SpaceWatchtower: December 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year Did Not Always Begin on January 1

Download January 2015 calendar as a graphic/image file in PNG format

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

January 1 marks the beginning of the New Year of A.D. 2015. However, January 1 has not always been the beginning of the calendar year.

For many ancient cultures, the New Year began around the time of the Vernal Equinox in late March, the beginning of the season of Spring. The reason for this is simple. Agriculture was the primary way of life of early peoples, and Spring was the beginning of the growing season after a long Winter. The earliest such recorded beginning of the New Year dates to circa 2000 B.C., in Mesopotamia.

But, other cultures started their New Year on other dates, also astronomically related. The Autumnal Equinox in late September, the beginning of the season of Autumn or Fall, was the beginning of the New Year for the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians. And, the Greeks celebrated the New Year in December on the Winter Solstice.

March 1 was the beginning of the New Year in the early Roman calendar, simply because this calendar only had ten months and March was, then, the first month of the year; January and February were not added until a later calendar reform. While we know September as the ninth month of the year, in Latin September actually means seventh month. This is also true for October (means eighth month in Latin, while it is today the tenth month), November (means ninth month in Latin, while it is today the eleventh month), and December (means tenth month in Latin, while it is today the twelfth month).

Around 700 B.C., the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the months of January and February to the calendar. Although, the New Year did not officially begin on January 1 until several hundred years later, beginning in 153 B.C. The January 1 beginning of the calendar year was chosen, at that time, to coincide with the beginning of the one-year term of Roman Consuls, the highest officials in the Roman Republic. But, some parts of the Roman Republic still observed March 1 as the beginning of the calendar year.

These early calendars were mostly based on the cycles of the Moon, which produced calendars which were quite inaccurate as the years went by. It would be Julius Caesar who would provide the first great improvement in the calendar, by switching to a calendar based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun (of course, at that time they believed the Sun revolved around the Earth).

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar created the first solar-based calendar, which we know today as the Julian Calendar. And, with the Julian Calendar came the decree that January 1 was the beginning of the New Year throughout the Roman world. This made sense, as January had been named for the Roman God Janus, the God of doors and gates; hence, the entrance or beginning of the calendar.

However, with the rise of the Christian Church, many of the New Year's celebrations were seen as unchristian-like and considered pagan. So, at the Roman Catholic Church's Council of Tours in A.D. 567, January 1 was abolished as the beginning of the calendar year. During medieval times, the beginning of the New Year was celebrated on various dates in various places. These dates included December 25 for the birth of Christ, March 1, March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, and Easter Sunday.

It was with the final major reform of the calendar, by Pope Gregory XIII in A.D. 1582, that January 1 was restored as the beginning of the New Year. However, the new Gregorian Calendar, with the January 1 start-date, was only observed in countries where the Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religion.

Protestant countries, fearful of allowing any influence of the Roman Catholic Church, were slow to adopt the Gregoran Calendar. It was almost 200 years later when the British Empire, including the American colonies, finally adopted the Gregorian Calendar, with the January 1 start-date, in A.D. 1752. Until then, the British Empire, including America, had continued to observe the beginning of the New Year on March 25.

Alaska, which had been a Russian territory (Russia, at that time a predominantly Eastern Orthodox Catholic country, which continued to use the Julian Calendar), did not adopt the Gregorian Calendar until 1867, when the United States purchased the territory from Russia.

Today, nearly all civil calendars, world-wide, use the Gregorian Calendar, and recognize January 1 as the beginning of the New Year. However, many religions still follow their own calendars, to determine holy days and religious festivals.

More on the Julian Calendar: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

More on the Gregorian Calendar: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

More on the Adoption of the Gregorian Calendar:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar

Source: Glenn A. Walsh, Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your inbox ?
Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >..

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Also see: South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
Barnestormin: Writing, Essays, Pgh. News, & More: < http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com/ >
About the SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
< http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
< http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

Monday, December 29, 2014

NASA Astronauts to Visit Venus Atmosphere Before Mars?

Completely enshrouded by clouds, Earth's closest neighbor, Venus, may be the first planet to
be visited by NASA astronauts, but only the atmosphere 30 miles above the surface.
(Image Sources: NASA, Wikipedia.org )

By Dan Taylor , The Space Reporter

A floating city above Venus? That’s one concept being floated by NASA as a way of studying our inhospitable neighbor.

While Mars typically gets all of the attention due to the possibility that it once hosted life, Venus is actually Earth’s closest neighbor, and NASA would like to get to know it better. One of the ways to do that may be to float a “blimp city” about 30 miles above the scorching hot surface of Venus for about 30 days to allow astronauts to study it, according to a CNN report.

NASA is exploring the concept, which would initially be temporary and could eventually lead to a permanent floating city.

Once you get to an altitude of 30 miles, the conditions are similar to that of Earth — perhaps more so than anywhere else in the entire solar system.

The gravity is just a little lower than Earth, the atmospheric pressure is similar, and there is still ample protection from solar radiation.

As a result, NASA has come up with the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), and the agency is working on a preliminary feasibility study on how to make such an extraordinary mission happen.

More - Link >>> http://thespacereporter.com/2014/12/a-floating-city-above-venus-nasa-has-begun-work-on-the-extraordinary-concept/

Also CNN Report - "NASA's plan for an off-world colony: a floating city above Venus":
Link >>> http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/23/tech/innovation/tomorrow-transformed-venus-blimp-city/

Sources: The Space Reporter, Cable News Network.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Thursday, December 25, 2014

75 Years of "Star of Bethlehem" Sky Show at Buhl Planetarium

Three Wise Men approaching Bethlehem, guided by a star.

December marks 75 years after the beginning of the classic, "Star of Bethlehem" planetarium sky drama at Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science. This traditional, holiday sky show, which provides possible, astronomical explanations for the star that guided the Three Wisemen to the Christ child, has been shown at Buhl Planetarium every Christmas season since 1939, and it is being shown this month at the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium and Observatory at The Carnegie Science Center under the title, "The Christmas Star." This graphic was used to promote the show in Buhl's monthly, public newsletter, during Buhl Planetarium's 50th anniversary in 1989. (Image Source: Friends of the Zeiss)

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

When many people think about Astronomy this time of year, they often ponder the one mystery that has yet to be conclusively determined: the actual cause of the The Star of Bethlehem, as described in the Holy Bible of the Christian religion. So, with the invention of the projection planetarium in the 1920s, and the beginning of erection of American planetaria in the 1930s, this automatically became one of the topics of planetarium productions during the Christmas season.

This month marks 75 years since the beginning of a historic, and long-running, annual planetarium sky drama in Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium: The Star of Bethlehem. The Star of Bethlehem, which discusses possible explanations for the star which guided the Magi to the Christ child, has been shown in Buhl Planetarium every Christmas season since 1939.

From 1939 to 1990, this show was shown in the Theater of the Stars of Pittsburgh's original Buhl , Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (1982 to 1991 a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), usually under the title of The Star of Bethlehem. Over the years other titles have been used, such as The Christmas Star, the title now used for this show by the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium and Observatory of The Carnegie Science Center, where the show has been seen since 1991. One year, in the mid-1980s, the show was titled, The Star of Bethlehem Revisited, to emphasize that new scientific information had been added to the show.

When the Buhl Planetarium building was under design in 1937, the needs of The Star of Bethlehem planetarium show were specifically considered. James Stokley, the first Director of Buhl Planetarium, was previously Director of the Fels Planetarium, which had opened with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1934. For the Fels Planetarium's version of The Star of Bethlehem, special, temporary staging had been erected, so a segment of the show could include a live acting performance.

When the Buhl Planetarium's Theater of the Stars was constructed, it included the world's first permanent theatrical stage in a planetarium theater! Located on the north end of the Planetarium Theater, it could be used as-is, or at the press of a button, the stage could be enlarged, expanding into the Planetarium Theater!

Each year, from 1939 to 1990, Buhl Planetarium staff members and volunteers, in costume from Christ's era, would take turns portraying “Saint Luke” on the planetarium stage. This included Buhl's female staff and volunteers; at a distance, in a darkened planetarium theater and in-costume, the audience could not tell a female was portraying “Saint Luke.” “Saint Luke” was the nickname lovingly given to this character by the staff, even though the character did recite biblical passages from both the Gospel of Saint Luke and the Gospel of Saint Matthew.

During the portrayal, “Saint Luke” would point to the Christmas Star (visible on the planetarium dome, shining above a lit nativity scene visible on scaffolding behind the dome) and use biblical verses to tell the Christmas story to the audience. As many different staff members and volunteers portrayed “Saint Luke” throughout a season of presentations of The Star of Bethlehem, each actor was not expected to memorize lines; the actor simply made appropriate gestures while appearing to lip-synch to a pre-recorded script. Most staff members and volunteers enjoyed portraying “Saint Luke,” as a welcome diversion from their normal duties.

In the beginning, each new planetarium show, including The Star of Bethlehem, ran for a month, with a new show scheduled for the next month. In later years, topical planetarium shows were often scheduled for most of a calendar season, with seasonal star-identification shows (i.e. Stars of Spring, Stars of Summer, Stars of Autumn, Stars of Winter) scheduled for one or two weeks between topical shows. This would give planetarium technicians time to reset slides and other special effects for the next topical planetarium show.

By the 1980s, The Star of Bethlehem ran from the very busy Thanksgiving weekend usually through the first weekend of the New Year (sometimes this included the Feast of Epiphany and Orthodox Christmas). The original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science was closed only one day of the year; originally that day was New Year's Day, but by the 1960s management decided to close on Christmas Day and open on New Year's Day.

By the mid-1980s, The Star of Bethlehem was running on weekends and during holiday periods nearly every hour on-the-hour. Previously, the sky show had run during the schedule instituted for shows the rest of the year (2:00 each afternoon, with additional showings at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. on Fridays, 11:00 a.m. on Saturdays, and 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (then a.k.a. Buhl Science Center) had, by that time, instituted expanded building hours on weekends and during holiday periods from November through February.

The daily expanded schedule had the building open on Saturdays, and weekdays during holiday periods (Thanksgiving Weekend and the week between Christmas and New Year's Days) from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (on Fridays the astronomical observatory was open until 10:30 p.m., weather-permitting, as usual). On Sundays, the building was open from 12:00 Noon until 9:30 p.m., while the building did close at .5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Other times of the year, the public hours began at 1:00 p.m. Sunday through Friday (weekday mornings were usually reserved for school groups, although the public usually was not turned-away) and 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays. The building normally closed each day at 5:00 p.m., except on Fridays when it stayed open until 9:30 p.m. (again, on Fridays the astronomical observatory was open until 10:30 p.m., weather-permitting).

These additional building hours and show times on weekends and during holiday periods were provided to meet public demand. In addition to the popular The Star of Bethlehem sky show, the annual exhibition of the very popular Miniature Railroad and Village was displayed November through February. So, during the annual run of The Star of Bethlehem, particularly on weekends and during holiday periods, often Buhl Planetarium's 425-seat Theater of the Stars was filled during many of the mid-day showings.

During these holiday periods, Buhl Planetarium holds claim to the world record for showing planetarium shows, continuously back-to-back, on several days from 10:00 a.m. through and finishing at 8:00 p.m. This record was equaled, but not exceeded, in 2002 by the McFerson Planetarium located at the new facility of the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. This new planetarium, which had originally opened in 1999, was upgraded and reopened to the public on 2014 November 22, after being mothballed for ten years.

Until 2007, Buhl Planetarium also held the world record for continuous back-to-back performances in a planetarium, for Friday and Saturday showings during holiday periods of both planetarium shows and laser-light concerts from 10:00 a.m. through and finishing at 12:45 or 1:00 a.m. This record was broken by the original Sudekum Planetarium at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, during a 32-hour “Planetarium Marathon,” which included both planetarium and laser-light shows, marking the closing of the original planetarium which was demolished and replaced with a new, larger planetarium.

More on the historic Star of Bethlehem Planetarium Show at Buhl Planetarium:

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/skyshow/bethlehem/

Complete Star of Bethlehem show script from 1979:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/skyshow/bethlehem/#script

More on Buhl Planetarium's Original Theater of the Stars:
Link >>> buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/BuhlZeissII.htm

Related Blog Posts ---

Buhl Planetarium Scale-Model Joins Miniature Railroad and Village (2014 Nov. 27):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/11/buhl-planetarium-scale-model-joins.html

75th Anniversary of America's 5th Major Planetarium (2014 Oct. 24):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/10/75th-anniversary-of-americas-5th-major.html

Solar Eclipse on Eve of Buhl Planetarium's 75th Anniversary (2014 Oct. 21):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/10/solar-eclipse-on-eve-of-buhl.html

Asteroid Named for Henry Buhl of Buhl Planetarium (2014 June 26):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/06/asteroid-named-for-henry-buhl-of-buhl.html

100 Years Ago: Planetarium Concept Born (2014 Feb. 24):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/02/100-years-ago-planetarium-concept-born.html

Buhl Community Park at Allegheny Square Opens (2012 June 25):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2012/06/buhl-community-park-at-allegheny-square.html

70th Anniversary: Buhl Planetarium Observatory (2011 Nov. 19):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2011/11/70th-anniversary-buhl-planetarium.html

Source: Glenn A. Walsh, Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Cheaper Way to Orbit Mars

By Adam Hadhazy

Getting spacecraft to Mars is quite a hassle. Transportation costs can soar into the hundreds of millions of dollars, even when blasting off during "launch windows"—the optimal orbital alignments of Earth and Mars that roll around only every 26 months.

A huge contributor to that bottom line? The hair-raising arrivals at the Red Planet. Spacecraft screaming along at many thousands of kilometers per hour have to hit the brakes hard, firing retrorockets to swing into orbit. The burn can require hundreds of pounds of extra fuel, lugged expensively off Earth, and comes with some risk of failure that could send the craft careening past or even right into Mars.

This brute force approach to attaining orbit, called a Hohmann transfer, has served historically deep-pocketed space agencies well enough. But in an era of shrinking science budgets the Hohmann transfer's price tag and inherent riskiness look limiting.

Now new research lays out a smoother, safer way to achieve Martian orbit without being restricted by launch windows or busting the bank. Called ballistic capture, it could help open the Martian frontier for more robotic missions, future manned expeditions and even colonization efforts. "It's an eye-opener," says James Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division. "It could be a pretty big step for us and really save us resources and capability, which is always what we're looking for."

The premise of a ballistic capture: Instead of shooting for the location Mars will be in its orbit where the spacecraft will meet it, as is conventionally done with Hohmann transfers, a spacecraft is casually lobbed into a Mars-like orbit so that it flies ahead of the planet. Although launch and cruise costs remain the same, the big burn to slow down and hit the Martian bull's-eye—as in the Hohmann scenario—is done away with. For ballistic capture, the spacecraft cruises a bit slower than Mars itself as the planet runs its orbital lap around the sun. Mars eventually creeps up on the spacecraft, gravitationally snagging it into a planetary orbit. "That's the magic of ballistic capture—it's like flying in formation," says Edward Belbruno, a visiting associated researcher at Princeton University and co-author, with Francesco Topputo of the Polytechnic University of Milan, of a paper detailing the new path to Mars and the physics behind it. The paper, posted on arXiv, has been submitted to the journal Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy.

More - Link >>> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-way-to-reach-mars-safely-anytime-and-on-the-cheap/?WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20141223

Source: Scientific American Magazine.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Winter: Sun. 6:03 p.m. EST; Ursid Meteor Shower w/Web-Cast Peaks Monday

The northern polar regions remain dark, while the southern regions of Earth bathe through 24 hours of sunshine on 2007 December 22 in celebration of the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice.
(Image Source: Wikipedia.org )

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

The season of Winter officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, at the moment of the Winter Solstice, early on Sunday Evening, 2014 December 21 at 6:03 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) / 23:03 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). A day later, the annual Ursid Meteor Shower peaks, which can also be viewed on a live, Internet Web-Cast on the evening of December 22.

       Winter Solstice 2014

In etymology, the word solstice comes from the Latin terms sol (Sun) and sistere (to stand still). In ancient times, astronomers / astrologers / priests recognized that one day of the year the Sun would appear to reach its lowest point in the sky for the year. The motion of the Sun's apparent path in the sky (what is known astronomically today as the Sun's declination) would cease on this day, before reversing direction.

With our current Gregorian Calendar, this usually occurs on, or very close to, December 21. In ancient times, when people used the Julian Calendar, the Winter Solstice occurred on, or very close to, December 25, what we now know as Christmas Day. Mid-Winter festivals, at the time of the Winter Solstice, were common in ancient times. Instead of competing with these traditions, the early Roman Catholic Church christianized the Winter festivals by observing the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25 (the actual birth date probably occurred in August or September).

Today, we know that, while the Sun does have motions, it is actually the motion of the Earth, tilted on its axis 23.44 degrees while revolving around the Sun, that causes the Earth's seasons. Hence, as the Earth arrives at the point in its orbit around the Sun, when the south polar axis is most directly inclined toward the Sun (thus, the Sun appears at its lowest point for the year in the Northern Hemisphere sky), this marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).

Alternately, the Summer Solstice marks the beginning of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Winter Solstice begins Winter in the Southern Hemisphere) when the Earth reaches the point in its orbit when the north polar axis is most directly inclined toward the Sun.

Although the Winter months in the Northern Hemisphere are known for the year's coldest weather, the Earth is actually at the point in its orbit closest to the Sun (astronomically known as the point of perihelion) on or very near January 2. The Earth is farthest from the Sun, each year shortly after the Northern Hemisphere's Summer Solstice, on or very near July 5 (the point of aphelion).

Solar radiation, and hence heat from the Sun, depends on the length of daylight and the angle of the Sun above the horizon. The tilt of the planet's axis toward the Sun determines the additional and more direct solar radiation received by a planet's northern or southern hemisphere, and hence, the warmer season of the respective hemisphere.

The Winter Solstice is known as the "shortest day of the year" and the "longest night of the year" as the Sun shines on the Northern Hemisphere for the shortest length of time for the entire year, on this day. For this reason, Homeless Persons' Memorial Day is commemorated on December 21.

Interestingly, the climate of a locale in the Southern Hemisphere is, on average, slightly milder than a location at the same latitude in the Northern Hemisphere, because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean water and much less land. Water warms-up and cools-down more slowly than does land. The only exception is the Antarctic which is colder than the Northern Hemisphere's Arctic region.

About two and one-half hours after the moment of the Winter Solstice, Earth's Moon reaches the New Moon Phase, when the hemisphere of the Moon facing the Earth receives no solar radiation, and hence appears dark. This New Moon Phase, which starts Lunation Cycle Number 1138, occurs on 2014 December 21 at 8:36 p.m. EST / December 22 at 1:36 UTC.

                Ursid Meteor Shower

A little less than a day after the Winter Solstice, on 2014 December 22 at 3:00 p.m. EST / 20:00 UTC, comes the peak of the Ursid Meteor Shower, which actually begins on December 17 and usually lasts about a week ending December 24, 25, or 26. The Ursids seem to comprise a narrow stream of debris originating from Comet Tuttle. Hence, it is difficult to see Ursid metors outside of a 12-hour window before and after the peak, where possibly 12 meteors per hour could be seen.

Even though this is not one of the easier meteor showers to observe, the fact that the New Moon Phase occurred one day before the meteor shower's peak could help observers. Thus, the bright reflection of sunlight from the Moon is minimized, as the Moon begins a new phase cycle.

The Ursid Meteor Shower is so-named because most meteors appear to radiate from a point near the Star Beta Ursae Minoris (apparent meteor shower radiant) in the Constellation Ursa Minor (better known as the "Little Dipper"), which is the brightest star in the bowl of the Little Dipper. However, during any meteor shower, meteors can appear in any part of the sky at any time. Some people call these meteors "Umids," in an attempt to emphasize that their apparent radiant is Ursa Minor, not Ursa Major.

Clear skies are always a must when trying to view a meteor shower, something not always available in the skies of late Autumn and early Winter. And, it is always best to get away from city lights, for the opportunity to see the smaller, dimmer meteors. As always, the best time to view any meteor shower is between local midnight and local dawn, when the Earth is actually rotating into the stream of meteoric debris.

Telescopes and binoculars are of little use for observing a meteor shower. Such optical devices restrict the field-of-view, thus a viewer could easily miss a lot of meteors. The chance of catching sight of a meteor with a telescope or binoculars is not very good. The best way to look for meteors is to lie down on the ground, in an area with an obstructed view of most of the sky. Then, just keep scanning throughout the sky until you see a meteor.

For those observers where clouds prevail in the sky during the peak of the Ursid Meteor Shower, or if it is just too cold to stay outside for a long time looking for meteors, the Slooh Community Observatory will provide a live, Internet Web-Cast of the meteor shower; this will include audio of radio noise created by the meteors . One caution: as a telescope or binoculars provide too narrow a field-of-view for practically watching meteors during a meteor shower, the same is true for a video camera, as the video camera will only be trained on one portion of the sky. So, it is unlikely as many as 12 meteors per hour can be seen on a web-cast.

Ursid Meteor Shower - Live, Internet Web-Cast - Dec. 22, 8:00 p.m. EST / Dec. 23, 1:00 UTC:
Link >>> http://live.slooh.com/

More on the Winter Solstice:
Link 1 >>> http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/WinterSolstice.html
Link 2 >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter

More on a Solstice: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

Popular Winter Planetarium Sky Shows Shown at Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (1939 to 1991), including full scripts of each show:
The Star of Bethlehem >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/skyshow/bethlehem/
The Stars of Winter >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/skyshow/winter/

More on calendars ---
       Gregorian Calendar: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
       Julian Calendar: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

More on the Ursid Meteor Shower: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UrsidsA

More on the Homeless Persons' Memorial Day: Link >>> http://www.hchmd.org/memorialday.shtml

Source: Glenn A. Walsh, Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

Special Thanks: Eric G. Canali, former Floor Manager of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science and Founder of the South Hills Backyard Astronomers amateur astronomy club.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Friday, December 19, 2014

NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes 1st Exoplanet Find of New Mission

The artistic concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers have confirmed K2's first exoplanet discovery proving Kepler can still find planets.

Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft makes a comeback with the discovery of the first exoplanet found using its new mission -- K2.

The discovery was made when astronomers and engineers devised an ingenious way to repurpose Kepler for the K2 mission and continue its search of the cosmos for other worlds.

"Last summer, the possibility of a scientifically productive mission for Kepler after its reaction wheel failure in its extended mission was not part of the conversation," said Paul Hertz, NASA's astrophysics division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Today, thanks to an innovative idea and lots of hard work by the NASA and Ball Aerospace team, Kepler may well deliver the first candidates for follow-up study by the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of distant worlds and search for signatures of life."

Lead researcher Andrew Vanderburg, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied publicly available data collected by the spacecraft during a test of K2 in February 2014. The discovery was confirmed with measurements taken by the HARPS-North spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands, which captured the wobble of the star caused by the planet’s gravitational tug as it orbits.

The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our sun, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.

Kepler’s onboard camera detects planets by looking for transits -- when a distant star dims slightly as a planet crosses in front of it. The smaller the planet, the weaker the dimming, so brightness measurements must be exquisitely precise. To enable that precision, the spacecraft must maintain steady pointing. In May 2013, data collection during Kepler's extended prime mission came to an end with the failure of the second of four gyroscopic reaction wheels, which are used to stabilize the spacecraft.

Rather than giving up on the stalwart spacecraft, a team of scientists and engineers crafted a resourceful strategy to use pressure from sunlight as a “virtual reaction wheel” to help control the spacecraft. The resulting K2 mission promises to not only continue Kepler’s planet hunt, but also to expand the search to bright nearby stars that harbor planets that can be studied in detail and better understand their composition. K2 also will introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, active galaxies and supernovae.

Small planets like HIP 116454b, orbiting nearby bright stars, are a scientific sweet spot for K2 as they are good prospects for follow-up ground studies to obtain mass measurements. Using K2’s size measurements and ground-based mass measurements, astronomers can calculate the density of a planet to determine whether it is likely a rocky, watery or gaseous world.

"The Kepler mission showed us that planets larger in size than Earth and smaller than Neptune are common in the galaxy, yet they are absent in our solar system," said Steve Howell, Kepler/K2 project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "K2 is uniquely positioned to dramatically refine our understanding of these alien worlds and further define the boundary between rocky worlds like Earth and ice giants like Neptune."

Since the K2 mission officially began in May 2014, it has observed more than 35,000 stars and collected data on star clusters, dense star-forming regions, and several planetary objects within our own solar system. It is currently in its third campaign.

The research paper reporting this discovery has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Ames is responsible for Kepler's mission concept, ground system development, science data analysis and K2 mission operations. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

More information about the Kepler mission: Link >>> http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Felicia Chou
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0257
felicia.chou@nasa.gov

Michele Johnson
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-6982
michele.johnson@nasa.gov

Source: NASA.

Related Blog Posts ---

New Mission for Crippled Kepler Telescope ? (2013 Sept. 24):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-mission-for-crippled-kepler.html

Kepler Exoplanet Hunter Spacecraft at Risk (2013 May 16):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/05/kepler-exoplanet-hunter-spacecraft-at.html

Citizen Planet Hunters: Kepler Space Telescope Data Now Available (2012 Oct. 30):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2012/10/planet-hunters-kepler-space-telescope.html

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Mars Atmosphere: Spike in Methane Found - Biological Source?

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory’s drill. The Mars Science Laboratory's Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) instrument was used to confirm the presence of methane.

"This temporary increase in methane -- sharply up and then back down -- tells us there must be some relatively localized source," said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Curiosity rover science team. "There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock."

This image illustrates possible ways methane might be added to Mars' atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in the atmosphere, implying both types of activity occur on modern Mars. A longer caption discusses which are sources and which are sinks. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAM-GSFC/Univ. of Michigan

Researchers used Curiosity’s onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory a dozen times in a 20-month period to sniff methane in the atmosphere. During two of those months, in late 2013 and early 2014, four measurements averaged seven parts per billion. Before and after that, readings averaged only one-tenth that level.

Curiosity also detected different Martian organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars. These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites.

More: Link >>> http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/16dec_methanespike/

Source: NASA Science News.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Sat.& Sun. w/ Web-Casts

Geminid fireball falling Earthward. (Source: NASA)

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

The most intense meteor shower of the year, the Geminids, peaks this weekend: officially the peak is Sunday Morning, 2014 December 14 at 7:00 a.m. EST / 12:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). So, Saturday night / Sunday morning and Sunday night / Monday morning would be the peak nights for viewing this year's Geminids.

Particularly in good years when Moon light does not hamper viewing, 80 to 120 meteors per hour can be seen. Although some people believe this meteor shower is intensifying, as 120 to 160 meteors have been seen, under optimal conditions, during this meteor shower in recent years. However, Moon light may be a problem this year, as just 51 minutes after the Geminid Meteor Shower peak, the Moon reaches the Last Quarter Phase, at 7:51 a.m. EST / 12:51 UTC. So, at this time of the month, the Moon rises around local Midnight or a little later in the early morning hours and sets in the early afternoon.

As always, the best viewing for a meteor shower is between local midnight and local dawn, when the Earth is rotating into the meteor shower. So, Moon light could interfere with viewing the smaller, dimmer meteoroids. However, it may not be as bad as last year, when a Full Moon was visible at the prime meteor shower viewing time. At least this year, only half of the Moon's surface visible from Earth will be illuminated by the Sun.

Due to the intensity of the Geminid Meteor Shower, some meteors can be seen a few nights before, and a few nights after, the meteor shower peak. Of course, the number of meteors that can be seen is less on nights other than the peak night(s).

Clear skies are always a must for meteor viewing, something not always available in late Autumn and early Winter skies. And, it is always best to get away from city lights, for the chance to see the dimmer meteors.

The Geminids are so named because most meteors appear to radiate from the Constellation Gemini the Twins (apparent meteor shower radiant), a constellation which becomes more prominent as the Winter season approaches in Earth's Northern Hemisphere. However, during any meteor shower, meteors can appear in any part of the sky at any time.

Telescopes and binoculars are of little use for finding meteors. Such optical devices restrict the field-of-view, thus that you could easily miss a lot of meteors, and the chance that you could observe a meteor with a telescope or binoculars is not very good. The best way to look for meteors is to lie down on the ground, in an area with an unobstructed view of most of the sky. Then, just keep scanning throughout the sky until you see a meteor.

While most meteor showers occur at a time when Earth's orbit coincides with a trail of debris from a comet, this is not the case for the Geminids. Amazingly, the most intense meteor shower of the year seems to come from a strange rocky object identified as Asteroid 3200 Phaethon, what some scientists call a "rock comet." Discovered by NASA's Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983, 3200 Phaethon has an eccentric orbit which brings it inside the orbit of Mercury every 1.4 years.

Even though this asteroid is regularly blasted with solar heat when it nears the Sun, scientists using NASA satellite data have concluded that the debris falling-off of the asteroid due to this heating could not have caused the amount of debris found in the debris trail which comprises the Geminid Meteor Shower. The amount of debris which scientists recorded as having fallen-off of this asteroid during a recent encounter with the Sun is too low.

Some researchers believe that 5-kilometer Phaethon may have been chipped-off of one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, 2 Pallas (which is 544 kilometers in diameter). Could some past planetary collision, which caused Phaethon to break-off from Pallas, have caused the debris trail now known as the Geminid Meteor Shower? Scientists who have studied this possible scenario say no. They say that the Geminid meteoroids were created much closer to the Sun, not in the Asteroid Belt.

Hence, the explanation for the intensity of the Geminid Meteor Shower remains a mystery to scientists.

So, bundle-up this weekend and hope for clear skies to see the most intense meteor shower of the year, apparently caused by an astronomical anomaly.

However, if the sky is not clear in your neighborhood, or it is just too cold to lie on the ground looking for meteors, there are a few Internet web-casts that will show the Geminid Meteor Shower live:

Live Internet Web-Casts of the Geminid Meteor Shower ---

Slooh Community Observatory - Beginning Sat., Dec. 13 at 8:00 p.m. EST / Dec. 14, 1:00 UTC:
Link >>> http://live.slooh.com/

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - Dec. 13 - 14, 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. EST / 4:00 to 8:00 UTC:
Link >>> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
Additionally, NASA will offer a live web-chat regarding the Geminid Meteor Shower at this link:
Link >>> http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/geminids_2014.html

The Virtual Telescope Project - Beginning Sat., Dec. 13 at 9:00 p.m. EST / Dec. 14, 2:00 UTC:
Link >>> http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

More on the Geminid Meteor Shower ---

Link 1 >>> http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/12dec_embers/
Link 2 >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminids

More on Asteroid 3200 Phaethon: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3200_Phaethon

More on Asteroid or Minor Planet 2 Pallas: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Pallas

Source: Glenn A. Walsh, Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Friday, December 12, 2014

Asteroids, Not Comets, Brought Water to Earth's Oceans?

This image of comet 67P is made up of four photographs taken by the Rosetta spacecraft.

Photograph by ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

By Dan Vergano

National Geographic

Asteroids, not comets, likely delivered Earth's ancient oceans from space, concludes a Wednesday study from the Rosetta spacecraft, now in orbit around a comet that is a frozen relic from the dawn of the planets.

Where did the Earth's oceans come from? the new study asks, investigating a long-debated question of whether the water on our planet's surface was delivered during a bombardment of comets some 3.8 billion years ago. Not likely, mission scientists conclude, pointing instead to ancient asteroids, which were covered with frost in the early solar system.

"Terrestrial water was probably brought by asteroids," says Rosetta study leader Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern in Switzerland. She finds that source "more likely than comets."

These are the first scientific results from the European Space Agency craft, which is orbiting the lumpy 2.5-mile-wide (4.1 kilometers) comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the mission team reports in the journal Science.

Rosetta arrived at the lumpy ice ball last month, delivering a probe that lost power and went into hibernation during its first days on the comet. Comet 67P is now more than 260 million miles (418 million kilometers) from the sun, awaiting a solar warm-up that will spark its cometary tail.

More: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141210-rosetta-comet-water-space-science/

Source: National Geographic Magazine.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

NASA: Near-Earth-Asteroid 2014 UR116 No Threat to Earth

Short animation of NASA images showing the rotation of the second largest
Near-Earth-Object, Asteroid 433 Eros, which was visited by the Near Earth
Asteroid - Shoemaker space probe in 2000. Another fairly large, Near-Earth-
Asteroid, 2014 UR116, was recently discovered and found not to be a threat to
Earth, despite some media reports to the contrary.
(Image Sources: NASA, Wikipedia.org )

NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
2014 December 8

Some recent press reports have suggested that an asteroid designated 2014 UR116, found on 2014 October 27, at the MASTER-II observatory in Kislovodsk, Russia, represents an impact threat to the Earth. While this approximately 400-meter sized asteroid has a three year orbital period around the sun and returns to the Earth's neighborhood periodically, it does not represent a threat because its orbital path does not pass sufficiently close to the Earth's orbit.

Furthermore, Tim Spahr, Director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge Massachusetts, has also re-computed this object's orbit after noticing that it was the same as an object observed six years ago. Using both sets of observations, the future motion of this asteroid was carried further forward in time using the automatic computations made by the Sentry system at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These computations rule out this object as an impact threat to Earth (or any other planet) for at least the next 150 years.

Any statements about risk for impact of discovered asteroids and comets should be verified by scientists and the media by accessing NASA' Near Earth Object (NEO) Program web site at
Link >>> http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

or the European equivalent, the NEO Dynamic Site at
Link >>> http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=4.1

Source: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory.