to Canopus: low in the north when Canopus is low in the south.
Saturn is the only planet in the evening sky. It rises around 9 pm at the beginning of the month; around 7 at the end. It looks like a medium-bright cream-coloured star, all on its own. The near-full Moon will be above Saturn on the 15th and below it on the 16th.
In the last week of July Mercury begins its best evening sky appearance of the year. On the 25th it will be setting toward the northwest 40 minutes after the Sun. By the 31st it is setting 70 minutes after the Sun. It is the brightest 'star' in that part of the sky. The crescent Moon will be near Mercury on the 30th.
The Milky Way is brightest and broadest in the east toward Scorpius and Sagittarius. In a dark sky it can be traced up past the Pointers and Crux, fading toward Sirius.
Except for Saturn and Mercury, the bright planets are in the late night and dawn sky. Jupiter rises around 12:30 a.m. at the beginning of the month; around 10:30 at the end. It is the brightest 'star' in the late night sky till Venus appears near dawn. Jupiter shines with a steady golden light and hardly ever twinkles. The Moon will be above Jupiter on the night of July 18th-19th and below it on the next night.
Mars rises before 2 a.m. all month. It is about the same brightness as Saturn and orange-red in colour. It is slowly brightening as we catch up on it. he Moon will be close to Mars on the morning of the 22nd. At dawn Saturn, Jupiter and Mars make a line across the north sky.
Venus, the brilliant 'morning star', is rising later as it moves to the other side of the Sun. At the beginning of July it rises in the northeast around 5:30. At that date Mercury might be seen an hour later, rising below and right of Venus. Mercury quickly slips into the dawn twilight as it rounds the far side of the Sun to reappear in the evening sky. By the end of the month Venus is rising just 70 minutes before the Sun. The thin crescent Moon will be near Venus on the mornings of the 26th and 27th.
Evening sky star charts can be downloaded from rasnz.org.nz .
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7. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition
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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
The last date for submitting your entries is the 21st of September 2022.
This year, the entries are to be submitted via Google Form: https://forms.gle/GdmNFiUCfaNeLjFj6
See last month's Newsletter for details.
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8. Central Star Party - January 12-17
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The Central Star Party 2023 will run from Thursday January 12 to Tuesday 17th lunchtime. Pencil this date into your calendars, for it is the great
five nights of telescope viewing, talks and socialising in the sunny Hawkes Bay. More details to follow…
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9. C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)
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This comet may now be bright enough to see in small telescopes. Below are
daily positions at 9h UT (9 pm NZST) in June and July.
R.A.(2000)Dec. R.A.(2000)Dec.
d h m ° ' m1 d h m ° ' m1
20 17 48.0 +05 20 05 17 16.9 +00 18
21 17 46.0 +05 03 06 17 14.8 -00 05
22 17 44.0 +04 45 7.4 07 17 12.7 -00 28 7.1
23 17 42.0 +04 27 08 17 10.6 -00 52
24 17 39.9 +04 08 09 17 08.5 -01 16
25 17 37.8 +03 49 10 17 06.5 -01 40
26 17 35.8 +03 30 11 17 04.4 -02 04
27 17 33.7 +03 10 7.3 12 17 02.4 -02 28 7.1
28 17 31.6 +02 50 13 17 00.4 -02 53
29 17 29.5 +02 29 14 16 58.4 -03 18
30 17 27.4 +02 08 15 16 56.4 -03 43
01 17 25.3 +01 47 16 16 54.7 -04 08
02 17 23.2 +01 25 7.2 17 16 52.5 -04 33 7.0
03 17 21.1 +01 03 18 16 50.6 -04 58
04 17 19.0 +00 41 19 16 48.7 -05 23
m1 is the total magnitude, the brightness of a star defocused to the size of the comet. It is a lot fainter than a focused star of the given magnitude.
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10. Variable Star News
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Nova in Musca - N Muscae 2022
Information on this Nova was given in AAVSO (American Association Variable Star Observers) Alert Notice 781 (14 June 2022).
This Nova was discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) (reported by K.Z. Stanek, for the ASAS-SN team). The discovery magnitude was 9.5 g Sloan and discovery date: 2022 Jun 10.13 UT.
The spectroscopic observation indicating that the object was a nova was taken by New Zealander Hamish Barker of Nelson on 2022 June 11.4230 UT. Barker's spectrum was taken with a 200-mm Newtonian and L200 Littrow spectrograph with 180lpmm grating.
Observations of all types (visual, CCD, DSLR, PEP, spectroscopy) and multiple bands, as instrumentation permits, are called for. Given that the nova is in decline, observations at a minimum of one per night are recommended by Dr Frederick Walter of Stony Brook University.
Refer to the Alert Notice for further advice on observing and for updates.
There is also information in Electronic Telegram No. 5135, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams dated 16 June 2022.
Recurrent Nova U Scorpii
This star, which has intermittent outbursts, has undergone a surprise eruption. This was advised by AAVSO on 7th June 2022. It needs intensive monitoring until at least the end of June and longer if aperture allows.
At the outburst in 2010, intensive monitoring revealed two phenomena not previously detected. The first was flares of approximately 0.5 magnitude with a duration hours-long. These were observed in the interval of 6 to 14 days after the peak. These flares are mysterious, with no known mechanism to explain them.
The second phenomenon was an oscillating pattern in the last stages of the observed declining light curve. These fluctuations, which had also not been previously observed, had amplitudes typically of a half-magnitude and durations of ~4 hours. These were seen only late in the tail of the eruption.
U Sco is an eclipsing binary, consisting of a white dwarf with a subgiant companion twice the radius of our sun. It is a system which has attracted attention because the white dwarf has one of the highest accretion rates out of all currently known cataclysmic variables. It will be interesting to see the collation of this year’s observations. The results may give new insights into the structure of this intriguing binary star system.
For detailed information on the U Sco project go to AAVSO Alert Notice 779.
-- Alan Baldwin.
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11. Gaia's Latest Data Release
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The galaxy-mapping mission Gaia has detected thousands of stellar earthquakes that might provide new insights into the inner workings of stars. The discovery is rather surprising as the spacecraft was not designed to do such work, Conny Aerts, an astronomer at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, said in a European Space Agency (ESA) press conference on Monday, June 13. "These vibrations make the stellar gas move up and down," Aerts said. "And it changes the brightness of the star as a function of time. So it makes the stars blink in the sky."
Gaia, launched in 2013, measures the exact positions in the sky, distances from Earth, speeds and trajectories of 2 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The mission is best known for creating the most detailed map of our galaxy. The latest data release, however, adds information about brightness levels, masses and temperatures of half a billion stars and detailed chemical compositions of several million of these. It is from these additional data that astronomers can glean an increasingly colourful picture of the galaxy's life and the behaviour of the stars in it.
The stellar earthquakes were discovered in a subset of observations focusing on the distribution of variable stars in the Milky Way galaxy, that is stars whose brightness changes over time. "Blinking stars do offer astronomers a very powerful tool to study their internal physics and chemistry," said Aerts. "It's like earthquakes on Earth. Seismologists love earthquakes if they're not too violent, because these allow us to understand what is happening inside our planet. And astroseismologists do the same, but for stars."
The June 13 Gaia data release also contains the largest ever compiled data set of binary star systems in our galaxy, that is pairs of stars (or stars and black holes) that orbit each other. "This is something that the astronomical community is very excited about because binary stars, for example, are the only way in which you can actually measure the mass of stars directly," said Anthony Brown, an astronomer at the University of Leiden and the chair of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) which prepared the data for the public release. "We can also detect some really interesting things like stars that have neutron stars or black holes as companions." This new data set contains 40 times more binary star systems than have been previously known and studied, Antonella Vallenari, an astronomer at the Padova Observatory and DPAC deputy chair, said in the news conference.
Brown described the new data release as "a supermarket of astronomical data" that the world's astronomers will be regularly visiting over the coming years and decades. Another addition to the data supermarket's range are measurements of radial velocities, the speeds at which stars move away or towards Gaia, of more than 30 million stars. Since stellar motions follow the rules of physics, astronomers can model their trajectories into the past and future, reconstructing the Milky Way's evolution over eons and in three dimensions.
"We ingested 940 billion observations of 2 billion [light] sources to produce the data release," said Brown. "What we are releasing today consists of 10 terabytes of compressed data, which is the richest set of astronomical data ever published."
But Gaia doesn't see only the stars in the Milky Way. It also observes objects in our solar system. The new release will therefore make a huge contribution to the research of asteroids as it contains data on chemical compositions of 60,000 solar system space rocks. Previously, only 4,500 asteroids had their chemical compositions known, an increase by a factor 13. The data set also contains precise information about the orbits of these asteroids, allowing astronomers to spot potential dangers for Earth, but also to analyse asteroid families based on their chemical compositions and track them to their origins.
DPAC is already hard at work on the next batch of Gaia data, which is expected to contain a massive catalogue of newly discovered exoplanets. The mission will continue scanning the sky until 2025 when it runs out of fuel.
-- See Tereza Pultarova's original article with graphics at https://www.space.com/gaia-new-data-reveal-starquakes
See also https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01660-9
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12. Bright Southern Quasar Found
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The fastest-growing black hole ever seen is swallowing the mass equivalent of an entire Earth every second. It has a mass 3 billion times that of the sun, and its rapid consumption is causing the behemoth to grow rapidly, an international research team found. The black hole gorges via a process called accretion, in which it siphons matter from a thin disk of gas and dust rotating around the massive object.
Other black holes of a similar size stopped growing billions of years ago, but this newly discovered black hole is still getting larger. It's
now 500 times bigger than Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. It would fit the whole solar system behind its event horizon, the boundary beyond which nothing can escape.
Based on this information, the researchers determined that the newfound black hole is the most rapidly growing black hole found to exist in the past 9 billion years.
"Now, we want to know why this one is different — did something catastrophic happen?" lead researcher Christopher Onken, a researcher at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU), said in a statement. "Perhaps two big galaxies crashed into each other, funnelling a whole lot of material onto the black hole to feed it."
This rapid accretion of matter to the surface of the black hole has also resulted in a quasar blasting out enough energy to make it 7,000 times brighter than the light from every star in the Milky Way. In fact, this quasar, designated SMSS J114447.77-430859.3, is also the most luminous of these events for around the past two-thirds of the universe's 13.8 billion-year existence.
The quasar has a brightness of magnitude 14.5 when viewed from Earth, meaning it is only slightly dimmer than Pluto and bright enough to potentially be spotted by skywatchers with good telescopes in a very dark area. [Guide 9 chart software shows a 14th magnitude star at the (2000) coordinates RA 11 44 47.77 Dec. -43 08 59.3.]
The discovery of the feeding black hole was made as part of the SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey, conducted by the 1.3-metre telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Despite the quasar's incredible brightness, Onken and his team still described the finding as a "very large, unexpected needle in the haystack. Astronomers have been hunting for objects like this for more than 50 years," Onken said. "They have found thousands of fainter ones, but this astonishingly bright one had slipped through unnoticed."
Christian Wolf, an associate professor at ANU and a member of the research team, said that he thinks astronomers are unlikely to find another black hole growing at this rate or powering a quasar of this magnitude or greater. "We have essentially run out of sky where objects like this could be hiding," Wolf said. "We are fairly confident this record will not be broken."
A paper detailing the discovery has been submitted to the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia but has not yet been peer reviewed. A preprint version is available via the arXiv database.
See Robert Lea's article at https://www.space.com/fastest-growing-black-hole-powering-quasar
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13. Liquid Mirror Telescope Opens in India
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A unique telescope that focuses light with a slowly spinning bowl of liquid mercury instead of a solid mirror has opened its eye to the skies above India. Such telescopes have been built before, but the 4-meter-wide International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is the first large one to be
purpose-built for astronomy, at the kind of high-altitude site observers prize — the 2450-meter Devasthal Observatory in the Himalayas.
Although astronomers must satisfy themselves with only looking straight up, the $2 million instrument, built by a consortium from Belgium, Canada, and India, is much cheaper than telescopes with glass mirrors. A stone’s throw from ILMT is the 3.6-meter, steerable Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) — built by the same Belgian company at the same time — but for $18 million. “Simple things are often the best,” says Project Director Jean Surdej of the University of Liège. Some astronomers say liquid mirrors are the perfect technology for a giant telescope on the Moon that could see back to the time of the universe’s very first stars.
When a bowl of reflective liquid mercury is rotated, the combination of gravity and centrifugal force pushes the liquid into a perfect parabolic shape, exactly like a conventional telescope mirror — but without the expense of casting a glass mirror blank, grinding its surface into a parabola, and coating it with reflective aluminium.
ILMT was originally dreamt up in the late 1990s. The dish-shaped vessel that holds the mercury was delivered to India in 2012, but construction of the telescope enclosure was delayed. Then researchers found they didn’t have enough mercury. As they waited for more, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, making travel to India impossible. Finally, in April, the team set 50 litres of mercury spinning, creating a parabolic layer 3.5 millimetres thick. After such a long gestation, “we’re all very happy,” says team member Paul Hickson of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Staring straight up, the rotating mirror will see a swath of sky almost as wide as the full Moon while Earth’s rotation scans it across the heavens from dusk to dawn. “You just turn it on and let it go,” Hickson says. Objects appear as long streaks in the image; the separate pixels can be added together afterward to create a single long exposure. Because the telescope sees roughly the same strip of sky on successive nights, exposures from many nights can be added together to get extremely sensitive images of faint objects.
Alternatively, one night’s image can be subtracted from the next’s to see what has changed, revealing transient objects such as supernovae and quasars, the bright hearts of distant galaxies that wax and wane as supermassive black holes consume matter. Surdej wants to hunt for gravitational lenses, in which the gravity of a galaxy or galaxy cluster bends the light of a more distant object like a giant magnifying glass. ILMT’s sensitive measurement of the object’s brightness reveals the mass of the lens galaxies and can help estimate the expansion rate of the universe. A study suggested as many as 50 lenses might be visible in ILMT’s strip of sky.
Conventional survey telescopes, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility in California and the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, cover much more of the sky. But they are unlikely to return to the same patch every single night to search for changes. “We’re forced to have a niche,” Hickson says. ILMT has the added strength of sitting next to DOT, which is equipped with instruments that can rapidly scrutinize any fleeting objects discovered by its next-door neighbour. This tag-team approach “is more comprehensive, and scientifically more rich,” says Dipankar
Banerjee, director of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, which runs the Devasthal Observatory.
If ILMT is a success, Surdej says the technology could be scaled up to build much larger liquid mirrors on the Moon, an attractive location for future giant telescopes because it is less seismically active than Earth and has no atmosphere. On Earth, the Coriolis effect, from the planet’s rotation, would warp the motion of the mercury in mirrors larger than 8 meters. But the Moon rotates more slowly, allowing much larger liquid mirrors — although not of mercury. It is too heavy to transport to the Moon and would freeze at night and evaporate during the day. But more than a decade ago, liquid mirror pioneer Ermanno Borra of Laval University showed that “ionic liquids,” lightweight molten salts with low freezing points, would survive lunar conditions and could be made reflective with a thin coating of silver.
In the 2000s, both NASA and the Canadian Space Agency commissioned studies of lunar liquid mirror telescopes but didn’t go any further. Astronomers hope the current interest in Moon exploration and the cheap launches offered by private space companies such as SpaceX will spur a revival. In 2020, a team at the University of Texas, Austin, proposed the Ultimately Large Telescope, a 100-meter liquid mirror that would stare constantly at the same patch of sky for years on end from one of the Moon’s poles. Such a giant could gather the faint trickle of photons from the very first stars that lit up the universe, before galaxies even existed. Veteran mirror-maker Roger Angel of the University of Arizona says there is “a unique niche for a big [liquid] mirror that goes beyond what others can do.”
Daniel Clery's article with picture at
https://www.science.org/content/article/liquid-mirror-telescope-opens-india
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14. Fire Threatens Kitt Peak Observatory
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The Contreras Fire, which started June 11 about 13 km southeast of Kitt Peak National Observatory, near Tucson, Arizona, reached several astronomical facilities early Friday morning (Arizona time), according to a statement from the University of Arizona. According to Inciweb, a site that tracks wildfire activity, strong gusty winds developed overnight on Thursday, unexpectedly pushing the fire to the north and causing it to impact Kitt Peak around 2 a.m. on Friday. As of Saturday, the fire had burned 7000 hectares.
According to the University, the fire's north end reached the southwest ridge, where the 2.4-meter Hiltner telescope, the McGraw-Hill 1.3-meter telescope, the Very Long Baseline Array Dish and the University of Arizona's 1.8-meter Spacewatch Telescope are located.
The fire is believed to have been caused by a lightning strike. Since then aviation resources and firefighting efforts have been limited. Smoke in the area, extremely dry fuels, high winds, and the steep and rugged terrain make it difficult to access, according to Inciweb. Over 300 personnel are currently assigned to the fire.
According to the University, damages to structures were not assessed on Friday because of the high fire activity in the area. Assessment of the
Observatory was expected to start on Saturday if conditions allow for safe entry. "Initial assessment indicates that all the domes and other scientific facilities have been protected from the worst part of the fire to date," the update said. Four non-scientific buildings on the west side of the Observatory property were lost in the fire.
Bureau of Land Management in Arizona said firefighting conditions were expected to be favourable on Saturday as the fire was expected to reach more advantageous terrain and better chances of showers and thunderstorms were forecasted, with the potential for wetting rains.
-- Abridged from a report by Laura Daniella Sepulveda at azcentral.com . See the original report at https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2022/06/18/contreras-fire-burns-acres-reaches-national-observatory/7670161001/
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15. Last Words from the Retiring Editor
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I have enjoyed compiling this Newsletter for the past 20 years but it is long past the time when the job should be handed to someone with new ideas. When I took over from Pauline Loader in 2002 many of our readers were on slow internet connections - remember dial-up modems? - and wanted a compact Newsletter. I continued to format it that way with links to longer articles and images though the Internet has since changed out of sight for most of us.
My thanks to all the supporters of the Newsletter. Pauline and Brian Loader prepared Newsletters when I was away. Brian also did monthly Solar System notes till recently. Karen Pollard passed on press releases forwarded by the American Astronomical Society till they stopped that service, but still sends on releases from other sources. Alan Baldwin has contributed variable star notes regularly. Most RASNZ Presidents have been regular contributors.
Steve Butler, the outgoing President, has taken on the Newsletter job while we move to the new membership system. However, the Society is still looking for a new editor for the longer term. I will continue to offer items of general interest as astronomy continues its golden age of discovery.
Ka kite ano.
Alan Gilmore FRASNZ
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16. Quote
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"There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together." -- Josh Billings.
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December Celestial Calendar by Dave Mitsky
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Minor Planet Occultation Updates:
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