LONGMONT ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY - JUNE 2022 - SH 2-9" BY TALLY O'DONNELL "SHARPLESS 2-240, SPAGHETTI NEBULA" BY DAVID ELMORE
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Longmont Astronomical Society
June 2022
Sh 2-9” by Tally O’Donnell Volume 38, No 5, June 2022
“Sharpless 2-240, Spaghetti Nebula” ISSN 2641-8886 (web)
by David ElMore ISSN 2641-8908 (print)
LAS Meeting June 16 at 7 pm
Evidence for Ancient Astronomy in Chaco Culture by Cherilynn Morrow
Bio
Dr. Cherilynn Morrow earned a PhD in solar astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1988. She conducted
graduate research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and post-doctoral research at Cambridge Uni-
versity. Her dissertation research revealed a new model for the internal rotation of the Sun.
While serving as a visiting scientist at NASA Headquarters in the early 1990’s she began her award-winning work to
integrate education and public outreach programs into scientific research environments in space and Earth science.
Her work expanded to integrating the arts and indigenous culture during subsequent leadership roles in science
education at the Space Science Institute, the SETI Institute, Georgia State University (GSU), and the Aspen Global
Change Institute (AGCI). She is renowned for cross-cultural teaching innovations (e.g. Kinesthetic Astronomy and
AstroJazz) that integrate art with science, and engage body, mind, and spirit.
Dr. Morrow has designed and implemented hundreds of professional and leader-
ship development experiences for educators, and for scientists in education. This has
included workshops and conference sessions for NASA and NSF scientists, Native
American educators, National Park rangers, naturalists, science center & planetarium
educators, artists, and yoga students.
Since 2005, Dr. Morrow has contributed hundreds of hours in support of interpre-
tive and research programs at Chaco Culture National Historical Park. This includes
directing the NASA-sponsored Chaco Educator Institute in Astronomy ( June 2008)
where educators conducted mentored research in archaeoastronomy. She has also
developed multi-sensory interpretive programs for Chaco cultural sites and provided
support for archival and field research.
In September 2015, Cherilynn became a Fellow of the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences via her
productive 2-week residency that generated new original music for AstroJazz.
Since 2020, Dr. Morrow has served as the Outreach Director for the NASA PUNCH mission to study the solar
corona and inner heliosphere as a unified system. She leads the development and implementation of the multi-insti-
tutional, multi-cultural PUNCH Outreach program using an Ancient & Modern Sun Watching theme. The theme
emphasizes ancient and contemporary Sun watching in Chaco Canyon and portrays NASA exploration of the Sun
as a natural extension of humanity’s age-old devotion to observing the Sun’s rhythms and mysteries. The theme is
designed to provide meaningful pathways for diverse populations to enjoy personal and cross-cultural connections
to both NASA Heliophysics and to the observation of upcoming solar eclipses.
The meeting will be at Erie Highlands Clubhouse at 185 Highlands Cir, Erie, CO 80516. Directions: head towards
Erie on Hwy 287 and turn to the east on Erie Parkway (aka Isabelle Rd). Turn right (south) at the light on High-
lands Blvd and then right on Highlands Cir (west); continue for about half a block. Clubhouse is across the street to
your left (south). The meeting will also be available on Zoom.
About LAS
The Longmont Astronomical Society Newsletter ISSN 2641-8886 (web) and ISSN 2641-8908 (print) is published monthly
by the Longmont Astronomical Society, P. O. Box 806, Longmont, Colorado. Newsletter Editor is Vern Raben. Our website
URL is https://www.longmontastro.org and the webmaster is Sarah Detty. The Longmont Astronomical Society is a 501
c(3), non-profit corporation which was established in 1987.
The Longmont Astronomical Society is affiliated with the Astronomical League
(https://www.astroleague.org). The Astronomical League is an umbrella organiza-
tion of amateur astronomy societies in the United States.
Page 2 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Contents
rF ont Cover “ h 2-9” by Tally ’DOonnell
S
2 LAS eM eting June 16 at 7 pm, v“E idence for Ancient Astronomy in Chaco Culture”
by Cherilynn oM rrow
3 Contents
LAS Ocers, Board eM mbers, and Appointed Positions in 2022
4-7 o“N tes for the aM y 19 eM eting” by Vern Raben, Secretary
7 eN wsletter Archive for June 2002 and 2012
7 onight’
“T s Lunar Eclipse” by rB ian Kimball
“Jupiter” by aG ry aG rzone
8 a“N vigating the June iN ght Sky” by John Goss
9 “A Springtime Attraction: La Superba” by John Goss
10 “ e Planets in June” and “Jupiter & Callisto’s Shadow on aM y 27” by Vern Raben
11 C “ omet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARR S)”
12 C “ omet 45P/oH nda-iM rkos-Pajdusakova”
13 C “ omet C/2021 P4 (ATLAS)
14 “Sh 2-140 in HO and aH ” by Stephen aG rretson
15 “Sh 2-115 Area” and “NG C 6888 in HO” by Stephen aG rretson
16 “ e Lunar Eclipse and Luna” by Sarah Detty
17 “M106” by Rolando aG rcia
18 wo “ T aG laxies in Coma Berenices” by M. J. Post
19 l“B ack yE e aG laxy” and “M57, Ring eN bula” by Jim Pollock
20 “M20, Trid eN bula” and “M104, Sombrero aG laxy” by Jim Pollock
21 “M51, Whirlpool aG laxy” and “M13, eH rcules Globular Cluster” by Jim Pollock
22 i“F rst Lunar Eclipse” by Jake lB acks’ girl friend
l“B ood Red Lunar Eclipse” by Jim lE ik ns
23 “M97, Owl eN bula” and “M51, Whirlpool aG laxy” by aG ry aG rzone
24 “M8, Lagoon eN bula” and o“M re Lunacy” by aG ry aG rzone
25 “M13 eH rcules Globular Cluster” and Supernova SN 2022srs” by Eddie u H nnell
26 l“B ue oH rsehead” and “Rho Ophiuchus and Antares” by aD vid lE more
27 “Solar Region 3023 in aH ” and oday’
“T s Solar m I age in Calcium K (May 26) by rB ian Kimball
aB ck Cover l“B ue oH rsehead” by aD vid lE more
LAS Officers and Board Members in 2022
• Stephen Garretson, President Board Members:
• M. J. Post, Vice President David Elmore, Gary Garzone,
• Vern Raben, Secretary Mike Hotka, Brian Kimball, and
• Bruce Lamoreaux, Treasurer Tally O’Donnell
Appointed Positions 2022
Sarah Detty, Webmaster; Bruce Lamoreaux, Library Telescope Coordinator;
Vern Raben, Newsletter Editor
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 3
Notes for Thurs. May 19 Meeting by Vern Raben, secretary
I. Prologue
olution becomes smaller letting you see finer resolution of
objects in the sky.
The meeting was our first in-person meeting for about
a year. It was also the first time we had a Zoom speaker Radio astronomy is more electrical engineer than astrono-
present to an in-person audience. The meeting started my as dealing with radio photons is different than dealing
okay except that the camera for the in-person video wasn’t with optical photons. The radio frequency range is huge
working. Stephen opened the meeting, introduced the
officers, board members, and appointed positions as usual.
He then began a video as part of his presentation but that
didn’t work. It took a few minutes for us to realize that the
problem was loss of the internet connection. We had to set
up a new connection on an alternate network.
Not everything went badly. The audio from Zoom was
clear and easily heard anywhere in the room. The screen compared with the visible part of electrical magnetic
projector showed the presentation clearly. The wireless spectrum. The quantum mechanics and physics changes
microphones worked great. We were able to converse back throughout the range. This means the sensors to detect the
and forth with the speaker and other members attending photons varies depending on the frequency range.
remotely via Zoom. After a reboot the in-person camera
worked as well. BTW, BeauJo’s pizza was great!
II. Main Presentation - “The Atacama Large Milli-
meter/sub millimeter Array (ALMA) and Game
Changing Science” by Joe Pesce
Stephen introduced Dr. Joe Pesce and he began his presen-
tation on the “Atacama Large millimeter/sub millimeter
Array (ALMA)”.
With large arrays and computer technology signals from
smaller antennas may be combined to simulate a very large
telescope with exquisite resolution. Because there is space
between the individual antennas we trade off sensitivity. In
the case of ALMA there are 66 antennas.
Atacama in northern Chile is a very high plateau at almost
In order to simulate a large telescope we need to keep
17000 ft elevation where the ALMA antennas are located.
track of the time the photons are arriving to the level of
In the picture above you can see 3 or 4 volcanos surround-
a nanosecond. Each antenna has a MASER acting as an
ing the plateau. Some of the volcanos are still active. The
atomic clock. It injects time signals each nanosecond into
picture was taken during construction, so many though
the datastream. The backend converts photons into an
not all, the antennas are visible.
electronic signal which is sent along with the time signal
through fiber optics to a super computer called a correla-
ALMA consists of 66 antennas: 54 of which are 12 me-
tor.
ter antennas and 12 are 7 meter antennas. The antennas
have a spacing from 150 meters to 16 kilometers. The
The correlator compares each antenna with every other
wavelength range is 0.32 to 6 mm (950 - 35 GHz). Water
antenna aligning time stamps and signal with that from
vapor absorbs in the millimeter part of the spectrum. The
other antennas. The output is a radio observation simulat-
Atacama desert was chosen because it was thought that
ing that of a large telescope. We get exquisite resolution
it rained there once every 150 years. It turns out that is
because R = � / B where � is wavelength divided by B
not the case, it receives more moisture than that. During
which is baseline. As the baseline becomes larger the res-
Page 4 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
winter (Februrary) it is necessary to shut down because of
the large amount of snow. At 16,570 ft elevation ALMA
is the highest scientific observatory on earth. It is the most
complex scientific instrument on Earth. It recieves the
most proposals for any scientific instrument -- currently
more than the James Webb space telescope.
The correlator is the world’s fastest super computer. It is
not “smart” as all it does is multiply numbers together very
rapidly. It compares each antenna to every other antenna,
ALMA is an international organization and each wished correlates and rectifies the time signal and outputs an as-
to support industries in their own country so there are 4 tronomical image. It uses 20 year old technology. If it were
different types of construction which were built to the built today it probably fit into one of the squares in the
same specification. Mitsubishi developed the 7 meter instrument racks.
antennas used in the core. MT Aerospace in Germany built
the European 12 meter antennas. Vertex Antenna Systems
in Santa Clara, CA built the North American 12 meter
antennas.
The typical receiver is about 1/2 meter (18 inches) tall.
The bottom of the receiver is at room temperature; at the
top it chilled
to 4 degrees
above abso-
lute zero.
We are ob-
serving very
cold objects A unique aspect of ALMA is the two transporters built for
in outer free by the Scheuerle company in Germany. They are each
space so the powered by two 1200 HP engines. Two were required as
instrument
needs to be
cooled below
that tempera-
ture. Oth-
erwise the
noise would
cancel the
signal to be
observed.
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 5
the efficiency of the engines is decreased by 60% due to the In the previous image, the galaxy taken by the Hubble
altitude. There are 14 pairs of wheels which can be inde- Space Telescopeis overlaid with images of three different
pendently steered. The antennas must be kept powered molecules detected by ALMA. Carbon monosulfide is
while there being moved because it necessary to maintain shown in cyan, cyanoactylene shown in peach, and carbon
the 4 degrees Kelvin temperatures. The transporter moves monoxide shown in purple. These molecules are in star
to the antenna and connects to it providing power from forming regions of the galaxy,
the transporter’s generators. It picks up the 100 ton an-
tenna and moves it to another pad placing it within a 1/2
centimeter accuracy.
ALMA has detected planetary disks but it also has de-
tected circumplanetary disks. On the right the arrow is
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) used ALMA data to pointing at PDS 70c which is a planet. Note that unlike
produce the first image of a black hole M87. The image is PDS 70b the planet on the left, PDS 70c has material
the highest resolution ever achieved -- 50 μas. The EHT is around it. This is interpretted as a circumplanetary disk
acting as an array of telescopes more sensitive than ALMA. in which moons are forming. The planet is slightly larger
However, ALMA is an integral part. Note that 50 μas is than Jupiter. This is a first discovered due to the exquisite
the equivalent of an orange being observed on the moon resolution of ALMA.
or the width of the human hair observed at 1000 km (621
miles).
A couple months ago ALMA detected interaction of two
stars in a newly formed star cluster. On the left and right
we see a streamer of material being pulled off the proto-
planetary star as another has passed nearby. It was suspect-
ed this happened from simulations but this is the first time
it has been observed.
Page 6 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
V. Financial Report – Bruce Lamoreaux June 2012
Main Checking Account ~ $9020 The LAS meeting in June will again
2-Year Savings Account - $8,120 be at the LaBella Vita Coffee House
Telescope Fund - $1,100 at 475 Main in downtown Longmont.
Petty Cash - $50 Ray Warren will give a presentation
Total Assets - $18, 290 about the transition of space flight to
Regular members: 106 private industry.
Student Members: 7
Total: 115 Following Ray’s talk we will have discussion of our obser-
vatory proposal to the city of Longmont.
VI. Old Business
Thank you to everyone who showed up at Rabbit Moun- At the observatory committee meeting on May 22nd there
tain. Star party at Frederick HS for the lunar eclipse was was considerable discussion regarding the advantages and
very nice, blue sky, thanks to all for supporting that as well. disadvantages of possible locations for the observatory
An 8-1 majority of those present opposed continuing
VII. New Business with plans at the Sunset Golf Course and thought that we
Not sure about where the next meeting in June will be just should investigate other sites such as the Sandstone Ranch
yet. In July we will be at Lyons Library. Rabbit Mountain visitor center parking area.
star party coming up in June.
A design for that location is being developed and will be
presented at the meeting on Thursday. There will be a vote
Newsletter Archive
by the membership as to the preferred location following
June 2002
the discussion.
There was a large LAS turnout at the
Rocky Mountain Star Star (RMSS)
in the mountains west of Colorado
Springs. In the ATM walk-about
Gary won best system design with his
30 inch. There were lots of equatorial
tables for big dob scopes. New idea
this year was addition of cooling fans
across top of primary. Best homebuilt
this year was a 21 inch dobsonian. Jim Sapp was one of the
first to see the fire while we were eating dinner. With 30
mile per hour winds the fire became huge very quickly. We
cheered at the arrival of the Air Force and Marine firefight-
“Jupiter” by Gary Garzone
ers and brave slurry bomber pilots.
“Tonight’s Lunar Eclipse” by Brian Kimball
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 7
Navigating the June Night Sky by John Goss Page 8 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 9
The Planets in June pened last in 1998). This meteor shower is associated
with comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke.
Mercury
Lunar Phases in June
Mercury rises after nautical dawn it probably will not
be visible without telescope larger than 80mm dia this • First quarter: June 7 at 8:49 am
month. • Full moon: June 14 at 5:53 am
• Third quarter June 20 at 9:12 pm
Venus • New moon: June 28 at 8:53 pm
Venus is best seen very low in the ENE around 4:30
Deep Sky Targets in June
am. It is about magnitude -3.9 in brightness and its disc
decreases from 14 to 12 arc sec across this month. Globular clusters
Mars • M22 in Sagittarius magnitude 5.1
• M4 in Scorpius magnitude 5.6
Mars may be seen in the ESE before sunrise. It increases • M5 in Serpens magnitude 5.7
in apparent brightness from magnitude +0.7 to +0.4 this • M13 in Hercules magnitude 5.8
month. Its disk increases from 6.4 to 7.3 arc sec across.
Next Mars opposition is Dec. 7, 2022. Bright Nebula
Jupiter • IC 4605 reflection nebula in Scoprius magnitude 4.7
• IC 1396 “Elephant Trunk” nebula magnitude emis-
Jupiter is visible as well in the ESE just west of Mars. It
sion nebula in Cepheus mag 5.6
increases in apparent brightness from magnitude -2.3 to-
• IC 4592 “Blue horsehead” nebula in Scorpius mag-
2.6 and increases in size from 37 to 41 arc sec across this
nitude 3.9
month. Next Jupiter opposition is Sept. 26, 2022. Good
• IC 4604 Rho Ophiuchi nebula mag 5.1
times to view the Great Red Spot (GRS) transiting the
• M17 Omega Nebula in Sagittarius mag 6.0
center this month:
• M8 Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius mag 6.0
• June 4 at 4:39 am at an altitude of 27°
• June 9 at 3:48 am at an altitude of 21° Galaxies
• June 16 at 4:35 am at an altitude of 34° • M81 “Bode’s Nebula” spiral galaxy in Ursa Major mag-
• June 21 at 3:44 am at an altitude of 28° nitude 6.8
• June 26 at 2:53 am at an altitude of 22° • M101”Pinwheel” spiral galaxy in Ursa Major mag-
• June 28 at 4:31 am at an altitude of 40° nitude 7.8 M51 “Whirlpool” spiral galaxy in canes
venatici magnitude 7.9
Saturn
• M94 spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici magnitude 7.9
In the early morning Saturn is in the south in constella-
Planetary Nebula
tion Capricornus. Saturn will be about magnitude +0.7
in brightness and its disk will be 18 arc sec across. • M27 “Dumbbell” planetary nebula in Vulpecula mag-
nitude 7.1
Uranus • NGC 6572 “Blue Racketball” planetary nebula in
Uranus becomes visible after about the 21st in the ENE Ophiuchus magnitude 8.0
near Venus. • NGC 6543 “Cat’s Eye” planetary nebula in Draco
• NGC 7027 “Jewel Bug” planetary nebula in Cygnus
Neptune
magnitude 8.5
Neptune may be found between Jupiter and Mars in the
ESE before sunrise. It is magnitude 7.9 in brightness
and 2.2 arc sec across.
Meteor Showers
June Bootids peak on night of June 26-27 radiant at
RA=14h56m Dec=+48°00’. Normally only about 1 or
2 per hour are seen but occasionaly 100 per hour (hap-
Jupiter & Callisto’s Shadow on May 27 by Vern Raben
Page 10 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.orgComet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)
Created with SkyTools 4
Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min)
June 1 2:38 am 18h21m00.5s +09°17’50” Ophiuchus 9.7 5.0
June 7 2:07 am 18h11m26.7s +08°14’18” Ophiuchus 9.6 5.3
June 13 3:41 am 18h00m39.1s +06°54’18” Ophiuchus 9.5 5.5
June 19 12:56 am 17h49m18.4s +05°21’08” Ophiuchus 9.3 5.7
June 25 12:20 am 17h37m08.2s +03°31’04” Ophiuchus 9.3 5.8
June 30 11:50 pm 17h26m43.1s +01°48’18” phiuchus 9.2 5.9
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 1145P/Honda-Mirkos-Pajdusakova Created with SkyTools 4 Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min) June 1 9:48 pm 06h53m13.8s +24°42’12” Gemini 9.3 3.7 June 6 9:53 pm 07h22m02.3s +24°10’41” Gemini 10.0 3.6 June 11 9:57 pm 07h48m40.8s +23°23’02” Gemini 10.7 3.5 June 16 10:00 pm 08h13m11.8s +22°23’32” Cancer 11.4 3.3 June 23 Not Visible June 29 Not Visible Page 12 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
C/2021 P4 (ATLAS)
Created with SkyTools 4
Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min)
June 1 10:11 pm 06h30m43.0s +53°58’38” Lynx 10.9 2.4
June 7 10:15 pm 07h01m17.8s +51°19’54” Lynx 10.6 2.4
June 13 10:14 pm 07h29m33.5s +48°12’15” Lynx 10.3 2.4
June 19 10:16 pm 07h55m26.3s +44°38’35” Lynx 10.0 2.5
June 25 10:13 pm 08h19m00.6s +40°42’37” Lynx 9.7 2.5
June 30 10:09 pm 08h37m01.6s +37°11’44” Lynx 9.5 2.5
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 13“Sh 2-140 Area in HOO” by Stephen Garretson
“Sh 2-140 Area in Ha” by Stephen Garretson
Page 14 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“Sh 2-115 Area” by Stephen Garretson
“NGC 6888 in HOO” by Stephen Garretson
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 15“The Lunar Eclipse and Luna (that’s Luna in the lower right) by Sarah Detty Page 16 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“M 106” by Rolando Garcia” Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 17
“Two Galaxies in Coma Berenices” by M. J. Post Page 18 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“Black Eye Galaxy” by Jim Pollock
“M57, Ring Nebula” by Jim Pollock
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 19“M20, Trifd Nebula” by Jim Pollock
“M104, Sombrero Galaxy” by Jim Pollock
Page 20 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M51, Whirlpool Galaxy” by Jim Pollock “M13, Hercules Globular Cluster” by Jim Pollock Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 21
“First image of lunar eclipse” by Jake Black’s girl friend
“Tonight’s blood red lunar eclipse” by Jim Elkins
Page 22 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M97, Owl Nebula” by Gary Garzone
“M51, Whirlpool Galaxy” by Gary Garzone
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 23“M8, Lagoon Nebula” by Gary Garzone
“More lunacy” by Gary Garzone
Page 24 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M13, Hercules Globular Cluster” by Eddie Hunnell
“Super nova SN-2022srs” by Eddie Hunnell
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 25“Blue Horsehead” by David Elmore
“Rho Ophiuchi and Antares” by David Elmore
Page 26 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“Solar active region
AR 3023 in Ha” by
Brian Kimball
“Today’s Solar Image in Calcium K (May 26)” by Brian Kimball
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, June 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 27Longmont Astronomical Society
PO Box 806, Longmont, CO
https://www.longmontastro.org
“Blue Horsehead”
by David ElmoreYou can also read
