Starry Monday at Otterbein

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Starry Monday at Otterbein
Welcome to

• Astronomy Lecture Series
• -every first Monday of the month-
• November 5, 2007
• Dr. Uwe Trittmann

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Todays Topics

• Recent Advances in Astronomy - Introduction
• The Night Sky in November

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Feedback!

• Please write down suggestions/your interests on
  the note pads provided
• If you would like to hear from us, please leave
  your email / address
• To learn more about astronomy and physics at
  Otterbein, please visit
• http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp
  (Obs.)
• http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics
  Dept.)

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Recent Advances in Astronomy

• Data
• Theory
• Instruments
• Space Flight
• Space probes

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Introduction

• In the last 15 years cosmology has become a
  (very) exact science
• 1970ies Age of the universe is 10-20 billion yrs
• Now the universe is 13.70.1 billion years old
• Eagerly anticipated results have been obtained
• Temperature of the universe is 2.725 K,
  isotropic 1 part in 100,000
• Unexpected discoveries occurred
• Acceleration of cosmological expansion
• The universe contains strange unknown stuff
• Changing of space exploration agencies
• Commercial spaceflight
• China, Japan, India
• Bushs Moon-Mars initiative changes NASAs
  objectives
• Instrumentation has improved dramatically
• CCD cameras
• Adaptive optics
• New Astronomies
• Neutrino, X-ray, IR, ...

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Recent Advances in Astronomy Space Probes

• Cassini / Huygens
• Chandra
• Mars Rovers
• WMAP
• Galileo
• Hayabusa
• Deep Impact
• Many more

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Deep Impact The Comet Crasher

• Comet Impact July 4, 2005Impact
  Velocity 23,000 mphSpacecraft SizeFlyby
  spacecraft - nearly as large as a Volkswagen
  Beetle automobile.Impactor spacecraft - about
  the same dimensions as a typical living room
  coffee table.

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Comets - Traveling Dirty Snowballs

• Small icy bodies, dirty snowballs
• Develops a tail as it approaches the Sun

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Comet Anatomy

• Tail may be up to 1 A.U. long

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Halleys Comet Now and then

• Halleys Comet in 1910
• Top May 10, 30 tail
• Bottom May 12, 40 tail

• Halleys Comet in 1986
• March 14, 1986

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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

• HST image (1994) Earth added to show scale

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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

• Headed for Jupiter

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Impact on Jupiter
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Deep Impact The Comet Crasher

• Comet Impact July 4, 2005Impact
  Velocity 23,000 mphSpacecraft SizeFlyby
  spacecraft - nearly as large as a Volkswagen
  Beetle automobile.Impactor spacecraft - about
  the same dimensions as a typical living room
  coffee table.

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Temple 1 Coordinate System
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Deep Impact crashes into comet Temple 1

• This is how a comet looks like!

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Viewed from the flyby spacecraft
from Hubble Space Telescope
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• Spirit at Gusev Crater
• Sol 1365 Time 2118
• Sols past warranty 1275
• Opportunity at Meridiani Sinus
• Sol 1345 Time 917
• Sols past warranty 1255

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Martian Surface

• Iron gives the characteristic Mars color rusty
  red!
• View of Viking 1 1 m
  rock Sojourner

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Martian Panorama

• Note the sky is not black as on the moon,
• but pale pink of the dust in the
  atmosphere!
• Twin Peaks about 1-2 km away

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Mars Panorama Opportunity has landed!
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Landing Sites

• A couple of 1000 miles apart!

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Meteorite ALH 84001

• Discovered in Antarctica in 1984
• 2 kg, 17 cm across
• Chemical analysis indicates it came from Mars
• In 1996, a team of scientists argued that it
  contains fossilized evidence of bacteria that
  came from Mars

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Cassini/ Huygens

• Spectacular data from Saturn, Titan, and the Rings

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Titan

• Titan is the only moon in the solar system known
  to have an atmosphere
• Infrared picture shows surface details

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Titan from Cassini
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Haze and Atmosphere
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Methane Clouds
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False Colored Image
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Map of Titan
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Methane Rain Lakes
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Huygens sees Shoreline descending
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SOHO

• The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
  monitors the Sun (launched 1995). It provides
  crucial early warnings of impending space weather
  that can destroy satellites and knock out power
  grids. Scientists credit SOHO with allowing
  forecasts that prevent damage and losses that
  might otherwise occur.

Erupting prominence
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Hubble Space Telescope

• Launched 1993
• Above the atmosphere
• 2.4m Mirror

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HST Planets
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Hubble Ultra Deep Field
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HST M51 Spiral Galaxy
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The Night Sky in November

• The sun is past autumn equinox - longer nights!
• Autumn constellations are coming up Cassiopeia,
  Pegasus, Perseus, Andromeda, Pisces ? lots of
  open star clusters!
• Mars is visible later at night

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Moon Phases

• Today (Waning Crescent)
• 11/ 9 (New Moon)
• 11 / 17 (First Quarter Moon)
• 11 / 24 (Full Moon)
• (Last Quarter Moon)

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Today at Noon

• Sun at meridian, i.e. exactly south

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10 PM

• Typical observing hour, early October
• Mars
• Uranus
• Neptune

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Star Maps
40º

90º
Celestial North Pole everything turns around
this point Zenith the point right above you
the middle of the map
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West

• The summer triangle lingers on

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Due North

• Big Dipper points to the north pole

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High up the Autumn Constellations

• W of Cassiopeia
• Big Square of Pegasus
• Andromeda Galaxy

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Andromeda Galaxy

• PR Foto
• Actual look

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South-East

• Perseus,
• Auriga Taurus
• with Plejades and the Double Cluster

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South-West 2006

• Planets
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Zodiac
• Capricorn
• Aquarius

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South-West 2007

• Planets
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Zodiac
• Capricorn
• Aquarius

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Mark your Calendars!

• Next Starry Monday February 4, 2008, 7 pm
• (this is a Monday
  )
• Observing at Prairie Oaks Metro Park
• Friday, November 16, 630 pm
• Friday, January 11, 600 pm
• Friday, February 15, 630 pm
• Web pages
• http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp
  (Obs.)
• http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics
  Dept.)

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Mark your Calendars II

• Physics Coffee is every Wednesday, 330 pm
• Open to the public, everyone welcome!
• Location across the hall, Science 256
• Free coffee, cookies, etc.