Monthly Archives: June 2017

Astronomy, Events, Solar Science

Videos: Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 over North America – August 21

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A total solar eclipse will pass over North America on August 21st. Below are some videos and web resources for the event.

[ Update: Astro Maven Rick Boozer points me to an eclipse viewing event that he will be hosting in South Carolina: Awe-Inspiring Spectacle in Upstate South Carolina – Astro Maven –

For the first time in 47 years, South Carolina will experience a once-in-lifetime total solar eclipse of the Sun!  On August 21, 2017,  Anderson Jockey Lot will host a viewing of the event as a free public service.  Astrophysicist and veteran total solar eclipse observer, Rick Boozer will provide expert running commentary.
Assuming clear skies, the Anderson Jockey Lot will be the best viewing location of the totality climax along the I-85 corridor with longest totality time in this area of 2 minutes and 38 seconds.  Totality for the City of Greenville will be 2 minutes and 10 seconds – nearly 30 seconds less.  Spartanburg, at most, will only have several seconds.
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Check the path and width of the shadow over a particular US state at  Eclipse Maps | NASA Total Solar Eclipse 2017.

More resources:

 

Astronomy

ESO: VLT Survey Telescope makes gigapixel image of 3 giant star-making clouds

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A new report from the ESO (European Southern Observatory):

VST Captures Three-In-One 

Two of the sky’s more famous residents share the stage with a lesser-known neighbour in this enormous three gigapixel image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). On the right lies the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) is in the centre, and the Omega Nebula (Messier 17) to the left. This cosmic trio makes up just a portion of a vast complex of gas and dust within which new stars are springing to life and illuminating their surroundings. [Larger images. See also the annotated version.]
Two of the sky’s more famous residents share the stage with a lesser-known neighbour in this enormous new three gigapixel image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). On the right lies the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula is in the centre, and the Omega Nebula to the left. This cosmic trio makes up just a portion of a vast complex of gas and dust within which new stars are springing to life and illuminating their surroundings.

This pan video shows the region around the Omega Nebula (Messier 17). It is part of a bigger image of the area taken by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO

Sharpless 2-54 and the Eagle and Omega Nebulae are located roughly 7000 light-years away — the first two fall within the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent), while the latter lies within Sagittarius (The Archer). This region of the Milky Way houses a huge cloud of star-making material. The three nebulae indicate where regions of this cloud have clumped together and collapsed to form new stars; the energetic light from these stellar newborns has caused ambient gas to emit light of its own, which takes on the pinkish hue characteristic of areas rich in hydrogen.

The compilation shows a few of the many highlights in an enormous three gigapixel image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) that includes the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula. [Larger images]
Two of the objects in this image were discovered in a similar way. Astronomers first spotted bright star clusters in both Sharpless 2-54 and the Eagle Nebula, later identifying the vast, comparatively faint gas clouds swaddling the clusters. In the case of Sharpless 2-54, British astronomer William Herschel initially noticed its beaming star cluster in 1784. That cluster, catalogued as NGC 6604 (eso1218), appears in this image on the object’s left side. The associated very dim gas cloud remained unknown until the 1950s, when American astronomer Stewart Sharpless spotted it on photographs from the National Geographic–Palomar Sky Atlas.

This pan video shows the region around the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16). It is part of a bigger image of the area taken by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO

The Eagle Nebula did not have to wait so long for its full glory to be appreciated. Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Chéseaux first discovered its bright star cluster, NGC 6611, in 1745 or 1746 (eso0142). A couple of decades later, French astronomer Charles Messier observed this patch of sky and also documented the nebulosity present there, recording the object as Messier 16 in his influential catalogue (eso0926).

This zoom video takes you deep into the central parts of the Milky Way, home to many regions of star formation. The final sequence shows the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) and the Omega Nebula (Messier 17). They are seen in a spectacular huge image from ESO VLT Survey Telescope (VST).

As for the Omega Nebula, de Chéseaux did manage to observe its more prominent glow and duly noted it as a nebula in 1745. However, because the Swiss astronomer’s catalogue never achieved wider renown, Messier’s re-discovery of the Omega Nebula in 1764 led to its becoming Messier 17, the seventeenth object in the Frenchman’s popular compendium (eso0925).

The pan video shows a few of the many highlights in an enormous three gigapixel image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) that includes the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula. Credit: ESO

The observations from which this image was created were taken with ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST), located at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The huge final colour image was created by mosaicing dozens of pictures — each of 256 megapixels — from the telescope’s large-format OmegaCAM camera. The final result, which needed lengthy processing, totals 3.3 gigapixels, one of the largest images ever released by ESO.

This chart shows the constellation of Serpens Cauda, the tail-part of the split constellation of Serpens (The Snake). The famous Eagle Nebula, Messier 16, lies in the corner of this constellation and its equally well-known campanion, the Omega Nebula, Messier 17, just across the border into Sagittarius (The Archer). Yellow circles represent star clusters and green squares nebulae. The region of sky covered by the huge VST image of this region is marked with a red rectangle. [Larger image]
Education, Rockets, Space participation

NASA Wallops hosts rocket training for students and educators

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College students and high school educators participate next week in rocket programs hosted by NASA’s Wallops Island Space Flight Facility:

Students and Educators Become Rocket Scientists for a Week at Wallops 

A sounding rocket launches from Wallops Island in 2016. Credits: NASA

Have you wondered what it would be like to be a real rocket scientist?

Approximately 150 university and community college students and instructors and high school educators will get that chance during Rocket Week June 17 through 23 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Nearly 130 university and community college students and instructors from across the country will build and fly experiments on a NASA suborbital rocket through the RockOn! and RockSat-C programs. Another 20 high school educators from across the United States will examine how to apply rocketry basics into their curriculum through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATs)

RockOn 2016 participants work to prepare their experiments for flight. Credits: NASA/Patrick Black

The week ends with the students launching their experiments on a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket at 6 a.m. EDT on June 22. The rocket is 36 feet long and the payload weighs 667 pounds.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 5 a.m. EDT on launch day for viewing the flight.  Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 5:30 a.m. on the Wallops Ustream site. Launch updates also are available via the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites. Facebook Live coverage begins at 5:45 a.m. The rocket launch is expected to be seen from the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland.

Smartphone users can download the “What’s Up at Wallops” app for information on the launch as well as a compass showing the precise direction for launch viewing.

High school educators work on building model rockets during WRATS 2016. Credits: NASA/Patrick Black

The June rocket will carry 23 experiments (measuring acceleration, humidity, pressure, temperature and radiation counts) from the RockOn! program, nine experiments from the RockSat-C program and more than 80 small cubes with experiments developed by middle school students in 49 states as part of the Cubes in Space program, a partnership between idoodlelearning inc. and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium.

After flying to nearly 73 miles altitude, the payload will land via a parachute in the Atlantic Ocean where it will be recovered by boat. The participants should have their experiments returned to them later in the day to begin their data analysis.

Joyce Winterton, Wallops senior advisor for education and leadership development, said,

“We look forward each year to Rocket Week and the students and educators who come to Wallops with an enthusiasm to learn the skills to advance their careers and instruction to advance those of younger students.”

Conducted with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia, RockOn! is in its tenth year, RockSat-C its ninth and WRATS is in its seventh year.

“The longevity of these programs shows the continued interest from students and educators, “said Phil Eberspeaker, chief of the NASA Sounding Rocket Program Office at Wallops. “Participants receive hands-on instruction, personal attention and the opportunity to work with career “rocket scientists” — engineers and technicians who work on rockets on a daily basis.”

In RockOn! the participants receive instruction on the basics required in building and developing a scientific payload for flight on a suborbital rocket. After learning the basics in RockOn!, students may then participate in RockSat-C, where they design and build an experiment for rocket flight during the school year.

Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, said,

“The partnership with NASA has led to excellent learning opportunities for the participants in the RockOn! and RockSat-C programs.  More than 500 students and instructors, including this years’ attendees, have participated in the 10-years RockOn! has been conducted.”

WRATS works with high school teachers to show them the basics of rocketry and how to take what they learn into the classroom. The 20 participants from Virginia, Maryland,  New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, and Oklahoma will receive instruction on the basics of rocketry including Newton’s Laws, fundamentals of electronics, drag and propulsion. This instruction will be applied to hands-on learning activities including building and launching model rockets.

The RockOn!, RockSat and WRATS programs are supported by the NASA Sounding Rocket Program. RockOn! also is supported by NASA’s Office of Education and NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia, as well as the program participants.

NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Orbital ATK provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations for the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.