On April 4, 2009 the IYA Live Telescope was busy broadcasting from the Southern Galactic Telescope Hosting facility and fulfilling your “100 Hours of Astronomy” requests. Are you ready to take a look at the video that came from the adventure and to add it to our library? Then come along as we view Jon Hanford’s suggestion of IC 2602: “The Southern Plieades”…
The following factual information is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:
IC 2602 – “The Southern Pleiades”: Constellation – CARINA
IC 2602 (also known as the Theta Carinae Cluster or Southern Pleiades) is an open cluster in the constellation Carina. It was discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751 from South Africa. The cluster is at a distance of about 479 light-years away from Earth and can be seen with the naked eye.
The Southern Pleiades (IC 2602) has an overall apparent magnitude of 1.9, which is 70% fainter than the Taurean Pleiades, and contains about 60 stars. Theta Carinae, the brightest star within the open cluster, is a third-magnitude star with an apparent magnitude of +2.74. All the other stars within the cluster are of the fifth magnitude and fainter. Like its northern counterpart in Taurus, the Southern Pleiades spans a sizeable area of sky, approximately 50 arcminutes, so it is best viewed with large binoculars or telescope with a wide-angle eyepiece. The cluster is thought to have the same age as the open cluster IC 2391, which has a lithium depletion boundary age of 50 million years old.
We would very much like to thank Jon Hanford for his request of IC 2602 and we hope you like the view! As always, you can visit the remote telescope by clicking on the IYA “LIVE Remote Cam” Logo to your right. We’ll be broadcasting whenever skies are clear and dark in Central Victoria! Enjoy…
Over the last few days the IYA Live Telescope broadcasting on “Galactic TV” has been busy fillling your requests and we’re ready to bring your first photos up on-line for you. We hope you had a chance to follow your object for several hours in the remote telescope! For Universe Today readers Jon Hanford, Ana Tomsa and Denny and Robby Bauer? Come on inside… Your requests have been fulfilled and your images are waiting!
IC 2602 or Southern Pleiades for Jon Hanford
NGC 2516 for Ana Tomsa
NGC 4833 for Denny and Robby Bauer
We hope you enjoy your image requests and they will become a part of the “IYA Live Telescope Library” link in the categories section to your right should you wish to recover them again in the future. Thank you so much for taking the time to become a part of our “100 Hours of Astronomy” celebration!!
Right now a live webcast, “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” is taking place. This is a live 24-hour webcast, taking place today (Friday) that started with a broadcast from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii at 9 am GMT, (night time in Hawaii), moving around the globe for whistle-stop tours of the international observatories while the large telescopes are exploring night skies, observing distant galaxies, searching for extrasolar planets around other stars, or studying our own solar system. Watch below, or here’s the link for watching on UStream. They are experiencing some technical difficulties, but on the whole, this is a great chance to see observatories around the world, and see their observations, as well. Enjoy! Free video streaming by Ustream
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Reminiscent of a telethon or a community fundraiser, Galaxy Zoo has challenged the public to complete one million classification clicks of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey during the 100 Hours of Astronomy. The clock started ticking at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday, April 1st, with the challenge ending at 16:00 GMT on Sunday April 5th. The Galaxy Zoo site even includes a thermometer-like gadget called the Zoonometer to provide up-to-the minute ticks on the number of clicks. If you have just returned from a cave on Mars and haven’t heard of Galaxy Zoo, or if you don’t know what the 100 Hours of Astronomy is about, keep reading. Otherwise, head on over to Galaxy Zoo and start clicking!
Galaxy Zoo was launched in July 2007, with a data set of a million galaxies, imaged with a robotic telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In order to understand how these galaxies formed, the idea was to get the public to help classify them according to their shapes. The human brain can do this task better than even the fastest computer. With so many galaxies, the team thought that it might take at least two years for visitors to the site to work through them all. Within 24 hours of launch, the site was receiving 70,000 classifications an hour, and more than 50 million classifications were received by the project during its first year, from almost 150,000 people. With the public’s help the Zoo team has published six papers from the findings, and have received viewing time with other, bigger telescopes to clarify the discoveries.
Zoo 2 launched a few months ago, and focuses on the nearest, brightest and most beautiful galaxies, and asks users to make more detailed classifications.
100 Hours of Astronomy is an event of the International Year of Astronomy that wants to get as many people as possible to look through a telescope – just as Galileo did 400 years ago. This four-day event encompasses astronomy clubs, groups, individuals, observatories, science centers and more around the world as they reach out to the public to achieve this common goal. There’s lots of great events, so check out Tammy’s article to find out more, or check out the 100 Hours of Astronomy website – but hurry – you’ve only got until Sunday April 5th to participate!
Attention Universe Today Readers! “100 Hours of Astronomy” is about to begin and we’ve got a very special gift just for you. How would you like to decide where to aim our IYA remote telescope? While Saturday, April 3, celebrates the global Star Party where many telescopes (both remote and live) will be open to the public, we couldn’t help but wonder about those who might not be able to make it out, didn’t live near an event – or had bad weather. So, we decided to do something about it. Rather than only give you the 100 hours of telescope time over the next few days, we’re going to give you 100 hours of IYA remote telescope targeting choices and only start the clock ticking when the sky is clear and the scope is running! Are you ready to choose your coordinates and save your astrophoto to show to the world? Then grab your star charts and step inside for some instructions…
Beginning at 9:00 UT on April 2, 2009 the IYA “Galactic TV” Remote Telescope located in the southern hemisphere will be yours when it comes to choice of objects for viewing. If you’ve ever wondered what a particular NGC looks like – then now is your chance to find out! However, you’ll need to remember that this is a “real” telescope with real limitations working from a real sky… and that means doing a little astronomical homework on your part. Are you ready to begin? Good!!
For those of us familiar with northern hemisphere skies, this means totally reversing the way we think. The ecliptic plane will now be to the north, positioned approximately 60 degrees above the horizon from our telescope’s point of view and the southern pole will be positioned roughly 40 degrees above the horizon. This means that constellations familiar to us – like Orion – will begin past the meridian to the high west at nightfall. Good constellations to choose objects from (for example) would be Carina, Vela, Crux, Centaurus, Circinus, Pavo, Indus, Tucana, Hydra, Lupus, Pices Austrinus and Scorpius. But, don’t forget that we share common sky, too! Anything rising to the east can also be seen.
The next step in choosing a target is what our telescope is capable of. When it comes to field of view, you’re in luck at a full degree of “eyepiece space”. This means that anything that measures 60 arc minutes or less in size will fit inside the camera screen with ease. You will need to choose your object by magnitude as well. During perfect dark sky conditions our 80mm telescope can achieve around magnitude 8 deep sky (such as galaxies and nebulae), but remember… there will be Moon present for at least part of the evening. This will limit what the telescope can “see” at a particular time. While the Moon is out, choose bright open star clusters and save galaxies or nebula for the hours before dawn. Also remember our telescope is very small, so it has a limited resolution factor – it won’t be able to split very close double stars.
Now… Are you ready for the fun part?! All you have to do is post your object request here. You don’t need to be an astronomer, know how to operate a telescope or how to control astrophotography equipment to enjoy our IYA remote scope! Just post the common name (like Eta Carinae), OR catalog number (such as NGC 2516, Messier, IC or others) of your request, OR type in the coordinates (RA and Dec), add your name and location, and the Southern Galactic Telescope Hosting Facility will take care of the rest. When your object is targeted, here is what your screen will look like:
So what happens if you’re not home or at your computer when your request appears? Not to worry. We thought of that, too. Southern Galactic has kindly agreed to take a photo snap of your screen and save it for you! Because this wonderful project is meant to inspire everyone around the world to use a telescope, we’ll save these images and post the collection every few days for the duration of the 100 hours of the IYA remote telescope event and folks everywhere will have an opportunity to enjoy the target you have chosen and to see who selected it.
We’ll honor as many requests as possible each night – allowing ample viewing time for each object, take your snapshot for the library and select one as the video of the day. Some may appear before others depending on the position or magnitude demands, but we’ll do our very best to give you all you ask for. So what are you waiting for? Get your star charts out and start posting your requests here right now!
Have you heard the word? In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, there’s a worldwide event happening that will begin on April 2 and last through April 5, 2009. Public outreach activities, live science centers, research observatory webcasts and sidewalk astronomy events are only a small part of what you’ll discover when the “100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project” gets underway. Want to find out more about what’s happening? Then step inside…
What’s it all about? One of the goals of “100 Hours of Astronomy” is to get as many people as possible to look through a telescope – just as Galileo did 400 years ago. This four-day event will encompass astronomy clubs, groups, individuals, observatories, science centers and more around the world as they reach out to the public to achieve this common goal. During the opening ceremonies on April 2, Franklin Institute in Philadelphia will feature one of Galileo’s telescopes and the Director of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy, (home of the two remaining Galileo telescopes) will give a talk on the importance of Galileo’s telescopes and his discoveries. Also on April 2, select science centers will begin a live webcast featuring discussions on current topics in astronomy and remote telescope viewing. On April 3 another 24-hour webcast will begin when astronomers at professional research observatories around the world will take viewers inside their telescope domes and control rooms via camera.
One of the features of “100 Hours of Astronomy” will be a 24-hour Global Star Party on April 5, when telescopes – both solar and celestial) will be open for public viewing by astronomy clubs and observing groups around the world at no charge. And, beginning a dawn on April 5, we’ll celebrate “Sun Day” with more solar viewing! Just like our own IYA Live Telescope many observatories around the world are also offering access to their telescopes as well, where you can sign up for an opportunity to control a telescope in real time and take pictures, or have someone assist you.
Where do you find a program near you? One of the best places to start is at the official website and the “100 Hours of Astronomy – Find An Event” page. Check your local newspapers, astronomy websites, radio broadcasts and libraries. If you can’t find anything nearby – then use what you have right in front of you! Thanks to Internet Magic “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” will begin at 9:00 UT on April 3 and last until 9:00 UT on April 4. Don’t miss you chance to take off to some of the most advanced ground- and space-based observatories around the world and off the planet!
One of the highlights of this project will be an opportunity to peek into ESA’s XMM-Newton and Integral satellite control rooms in Spain. Viewers will get an insight into two space observatories, XMM-Newton and Integral, an opportunity to meet astronomers working on these missions, a sneak preview at a pretty new XMM-Newton image of Messier 82, and a chance to participate in a student competition using data from the Integral satellite. This live 24-hour video webcast is organized by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) and was initiated by the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Don’t miss this spectacular opportunity!
How can you participate? If you, or your astronomy group haven’t registered a program yet – do it! Even just a few hours of setting up a telescope is a great way to participate in this monumental global event celebrating the International Year of Astronomy. Drop a line to your local newspaper or phone your local radio station and ask them to promote your project. Even if you just set your telescope up on the sidewalk for a few hours and treat your neighbors to a view of the Moon or Saturn, you’ll be honoring Galileo and all that he stands for.
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and list your “100 Hours of Astronomy” event here, too!
Wishing you clear skies….
The “100 Hours of Astronomy” Banner is courtesy of 100 Hours of Astronomy and the “80 Telescopes Logo” is courtesy of ESA IYA 2009. We thank you!
Galileo’s first telescope was basically a tube containing two lenses, and was a three-power instrument. His next effort magnified objects approximately nine times. Now, you can have a Galileo-like experience, and view the things he saw looking through the “Galileoscope.” But the view will be much better. The Galileoscope, now on sale for the great price of $15 each USD (or less — see below), is a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy, aiming to promote astronomical observing. These scopes are high quality, easy-to-assemble and easy-to-use. Order one or a ton at the Galileoscope website.
Galileoscopes are available for US $15 per kit. Discounts are available for group purchases of 100 or more, bringing the price down to US$12.50 each, reducing costs for schools, colleges, astronomical societies, or even parties of interested individuals.
Remember the first time you looked through a telescope? Consider sharing that experience by donating Galileoscopes to less-advantaged schools or organizations. Donating increases the project’s global impact and gives people who might otherwise never have the opportunity to look through a telescope the chance to join millions of skywatchers worldwide in a shared experience of astronomical discovery. Find out more about donating at the Galileoscope website.
The Galileoscope is a professionally endorsed scientific instrument, developed by astronomers, optical engineers and science educators to make the wonders of the night sky more accessible to everyone. Orders can now be placed through www.galileoscope.org for delivery beginning in late April.
The Galileoscope is a high quality 50-mm f/10 telescope, with a glass doublet achromatic objective. A 0-mm Plossl-like eyepiece with twin plastic doublet achromatic lens gives a magnification of 25x across a 1.5-degree field, and a 2x Barlow lens (also a plastic doublet achromat) gives a magnification of 50x. The Barlow lens can also be used as a Galilean eyepiece to give a magnification of 17x and a very narrow field of view to simulate the “Galileo experience”. The standard 1.25-inch focuser accepts commercial accessories.
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Every day, I love bopping and jiving to the theme song for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. The song was written and recorded by George Hrab of Geologic Records. George also wrote a full-length version of the theme song, “Far,” as opposed to the 30-second condensed version we use for the daily podcast. Now, George has completely outdone himself by creating a music video, which is loads of fun to watch!
By the way, if you’re not listening the the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast every day, you are missing out on a very entertaining and informational podcast, created by people from all around the world! It’s an official International Year of Astronomy event, and its free, too, so what more could you ask for?
Thanks to George Hrab for sharing his talents with the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast! If you want to know the words to the song “Far,” they are posted below.
“Far”
by George Hrab
You ponder the universe and a look comes ‘cross your face
You try to fathom distances of all the stuff in space
But you can’t wrap the bacon of your mind around the fig
Of all the terms required to describe how big is big
So let me get specific, and use words scientific
Go whip out your thesaurus, for this exacting chorus
This stuff is far, [it’s really far] this stuff is far far far away
We’re talkin’ far, [like über far] you can’t get there by car in a day
It’s super duper crazy far but not just pulsars quasars and stars
I mean it’s far, far, far, if there’s some doubt listen to us shout [THIS STUFF IS FAR]
I sense all the explosions going off inside your brain
As your mind gets blown by what I just did explain
Sorry if my words might drive you all insane
But that’s what happens when precision is your middle name
So with an exacting factor, like some sextant or protractor
Using details quite semantic, I’ll show how huge is this gigantic
CHORUS
…far too big to explain in any concise ways,
it might just have to take 365 days
I hope that I have offered up some technical assistance
And haven’t caused your ticker too much ventrical resistance
But you have got to listen and trust my insistence
That I am very accurately describing the distance
Back in September of last year, UT reported on one of our intrepid readers who was about to embark on a most ambitious journey to promote the International Year of Astronomy in “Canoe Africa“. For those of you who follow BBC SW Spotlight or Radio Cornwall, you might already know about Brian Sheen’s African astronomy education adventures – but he’s taken this special opportunity to share his story with Universe Today. Grab a paddle and let’s ride…
Brian Sheen“The expedition to the River Niger was part of Roseland Observatory’s contribution to IYA. The plan was to canoe the river taking the story of astronomy to some of the remotest countries in Africa with me. We flew into Sierra Leone (10 degrees north and 10 degrees west) in the beginning of November as soon as possible. We drew breath when we looked into the night sky. We knew, of course, that the lack of light pollution would give us a great view denied to us in Europe and also much of America. Also many of the constellations familiar us in the north would be below the horizon – Polaris was lost in the murk and Ursa Major invisible. However, the compensation was many more constellations in the south never seen at home in Cornwall, UK.
Lecturing opportunities at the local colleges and universities were organised by our hosts the Scouts of Sierra Leone. We were able to use the solar scope PST to good effect and the meteorite samples – thanks Tammy – were studied with enthusiasm. During the evening sessions the Sky Scout was extremely useful giving those who had looked up and wondered the answer to at least some of their questions. Away from the kit I was asked some very searching questions – many philosophical. One of the centres we worked with was developing a UV water treatment that was actually free to use. Well or river water was placed in plastic soft drink bottles (label removed) and then laid down in the Sun and let the UV emissions do the rest. The organisers we interested to learn that at sunspot minimum solar UV levels were about 50% of a few years before.
After our shakedown period we crossed the border into Guinea and on to the headwaters of the Niger at Faranah. We were hosted by the local Scouts, who had arranged for a boat builder to build a plank canoe (a modern version of the dugout) to our specification. This is a type of canoe used throughout Guinea by local fishermen. The canoe was built in only four days and we were off into the remotest part of the journey an almost uninhabited region which would take 10 days to paddle with no opportunity to buy food or other supplies. Some nights camping out we could see meteors reasonably often – too many to be sporadics and wrong time for a major shower. Checking with David Levy’s book “Guide to Observing Meteor Showers” it seems likely that I was seeing the minor shower – Nu Orionids peaking Nov 28th.
The biggest threat, apart from the mosquitoes, came from the big beast of the jungle the hippo. We saw one in the river and tiptoed past him and camped a few miles down stream. It was one those places where it was possible to sleep with out a mosquito net or tent. Looking south we were able to see Orion rise on his back stand up and lie down in the west. As it was dark I had a go at counting the stars inside the square of Orion I reached 30 excluding the Belt and Sword. This gives visible stars down to magnitude 6. Beats counting sheep! Then we heard the unmistakeable sound of a hippo grunting in the river just 20 metres away! We were possibly camping on his get out point! A couple more logs on the fire kept him at bay and eventually he moved back up stream.
In the morning we set off again and the river was pretty easy to paddle until the canoe came to an abrupt halt. Geoff at the stern of the craft flew into the air Mike at the bow shouted hippo and we all ended up in the river. A 3 ton Bull Hippo had hit us like a submarine launched missile. As we are all lifeguards we swam the canoe to side and emptied out. It was too badly damaged to go on so we were forced to walk out of the jungle through razor edged elephant grass considered impenetrable by many. After five days we reached a small village and safety. At many times I felt that we were caught in a 19th century “ripping yarn for boys”. The jungle was very uneven with deep run off channels hidden by the grass. We all fell more than once, however we never even opened a Band Aid in the whole time we were in West Africa.
African_Venus_Occultation:_Paul_Hughes
We actually missed one event I had been looking forward to, the occultation of Venus by the Moon, however we felt that saving our lives was even more important! Meanwhile back at the Observatory Paul Hughes took an excellent set of images. The Americans will have to wait until 22nd April for their opportunity to witness this for themselves. (While looking into Elephant Grass I found that it could be used as a bio-fuel so perhaps it has uses after all.) The movements of Jupiter, Venus and the Moon provided good teaching material. As the days went by Jupiter moved further and further towards the west at a given time. It was also moving from west to east against the background stars. Venus on the other hand was climbing in the night sky. Eventually it was over taken by the Moon, the occultation, proving that the Moon too moves from west to east but at a faster rate than the planets. Perhaps the most spectacular view was of the Orion complex containing Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldabran, Capella, Castor, Pollux, Procyon, Sirius, Canopus and Achernar. Most we can see from the UK but in Africa these stars were much higher and appear much brighter in dark skies.
Although the European population in Sierra Leone and Guinea is tiny we were given a tremendous welcome from the local people and Scouts everywhere we went. There is a real hunger for knowledge, at the moment they “look up perfect silence at the stars” to quote Walt Whitman and wonder. Astronomers with a good knowledge of Africa could find an open-ended opportunity. In the future, we have a promise made to Bamako University in Mali to meet, and the river between there and Timbuktu runs through the very interesting inland delta also the Dogon people claim special insights into astronomy. Would I go back to the incident site? A filmed reconstruction would be good – any offers? For more information and images check out Roseland Observatory and follow the links.” — Reporting for Universe Today, Brian Sheen, Roseland Observatory, RAS Education Focus Group.
Brian is back home safe again in Cornwall, perhaps no worse for the wear, but definately more full of IYA 2009 adventure and spirit than most of us will ever hope to achieve this year. (For a charming insight on their hippo adventure, be sure to listen to the BBC Audio Interview). The team hopes to revisit the area again next year and we wish them the best. For now, hats off to Brian Sheen and his excellent astronomy outreach work!
This is not tops on my list as a good way to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. Italian and British scientists want to exhume the body of 16th century astronomer Galileo Galilei in order to determine if his severe vision problems may have affected some of his findings. The scientists said DNA tests would help answer some unresolved questions about the health of the man known as the father of astronomy, whom the Vatican condemned for teaching that the Earth revolves around the sun. “If we knew exactly what was wrong with his eyes we could use computer models to recreate what he saw in his telescope,” said Paolo Galluzzi, director of the Museum of History and Science in Florence, the city where Galileo is buried.
Galileo, who lived from 1564 to 1642, was known to have problems with his eyes during his later years, and was totally blind for the last two years of his life. It has long been speculated that he damaged his eyes by looking at the sun through a telescope. But, now some scientists suspect Galileo may have had a form of glaucoma.
“There were periods when he saw very well and periods when he did not see very well,” said Dr. Peter Watson, president of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis and consultant to Addenbrooke’s University Hospital, Cambridge.
One of the “errors” that Galileo made, which Galluzzi suspects may have been because of bad eyesight, is that he thought Saturn’s rings were “handles” or large moons on either side of the planet. Galileo wrote, “I have observed the highest planet [Saturn] to be tripled-bodied. This is to say that to my very great amazement Saturn was seen to me to be not a single star, but three together, which almost touch each other”.
With a 20-power telescope and his eyes in bad shape he might have mistaken Saturn’s rings as two moons on each side.
Or would anyone who had never seen rings around a planet before, using a first-generation telescope think the same?
If the nature of Galileo’s illness was known, Galluzzi said a mathematical model could be simulated to show what Galileo saw through his telescope. “We only have sketches of what he saw. If we were able to see what he saw that would be extraordinary,” Galluzzi said.
Galluzzi added he is waiting for permission from Florence’s Santa Croce Basilica, where Galileo is buried, to exhume the body and then would form a committee of historians, scientists and doctors to oversee the project.
What do you think? Should Galileo be exhumed in the name of science, or should the Father of Astronomy be allowed to rest in peace?
