SpaceWatchtower

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Astronomical Calendar: 2014 February

Each year on February 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil determines whether Spring-type weather will come early or if Winter will continue until the Vernal Equinox. Derived from the Pagan festival Imbolc which was originally celebrated February 1 - 2 as the middle of Winter, the ancients used this mid-Winter festival to look forward to the more temperate weather of Spring. With our modern calendar, the actual Winter cross-quarter day in 2014 is on February 4. (Image Source: Wikipedia.org )

Astronomical Calendar for 2014 February:

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/astrocalendar/2014.html#feb

The current month's Astronomical Calendar can also be found on the cover page of the History of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, Pittsburgh web site at this link:

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#astrocal

Source: Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the SpaceWatchtower Editor/Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
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/ >
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 >

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Jan. 30: Solar Eclipse Only Visible From Outer Space

A Lunar Transit of the Sun photographed
by NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations
Observatory B satellite orbiting the Sun.
The January 30 Transit will show the
Moon covering much more of the Sun.
(Image Source: NASA)

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

There will be a very special New Moon on January 30. This New Moon includes a special Solar Eclipse ("Lunar Transit of the Sun") which can only be seen from Outer Space, the second time this month that there is a New Moon phase which closely coincides with lunar perigee, and with this New Moon the Chinese Calendar welcomes the Year of the Horse !

The January 30 New Moon will be different from most, as it includes a very unique type of Solar Eclipse. However, this Solar Eclipse, better known as a Lunar Transit of the Sun, can only be seen from Outer Space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite is scheduled to record this Lunar Transit of the Sun, which begins January 30 at 8:31 a.m. EST (13:31 Coordinated Universal Time) and lasts almost 2.5 hours. Approximately 90 percent of the Sun will be covered by the Moon, during this celestial event. And since the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite is solar-powered, NASA has charged-up the spacecraft's batteries to endure the blackout!

With satellites in Outer Space, such transits happen periodically, when the Moon happens to come between the satellite and the Sun. Except during normal solar eclipses, the eclipse shadow never reaches the Earth.

At the end of this post is a link to a YouTube simulation of the January 30 Lunar Transit of the Sun.

For the second time in one month, Earth will experience the Moon phase of New Moon, when the Moon is not visible in the sky. At this time of the month (which has happened twice in this month of January, which is somewhat rare), the Sun completely lights-up the far side of the Moon, while the dark side of the Moon faces the Earth.

The Earth's gravitation "locks" one side of the Moon, so that side always faces the Earth, no matter what part of the month or Moon phase. So, although one side always faces the Earth, as the Moon orbits the Earth all parts of the Moon face the Sun and receive sunlight at some point during the month.

But, both of these New Moon phases coincide, closely, with lunar perigee, the closest point of the Moon from the Earth in the lunar orbit. At a time of lunar perigee, if the Moon could be seen, it would appear a little larger than at other times of the month.

As January has 31 days and one lunar orbit occurs about every 27 days (actually 27.322 days), this month is a little unusual as there are two lunar perigees in January. The first perigee occurred at the very beginning of the month on New Year's Day at 4:00 p.m. EST (21:00 Coordinated Universal Time) when the Earth was 356,923 kilometers from the Moon, while the second perigee occurs on Thursday, January 30 at 5:00 a.m. EST (10:00 Coordinated Universal Time) when the Moon will be 357,080 kilometers from the Earth.

Both perigees, on New Year's Day and on January 30, occur within a half-day of the Moon phase of New Moon. New Moon on New Year's Day (which was Lunation number 1126) occurred at 6:14 a.m. EST (11:14 Coordinated Universal Time), while New Moon will occur on January 30 (which will be Lunation number 1127) at 4:38 p.m. EST (21:38 Coordinated Universal Time).

And, because the New Moon phase comes at the same time as lunar perigee at both times in January, larger than usual tides on the ocean coasts are predicted at the times of both lunar perigees. Although the Moon's gravity primarily controls the oceans' tides, when the Moon and the Sun are aligned during the New Moon phase (or the Full Moon phase), particularly close to lunar perigee, the Sun's gravity added to the Moon's gravity makes the tides a little stronger than normal.

The point in lunar orbit when the Moon is farthest from the Earth each month is called lunar apogee. And in January, Full Moon and lunar apogee also closely coincided; not particularly surprising when one learns that both of this month's New Moons closely coincide with lunar perigee. The patterns of lunar perigee / apogee and Moon phase are similar, though not exactly the same.

Lunar apogee occured this month on Wednesday, January 15 at 9:00 p.m. EST (January 16, 2:00 Coordinated Universal Time), when the Moon was 406,532 kilometers from the Earth. The Moon phase of Full Moon (Wolfe Moon) occurred that very same evening, at 11:52 p.m. EST (January 16, 4:52 Coordinated Universal Time); this resulted in the January Full Moon being the smallest Full Moon in 2014. Since Full Moon occurs so close to the Moon's farthest point in its orbit from the Earth (most of the time, Full Moon does not occur so far from Earth), the Moon looked slightly smaller in the middle of January.

Last month also had the smallest Full Moon of the year. This occurred as last month marked the end of the previous year, and the patterns of Moon phases and lunar orbit are somewhat similar in two consecutive months.

This New Moon phase, on January 30, heralds the Chinese New Year, as the Chinese use a lunar calendar to mark their special observances. The Year of the Horse really begins on January 31, the actual date in China of the New Moon phase.

This week, we also mark three sad anniversaries, the most tragic milestones of the American Space Program:

* Mon., Jan. 27 (1967) - Anniversary of Apollo 1 fire; three astronauts perished: Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee. (Jan. 27)

* Tue., Jan. 28 (1986) - Anniversary of STS Space Shuttle Challenger explosion; seven astronauts perished: Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Elison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe (Teacher-in-Space). (Jan. 28)

Viewed at Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center).

* Sat., Feb. 1 (2003) - Anniversary of STS Space Shuttle Columbia disintegration during re-entry; seven astronauts perished: Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, Laurel Blair Salton Clark. (Feb. 1)

YouTube Simulation of January 30 Lunar Transit of the Sun from Outer Space:
Link >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8BY6JzpIU8

More from NASA regarding a Lunar Transit of the Sun from Outer Space:
Link >>> http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/SMIII_Problem33.html

More about Apogee and Perigee of the Moon:
Link >>> http://www.moonconnection.com/apogee_perigee.phtml

More about New Moon: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_moon

More on the Chinese New Year: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_new_year

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

Related Blog Posts ---

2nd Month in a Row: Smallest Full Moon of Year (2014 Jan. 14):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/01/2nd-month-in-row-smallest-full-moon-of.html

Earth Closest to Sun Sat. Morning (2014 Jan. 4):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/01/earth-closest-to-sun-sat-morning.html

Smallest Full Moon of Year: Dec. 17, 4:28 a.m. (2013 Dec. 14):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/12/smallest-full-moon-of-year-dec-17-428-am.html

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Monday, January 27, 2014

Even More Accurate Atomic Clock

Computer networks and GPS systems are only possible because of the precision timekeeping of atomic clocks like the one above, says clockmaker and physicist Jun Ye.
(Source: Ye Group and Baxley/JILA)

Scientists announced last week that they have created the most advanced clock in the world.

The clock, described last week in the journal Nature, is so precise that it would neither lose nor gain one second in about 5 billion years of continuous operation. That's pretty good, considering that the Earth itself is only around 4.5 billion years old.

Since the 1960s, official timekeeping has been based on the natural oscillations of atoms. And scientists just continue to come up with better designs for so-called atomic clocks. A few years ago, a team unveiled a clock that would neither gain nor lose one second in about 3.7 billion years.

Now that feat has been bested by a team led by physicist Jun Ye of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo.

"Many people would say, 'Well, one second in 5 billion years — how is that going to impact our lives? It's going to be irrelevant to what we are doing in daily life or in the society.' But that's actually not true," says Ye.

He says advances in clocks have ripple effects for all kinds of technology. Today we depend on things like computer networks and GPS systems that are only possible because of the precision timekeeping of atomic clocks — even though the first atomic-clock makers could not have predicted where their inventions would lead. "Nobody would have imagined everybody can have a cellphone and know exactly where you are," Ye says.

More - Link >>> http://www.npr.org/2014/01/24/265247930/tickety-tock-an-even-more-accurate-atomic-clock

Source: National Public Radio.

Radio Stations Broadcasting Precise Time From Atomic Clocks 24 / 7 / 365 ---

Voice Announcements - Shortwave: WWV, Fort Collins CO:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_%28radio_station%29

Voice Announcements - Shortwave: WWVH, Kekaha HI:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVH

For Radio-Controlled Clocks - Longwave: WWVB, Fort Collins CO:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVB

Voice Announcements - Shortwave: CHU, Ottawa ONT Canada:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHU_%28radio_station%29

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Saturday, January 25, 2014

New Supernova May Be Visible in Binoculars in February

The M82 galaxy is the proud owner of this type Ia supernova, and right now all eyes are on it <i>(Image: UCL/University of London Observatory/Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew Wilde/Thomas Wright)</i>

The M82 galaxy is the proud owner of this type Ia
supernova, and right now all eyes are on it.
(Image: UCL/University of London Observatory/
Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew
Wilde/Thomas Wright)

An elderly star has lit up a cosmic cigar. Images of the galaxy M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, show the sudden appearance of a supernova (Supernova SN 2014J), the brilliant explosion when a massive star dies. The event might offer new clues to dark energy and the ultimate fate of the universe.

The light from this explosion is reaching us from about 11.4 million light years away. That's not as close to Earth as the current record holder (Supernova SN 1987A), which appeared about 160,000 light years away in a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Still, that was in 1987 and the new supernova is the closest one we've spotted since then.

"It's very rare to have them go off as close as this one," says Brad Tucker at the Australian National University in Canberra. The supernova is not visible to the naked eye, but it is rapidly brightening and should be visible with binoculars in the next few weeks.

More - Link >>> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24923-closest-supernova-in-27-years-may-reveal-fate-of-cosmos.html#.UuRrHrROnIU

Source: New Scientist Magazine.

More on ---
Supernovas: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova
Supernova SN 2014J: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2014J
Supernova SN 1987A: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_supernova

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Water Vapor Found in Asteroid Belt

Scientists using the Herschel space observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapor on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt, dwarf planet Ceres.

"This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere," said Michael Küppers of ESA in Spain, lead author of a paper in the journal Nature.

An artist's concept of Ceres with vaporous jets in the asteroid belt. [Larger image]

Herschel is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with important NASA contributions. Data from the infrared observatory suggest that plumes of water vapor shoot up from Ceres when portions of its icy surface warm slightly.

The results come at the right time for NASA's Dawn mission, which is on its way to Ceres now after spending more than a year orbiting the large asteroid Vesta. Dawn is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in the spring of 2015, where it will take the closest look ever at its surface.

"We've got a spacecraft on the way to Ceres, so we don't have to wait long before getting more context on this intriguing result, right from the source itself," said Carol Raymond, the deputy principal investigator for Dawn at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

More - Link >>> http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/22jan_ceres/

Source: NASA Science News.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Monday, January 20, 2014

Mars Rover Sees Mystery Rock Suddenly Appear

By Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

One fine day on Mars, Opportunity, a robotic mobile space probe from Planet Earth--from a nation called America--was taking images of the surrounding rocks, controlled as it was by geologists. So far, nothing seems unusual, since geologists like rocks and want to take pictures of them. However, it appears one of the rocks previously omitted seems to have wanted to get in on the photo. Hold on. This is going to shock you.

The geologists at JPL have called the rock Pinnacle Island, but it looks like a jelly donut and is about the same size. Opportunity, which has some analysis capability, determined it is a very unusual rock indeed; the center "jelly" is made of sulfur, magnesium, and manganese and a whole bunch of other things of that sort, reminding me of the manganese nodules at the bottom of the oceans of Planet Earth. Yet it is different from them also.

But what really got everyone going is how it got there, being that it clearly was NOT there 12 Martian days before. Geologists are used to rocks not moving around, and it surprises them when one does.

"It's about the size of a jelly doughnut," Exploration Team leader Steven Squyres said in a talk reported by Ian O'Neill of Discovery News. "It was a total surprise, we were like 'wait a second, that wasn't there before, it can't be right. Oh my God! It wasn't there before!' We were absolutely startled." He continued, "I don't know what any of this means. We're completely confused, everybody on the team is arguing and fighting. We're having a wonderful time!"

More with possible explanations:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/fgg/THE_ROCK_THAT_WALKED_IN_Revised.pdf

Source: Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University; former Planetarium Lecturer & Observatory Observer, Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science; Steering Commitee Member, Friends of the Zeiss;
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Saturday, January 18, 2014

'Invisibility' Metamaterials Could Speed-up Computers

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/061/156/iFF/colorful-light.jpg?1389379822

By Jesse Emspak, LiveScience Contributor

The materials that make Harry Potter's invisibility cloak a real scientific possibility could also be used to perform advanced mathematical calculations usually done by computers, new research suggests.

An international team of researchers now proposes that so-called metamaterials, which can alter the properties of light waves often to render an object invisible, could perform mathematical operations as well. While they haven't built an actual device yet, their work shows the mathematical basis for the technology, which could dramatically speed up calculations such as those used in image processing. The study is detailed this week in the journal Science.

Until now, most research in this area had focused on using metamaterials to bend light around objects, to make them invisible at certain wavelengths. But Nader Engheta, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and a co-author of the paper, noted that metamaterials could change the shape of an incoming light wave in ways that have the same effect as performing calculations on a computer.

"As [a light wave] goes through a block [of metamaterial], by the time it comes out, it should have a shape that would be the result of mathematical operations," Engheta told LiveScience.

By running simulations of light waves passing through metamaterials, the team showed that the method could perform operations from calculus, such as taking derivatives — a measure of the rate of change in a mathematical equation. When you take a derivative of a curve, such as the profile of a light wave, and plot its shape onto a graph, the resulting curve shows how quickly the first curve is changing, called an "integral" in calculus. Placing another piece of metamaterial in front of the first one can reverse the operation, showing that the calculations can be done in both directions, just as a computer (or a person) would.

More - Link >>> http://www.livescience.com/42491-invisibility-metamaterials-perform-math.html?cmpid=556410

Source: LiveScience.com

SpaceWatchtower

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Astronomical Calendar: 2014 February

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Jan. 30: Solar Eclipse Only Visible From Outer Space

2nd Month in a Row: Smallest Full Moon of Year (2014 Jan. 14):

Earth Closest to Sun Sat. Morning (2014 Jan. 4):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/01/earth-closest-to-sun-sat-morning.html

Smallest Full Moon of Year: Dec. 17, 4:28 a.m. (2013 Dec. 14):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/12/smallest-full-moon-of-year-dec-17-428-am.html

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Monday, January 27, 2014

Even More Accurate Atomic Clock

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Saturday, January 25, 2014

New Supernova May Be Visible in Binoculars in February

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Water Vapor Found in Asteroid Belt

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Monday, January 20, 2014

Mars Rover Sees Mystery Rock Suddenly Appear

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

Saturday, January 18, 2014

'Invisibility' Metamaterials Could Speed-up Computers

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium

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