January- February 2014

The Newsletter of ABAA

Issue 17 / January-February 2014

Akasha Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers

Sequential collage of the progress of the annual solar eclipse, January 2010. Members of ABAA, have, of course, seen this image proudly displayed on the wall of the office.

Choosing Astrophotography equipment, part 1

Page 5

Higgs- Boson

Also

An introduction to this

E is for expanding universe – page 10

fascinating field

Page 7

Comet ISON – pages 4 and 12

January-February 2014 Dear readers, Editorial Board Jayant Basavarajaiah Kiran Subash Prakash Subbanna Ravindra Aradhya Sanjay A Pai ( with a little bit of help from my friends !)

This newsletter is on your screen largely due to the efforts of Archit R and Gaurav K ( see picture adjacent to this column) ; the AKASHA production problems that I was facing have been dealt with, with considerable panache by these two young members and the result is right in front of you to see. We awaited Comet ISON for over a year – and, well,….it behaved just as comets often do ! Read, in this issue, what some members of ABAA have to lament – and celebrate. We also have Nobel prize-related information and more. We look forward, as ever, to your suggestions, ideas – and articles !

Contact us at JN Planetarium T Chowdaiah Road, Bangalore, 560001 We meet at the JN Planetarium every Sunday at 5:30 PM Email: [email protected] Facebook: ABAA Bangalore Page Read our Blog: http://abaaonline.blogspot.in

The skies have just not been clear for quite some time now – but let’s hope that with the good news of the launch of India’s Mars orbiter and China’s moon mission, things brighten up !

Sanjay A Pai

Akasha is the newsletter of ABAA, Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers. We look forward to submissions, ideas, articles and photos from the universe of astronomy. All submissions – including comments, criticism and feedback to: [email protected]

January-February 2014

Inner planets – part 2 Inner planets – part 1

ABAA meeting, December 8, 2013 The discussion helped members calculate the angular size, phases, path and the atmosphere of the inner planets. Mere observation through telescope or following transit of the planet can help us calculate the angular size of the planet. It simply requires us to note the time of entry of the planet at one end of telescope or sun (in case of transit) and time of exit of the planet to reach the other end of telescope or sun, as the case may be. Another technique to calculate the angular size would be using Kepler’s law; however previous knowledge of its orbit and mass is required. (Angular size – how much space it occupies in the sky. It’s therefore not the actual size ). Since inner planets are between the Sun and the earth, they are observed as phases and not in a regular typical planet shape.

Phases change with the position and observing through the telescope can be fun. The path of the planet can be observed. Orbit, speed of the planet can be deduced by following the path of a planet. Atmosphere of the inner planets can be understood to an extent by transit and , very rarely even by grazing occultation.

---Harshitha SC.

ABAA meeting, December 15, 2013, session led by Ravi. The focus was to know more about the inner planets (see box on left for part 1). Inner planet’s orbits, synoidic rotation and revolution and layers of Mercury were the main highlights of the discussion. When Mercury is seen through the telescope, phases and craters are clearly visible. (Craters are due to reflection). Planetary orbits are eccentric, and that of Mercury has high eccentricity. This can be seen on tracking the planet by mere observation through naked eye for a period of time. Synoidic period (in simple terms, time taken for the planet to rotate to reach same phase from the initial observation) of Earth – Mercury is 116 days and that of Earth – Venus is 584 days. Following Mercury’s orbit through a telescope reveals

an interesting observation about its movement, one can see egg like tumbling movement, and this axis rotation is due to sun’s gravity. If one stood on Mercury, sun’s motion is seen with two retrograde motions each at one end - this is because of eccentricity of Mercury’s orbit. Relation of rotation and revolution of Mercury is quite interesting – Mercury would rotate thrice on completing two rotations; its rotation being 58 days and revolution being 88 days Mercury is believed to have an iron core, followed by middle liquid core, and then a thin layer of ferrous sulphate, and a mantle in the outermost surface. Temperature of Mercury can experience low temperatures during night, though closer to sun. We ended the session with Ravi showing the orbit of Mercury using stellarium by playing with date and time ; it was a glimpse of the entire session and a treat to watch Mercury’s path in the sky. -

Harshitha SC.

January-February 2014 The Disappointing Comet ISON! It was the first Sunday of December, the first day of the month and the first time we were meeting after ISON… and the topic for discussion in ABAA was Comet ISON, the disappointing comet of the century!! This discussion session was everything about comet ISON breaking hearts of all the astronomers (amateurs) around the world who were waiting for the spectacular show of Comet which all were tracking since past 1 year since its discovery on 21 September 2012 by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok. The discovery was made using the 0.4-meter (16 in) reflector of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia. Data processing was carried out by automated asteroid-discovery program CoLiTec. But all were disappointed by its death when Comet ISON went around the sun on November 28, 2013. Several solar observatories watched the comet throughout this closest approach to the sun, known as perihelion. While the fate of the comet is not yet established, it is likely that it did not survive the trip. The discussion at ABAA was about the same : what can make a comet disintegrate? The possible reasons include : 1) Gravity: Gravity plays very crucial role in an Comets orbit, it can deviate a comets path and attract it towards a larger mass body like Sun or any planet. This can rip apart the comets mass.

3) Flares: When comet approached near Sun its tremendous fares would have destroyed the comet.

4) Collision: This reason remembered the comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 which broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994, providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects. In Comet ISON’s case it did not collide with any object. 5) Loss of Mass: This would be because of many reasons like temperature variations, again gravity plays its role here sucking the comet towards larger Mass body. 6) Tidal forces: This causes molecules in the comet to disintegrate. The discussion even included some information regarding the orbits and possible visibility of other comets like Lovejoy and Halley’s. Even though none of the attended members were out of the shock about comet ISON all were ready to see the comet Lovejoy the next morning and even comet Halley which is about to return to the inner solar system in the year 2061. It was good to know that amateurs predicted the perihelion of Comet ISON before professional astronomers could ! -

Gaurav H.

BIRTHDAYS… AND A WEDDING 2) Unstable core: A comet can disintegrate even by its own body instability.

Akasha wishes Santhosh S (29th January ) and Aniruddha Mirmira ( 5th February ) a very happy birthday ! Meanwhile, on December 10, 2013, Vikas married Dia in Bangalore. We wish them the very best – and clear skies - in life !


Equipment for Astrophotography-I

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define the aperture of the lens, the focal length, focus distance and the exposure length.

Sathyakumar Sharma Amateur astronomers are of several types. Some observe the night sky with naked eyes, some with a pair of binoculars, others with telescopes, both self made and bought commercially, while there are some more who are not content with just visually observing the night sky. They like to capture or record these astronomical objects on media for future reference, or just to show off. Jokes apart, astrophotographers can be a very serious lot. Unlike visual observing wherein the procedure is fairly straightforward involving a telescope, eyepieces and optional star maps, astrophotography requires a lot of pre planning, more sophisticated equipment. The story of astrophotography starts with John Adams Whipple (1822-1891). He, along with William Cranch Bond, director of Harvard Observatory, used the great refractor at Harvard to make daguerreotypes of the Moon. Humans, with their long way since exposing silver plates to light to penchant for technical advancement, have come a record images. We are now in the age of the Silicon, and with every advancing day electronic equipments are shrinking in size, while the technology grows by several magnitudes. Astronomers started using glass plates for photographing the stars through large telescopes, then they moved on to photographic film of large format, now they use electronic, photo sensitive chips made of semiconductor material like Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) or Charge Coupled Device (CCD). But what exactly is required for capturing the Cosmos on an Amateur scale? Below I shall explain some of the equipment required, and in some cases complete technique of how to take your first photos of the night sky. Wide Field Astrophotography: Equipment Required: Camera: E.g. Canon 550D, Digital SLR or Pentax S1 film SLR. Both these cameras are capable of being completely controlled manually. That is the user can

Remote controller: The digital SLR cameras use an Intervalometer, employed to electronically program the camera to take a user defined number of exposures, of defined exposure time. The film SLR camera can be controlled by the use of a Cable release that permits the user t time his exposure. Tripod: A very sturdy tripod with a pan and tilt head to attach and point the camera at the region of interest in the sky. Procedure: Tripod and SLR photography is perhaps best done from a location that is far away from intruding light pollution like street lamps, and city lights. A village is perhaps ideal. Reach the location with lots of daylight to spare. Mount the camera on the tripod during the day time and choose a lens with a short focal length (if a single focal length) or say medium focal length like 28mm in a kit lens (multiple focal length lens). Set the aperture to the widest possible, like F3.8 or F/4.0. Point the camera at a tree at a distance of about a hundred meters and focus. If the lens has an infinity mark on it, set it to the mark. This is done because stars are considered to be at infinity for all practical purposes. Now that you are ready to shoot the stars, simply point the camera to the region of interest in the sky like the Milky Way or some bright constellation like Orion. Called Diurnal motion, the movement of the sky is about 1 arc minute every 15 seconds. Any exposure longer than 15 seconds results in noticeable trails in the photo taken. To register the milky way prominently on the sensor of the DSLR, one can take several exposures of 15 seconds, then using a free software like deep sky stacker, the user can stack all the photos on top of each other to add the signal or data. One can then use the levels and curves option in Photoshop to bring out the detail in the photo. The exact details are beyond the scope of this article as Astrophotography itself is a topic worthy of an entire book. an example of a wide field photo taken using a film SLR and tripod is shown below.

January-February 2014 Planetary Photography:

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Equipment required: Telescope: A Refractor, or preferably a long focal length Cassegrain telescope like the Maksutov Cassegrain. However, any telescope with a reasonably long focal length, boosted by a Barlow lens will also serve the purpose. Larger the aperture of the telescope, more the magnification that can be obtained, resulting in highly detailed imagery. Mount: German Equatorial mount, with a Clock Drive tracking mechanism at the very least, preferably a computerised GOTO mount. Increased complexity of the mount also means increased precision in tracking, making errors minimal.

Tripod and SLR photography is perhaps the easiest and the least expensive of all types of astrophotography. I shall sincerely urge the reader to attempt this method with his or her own camera or even a camera borrowed from a friend. For more information on Wide field photography, one may wish to refer the book "Wide Field Astrophotography" written by Robert Reeves, an acclaimed author, published by Willmann-Bell.

Camera: Good quality computer web camera at the very least, though not recommended highly owing to the fact that these cameras compress files, thereby loosing important data. Recommended would be a dedicated high speed planetary video camera like the QHY5, Orion Star Shoot, Opticstar PL-131C or the higher end and more expensive Point Grey Instruments Flea 3. A laptop installed with a free to download frame stacking software like the Registax or Autostakkert 2 is mandatory for any of the above cameras. Dedicated planetary cameras come supplied with a standard 1.25" adapter that allows the user to directly slide the camera into the focuser of the telescope as well as dedicated capture software. A web camera will require the adapter to be purchased separately as well as the free software SharpCap will have to be downloaded for capture. A DSLR with video mode can also be used.

Many amateur astrophotographers are content with the above mentioned method as it provides for an easy as well as "on the go" setup that one can keep packed in a rucksack for travel. However, many amateur astronomers, that is those who are not merely content with a wide field photo of the starry sky, but would like to "zoom in" on specific objects of interest like galaxies, nebulae, star clusters go one step (sometimes several steps) further and equip themselves with sophisticated telescopes, mounts, cameras and so on. The next section deals with such equipment and some techniques.

Procedure: Polar align the EQ mount and centre the target in the centre of a medium power eyepiece or preferably a cross hair eyepiece. Centring is crucial to the procedure. This is because the CCD/CMOS sensors in the planetary cameras are very small, typically about 6mm diagonal, thereby giving a highly restricted field of view. If the planet is not centred it may not be visible on the laptop screen when the eyepiece is exchanged with the camera and Barlow combination. Once the planet is centred, switch the eyepiece with the Barlow, followed by the camera, but take care not to disturb the setup. One

Photo: Orion behind trees. Taken with borrowed equipment from Shivanahalli, Bangalore, (26th January 2006)

January-February 2014 should not be surprised if the planet is not visible on the laptop screen. It will be present, but will merely be highly out of focus. Therefore we then turn the focus knob of the telescope to bring the planet or moon into focus. The frame rate of the camera has to be decided by the user on the spot depending on the seeing conditions prevalent at the time of capture. A video lasting about 60 to 90 seconds should suffice. Dedicated camera software's allow the user to fiddle with the ISO or Gain or Sensitivity of the camera, as well as exposure times. The video is typically captured and saved as an AVI file format from which it is imported to Registax or Autostakkert and processed further to obtain a still image. A DSLR also has to be used the same way in video mode, the only object missing will be the laptop for capture.

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The Higgs Boson and Physics Beyond the Standard Model Priyanka Rao People of science around the world wouldn’t forget th the date 4 July 2012. It’s not only the day the United States of America got her independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776, but more than two centuries later the discovery of a new kind of particle was announced worldwide. It was a sensation at the CERN ( European Organization for Nuclear Research) laboratory in Geneva. A particle once predicted to exist almost 50 years ago by a physicist named Peter Higgs has been finally discovered. This particle is famously known as the “God Particle” or by its proper name the “Higgs Boson”. So what is a Higgs Boson and why are we making such a big deal of it? To understand the Higgs we need to step back a little and get familiar with the known elementary particles in nature. The picture below shows the ‘Standard Model of Particle Physics’. It contains all the elementary particles that have been discovered up until now.

Photo: Jupiter, Great Red Spot and Two Galilean Satellites In the next section, I shall introduce the reader to Equipment for deep sky photography and some of the procedures involved.

The Standard Model of Particle Physics. Courtsey Google images

January-February 2014 By elementary we mean that these particles are fundamental and are not made of some other particles. The red shaded boxes in the picture above are called Quarks and there are six kinds of them that have been discovered so far. They are up quark, down quark, charm quark, strange quark, top quark and bottom quark. The lightest of all is the up quark and the heaviest is the top quark. The particles in the green and orange boxes are known as the leptons and they come in three flavours/generations. They are the electron and electron neutrino, the muon and muon neutrino and the tau and tau neutrino. Basically muon and tau are just like the electron in every way except they are a bit heavier. Why is this so? No one knows. The particles in the blue area are known as the force carriers. They are the gluon, photon, the W and Z particles. Gluons are messenger particles of the strong force. This is the force that binds particles in an atom. Photons are messenger particles of light or to put it more appropriately; the electromagnetic force. The W and Z particles are messenger particles of the weak force that powers up our sun and other stars. It’s because of the weak force that a star shines. So overall the model describes the matter particles like the quarks and leptons and force carriers such as the strong and weak nuclear force, electromagnetic force. But this model is not complete. It doesn’t account for gravity. After all this is the force we all feel so strongly. Gravity is what makes the planets move around in its orbit and why we are stuck to the ground rather than floating in the air. The messenger particle for gravity is known as the Graviton. This particle has only been hypothesized and not discovered yet. Gravity is by far the weakest of all the known forces. Why? Take a test and see for yourself. Gravity is known to exert a powerful force but that’s just an illusion. It’s actually very feeble. If you have dropped your car keys on the floor and you are too lazy to pick it up, take a magnet and move closer to the keys. The magnet will grab hold of it overcoming the attractive force of gravity. Electromagnetism wins the day. But where does the Higgs fit into all this??

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The theory predicts that if it weren’t for a particular field called the Higgs field, all these elementary particles would have been massless. But it is a given that electrons have mass. The quarks have mass. The W and Z particles have masses too. They have been experimentally proven. So if they have mass, which they do, where is this field that is responsible for their masses? In other words, the theory predicts a particle which is a messenger particle of this field. The field is the Higgs field and its messenger particle is known as the Higgs boson. The Higgs field permeates all of space. It’s everywhere and not just in outer-space. It’s between you and me, in your room, at school, at your work place...everywhere. The higgs field is known to give masses to all the elementary particles mentioned in the standard model. Some particles interacts weakly with the field and hence have low mass. Some interact more strongly and end up having a greater mass. Some don’t interact at all like the photons and hence are massless and travels at the speed of light. The top quark interacts more strongly with the higgs field and is heaviest of all the quarks. Same goes for the W and Z particles. Any good analogy phenomenon ? Yes.

that

can

describe

this

Imagine you and your friend are walking down the road. The only difference between you and him is that he is a famous movie star. As you walk down together you see a whole bunch of people running towards you and your friend. Clearly they have noticed your friend and wish to take an autograph from him. The crowd gathers around you and him but due to some other engagement both of you decided to walk past them without stopping. Can you do that? Of course you can without any problem. You may wiggle a bit but people wouldn’t stop you. What about your friend? As he is a famous personality people will flock around him and this would make it difficult for your friend to walk past them. He needs to exert more force and push his way through as people around him gather to take an autograph. This analogy holds good for the up quark and the top quark. Imagining the crowd as the Higgs field, the up quark (which is you) exerts less force and can walk past the crowd more easily. Your

January-February 2014 interaction with the crowd is not strong. So you end up with a low mass. Whereas the top quark (which is your friend) exerts more force and his interaction with the crowd is strong. In the process the top quark gains mass. This doesn’t mean that your friend gains weight. This is just an analogy to help you understand the underlying principle of the Higgs mechanism. The more a particle interacts with the Higgs field, the higher its mass will be and vice versa. So why is it such a big deal? Look around you. All the beauty of the world that you can see with your naked eyes are just a bunch of particles assembled together to form molecules and matter. Matter is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. Electrons as you may recall are elementary particles and is a part of the standard model mentioned above. If it weren’t for the higgs field, the electrons would have been massless. (Again) why is it a big deal?? If electrons were massless, they would zip across through space at the speed of light and wouldn’t bind with atoms. If atoms are not formed, there will be no molecules that could bind together to form matter and hence no chemistry, no life! We exist curtsey of the Higgs field. If it weren’t for this field, we wouldn’t be here asking the question: What is life? Where have we come from? The universe would have been a different place indeed. Too different even to comprehend. And the same goes for the quarks which makes the protons and neutrons. But why do people talk of the Higgs boson and not the Higgs field? As mentioned earlier in this article, the Higgs field is everywhere. You can’t see it with your eyes or any

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manmade instrument. But if you pump enough energy you can create its particle that will signal the existence of the field. And that is what physicists have done at CERN. They smashed two protons both coming from opposite directions and looked what came out of the collision. With Einstein’s famous 2 equation E=MC , new particles are created from the collision. The energy sends out vibrations to the surrounding fields exciting them and out comes the particle of that field and in this case the higgs boson. Thus a Higgs boson appears to us as a larger vibration in the Higgs field. Similarly a photon is a vibration in the electromagnetic field etc... It is worth explaining this once again. So here goes... Two protons head towards a collision course. The energy that is liberated from such a collision sends out ripples to the surrounding fields which we cannot see. In this case, the ripples are felt in the Higgs field and the Higgs boson is the result of the higher vibration felt in the Higgs field. Where are we heading from here? We have determined the final piece of the standard model. Taking the discovery of the Higgs boson as the stepping stone, we now know that we are on the right track. Whatever comes out now will be beyond the standard model. It will be an exciting journey as we once again try to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Who knows what lies ahead ? There are many unresolved questions that need immediate attention such as what are dark matter and dark energy? Does super-symmetry and extra dimensions exists? Science isn’t over yet. There are many mysteries to solve, discoveries to be made, and of course Nobel prizes to be won!( Editor’s note – this was written in September 2013- just before the Nobels were announced ). Priyanka Rao


E is for….. E is for Einstein, E is for the Eagle nebula, E is for Europa….but for Anandteerth Ramesh Parvatikar, E is for…expanding universe. Introduction For thousands of years, astronomers wrestled with basic questions about the size and age of the Universe. Does the Universe go on forever, or does it have an edge somewhere? Has it always existed, or did it come to being sometime in the past? This riddle is now solved and proved by the discoveries and inventions done by scientists, astronomers (amateur as well as professional) and engineers in scientific theories, observation, measurements, and calculations. And the result is clear - the universe is expanding. Earlier Understanding The ancient Greeks recognized that it was difficult to imagine what an infinite universe might look like, The Greeks’ two problems with the universe represented a paradox - the universe had to be either finite or infinite, and both alternatives presented problems. After the rise of modern astronomy, another paradox began to puzzle astronomers. In the early 1800s, German astronomer Heinrich Olbers argued that if the universe were infinite, the whole surface of the night sky should be as bright as a star. Obviously, there are dark areas in the sky, so the universe must be finite. But, when Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity, he realized that gravity is always attractive. Every object in the universe attracts every other object. If the universe truly were finite, the attractive forces of all the objects in the universe should have caused the entire universe to collapse on itself. This clearly had not happened, and so astronomers were presented with a paradox. In spite of Olbers’s result, Albert Einstein when applying General theory of relativity to cosmology presumed that universe was static. Not surprisingly (As gravity mutually attracts all particles), he found the equations have no static solution.

The Discovery of the Expanding Universe At around the same time, the then world’s largest telescope (100” telescope Mt. Wilson, Los Angeles, CA, USA) became operational in 1918), scientists were able to accurately measure the spectra, or the intensity of light as a function of wavelength, of faint objects. Between 1912 and 1922, astronomer Vesto Slipher at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona discovered that the spectra of light from many of these objects were systematically shifted to longer wavelengths, or red shifted. A short time later, other astronomers showed that these nebulous objects were distant galaxies In 1929 Edwin Hubble, working at the Carnegie Observatories measured the redshifts of a number of distant galaxies. He also measured their relative distances by measuring the apparent brightness of a class of variable stars called Cepheids in each galaxy. When he plotted redshift against relative distance, he found that the redshift of distant galaxies increased as a linear function of their distance. The only explanation for this observation is that the Universe was expanding. Qualitative analysis and parameters describing the universe is expanding According to theories, observation, measurements, and calculations made by scientists, astronomers (amateur as well as professional) till today these people have found that, like a stone thrown up K.E+P.E Normally one expects stone to fall back (K.EP.E-Escapes gravity of the planet, star, galaxy, the K.E is still increasing & higher than P.E (Theoretical Scientists) Red shift and Blue shift (In 1929 Edwin Hubble, found that the redshift of distant galaxies increased as a linear function of their distance. The only explanation for this observation is that the universe was expanding)

January-February 2014 The stars, super novae in the galaxy, galaxies in clusters are relatively moving away, (In 1998, observations of type Ia supernovae also suggested that the expansion of the universe has been accelerating, discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae, by Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, and Adam G. Riess. Change in the high temperature (Microwave background) and high densities, Analogous to Cavity radiation (BB Rad Law, Wien’s Law etc) by Penzias and Wilson (In 1965)

Hubble’s first discovery changed our conception of the size of the Universe. It was the first proof we had that space was really, really, really big. Still this discovery considered as one of the greatest discoveries in the field of astrophysics, cosmology and physics ( and its branches). His second discovery offered major support for the Big Bang theory, which is the best idea we’ve got as to how the universe was born, Astronomical Evolution and better understanding of the existence of universe.

News from Space thermo nuclear reactions in expanding Universe can create heavier elements (first pointed out by George Gamow), so nuclear reaction occurs in first three minutes of Expansion of Universe. This discovery led the understanding that first three minutes, universe cools as it expands (First pointed out S. Weinberg by measuring Microwave Black Body Radiation, also discovered by same person, in 1965), All the above results shown that our mighty universe is expanding. The expanding universe is finite in both time and space. The reason that the universe did not collapse, as Newton's and Einstein's equations said it might, is that it had been expanding from the moment of its creation. The Universe is in a constant state of change. The expanding Universe, a new idea based on modern physics, laid to rest the paradoxes that troubled astronomers from ancient times until the early 20th Century. How important was It?

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We’ve learnt quite a bit this past two months….Hubble has shown that Europa shoots plumes of water as high as 200 km above its surface…does this mean Europa is potentially inhabitable or carries life…watch this space tomorrow ! Meanwhile, it is possible that the first exomoon has been spotted. Yes, that’s right :an exoplanet , MOA-2011-BLG-262 situated a mere 1800 light years away from earth, and 4 times as big as Jupiter, has been discovered to have a moon, and is hence the first possible exomoon to be discovered…but this needs to be confirmed by other astronomers. Again, watch this space tomorrow ! And as all of us know, China successfully soft-landed a probe on the Moon…and India has launched a Mars orbitor, which will reach Mars in September 2014…watch this space tomorrow !


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ISON – Some photographic success ! Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) is a sun grazing comet. It was discovered by Vitali Nevski and Artyom st Novichonok on 21 September 2012. The discovery was made using the 16 inch reflector of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia. I had been patiently waiting for weeks to capture this rare spectacle in the sky. Luckily, I was present at Sunabeda, Odisha when this Comet’s journey was nearing the Sun! I was very excited to click the photographs of the comet. The web site www.theskylive.com gave the live position and brightness of the comet, which helped me to track the comet’s position. On th November 16 , the comet reached an apparent magnitude of 5.8. Since the luminescence of the comet was sufficient to photograph, I started to click its pictures.

Comet ISON and star Spica When the above picture was taken, the comet was close to star Spica as seen in the photograph. It was a very good learning experience chasing the ISON! -

Sarvajith M.

Acknowledgements:

Comet ISON The day I took this picture, the sky was not very clear. It was hazy and cloudy as can be seen in the photograph. The camera used to click the photograph is Canon 1100d with a focal length of 250mm. F-stop is set to f/5.6 and ISO 3200. The exposure time was 4sec to capture the comet. The above picture shows the bright light green core and a faint tail.

ABAA thanks Sameer Panchangam who graciously freecycled a PC and monitor for our use.


The sky at night : JanuaryFebruary 2014 Mercury: Mercury will be in good position for observations from end of first week of January till first week of February. Mercury will be close to horizon at the beginning of January at 5degrees at sunset and will move higher to 12degrees towards middle of January. Mercury will keep rising in the evening sky and will reach Maximum st Elongation on 31 January with an angular separation of 18 degrees from Sun. In the month of February we can observe the angle between Sun and Mercury starts decreasing in the evening sky each passing day and will become difficult to spot the planet towards end of first week in February. Mercury will be in Inferior th Conjunction on 15 of February, on this day Earth, Mercury and Sun will be in a straight line. The planet can be spotted easily towards the end of February in the morning sky just before sunrise.

first week of January will move closer to Sun in angular separation, reaching Inferior th Conjunction on 11 of January. Venus will emerge in the eastern morning sky in middle of January and can be spotted low in the eastern horizon before sunrise. Venus will rise early by end of January and till end of February Venus is will placed in the morning sky for observation. Venus will be closest to Earth on th January 10 at 0.26AU. Venus Set time: th

January 6 7:15pm Venus Rise Time: th

January 16 6am January 31 4:50am th

February 10 4:15am th

February 25 3:50am Mercury will be closest to Earth on February th 18 at a distance of 0.64AU.

Moon Occults Venus:

Mercury Set time:

Venus will be occulted by Venus on th February 26 during day time.

th

January 6 6:30pm th

January 16 7pm

Disappearance: 11:05am IST Reappearance: 12:29pm

January 31 7:40pm th

February 10 7:10pm Mercury Rise time in Feb:

Moon Altitude: At Disappearance 53 degrees.

th

Moon Altitude: At Reappearance 38 degrees.

th

Moon separation from Sun: 43 degrees.

February 20 6am February 25 5:30am Venus: Venus visible in the evening sky as bright star in the evening sky after sunset in the

Extreme Caution should be taken when planning to observe the event, equipment should always be pointed away from the Sun. Even very small duration exposure to

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January-February 2014 Sun rays through telescope or binocular can damage the eyes permanently.

Mars:

th

February 5 3:50pm th

February 20 2:45pm Saturn:

Red Planet Mars is getting brighter and rising early giving plenty of time for observations. In the constellation of Virgo, rd Mars will be in Aphelion on January 3 at a distance of 1.6AU. Mars will be close to 7”of arc at the beginning of January and will slowly increase in size and will be close to 12”of arc towards end of February. On Mars its time of Summer solstice on February th 15 . Mars Rise Time:

In the constellation of Libra, the ringed planet rises in early morning hours during beginning of January. With small telescopes, the Saturn rings can be seen. The angular diameter of the planet is still small at 15”of arc at the beginning of January and will be close to 17” of arc at the end of February. Rise Time of Saturn: th

January 6 2:45am

th

January 6 12:15am

th

January 16 2:10am

th

January 16 11:50pm

th

January 26 1:30am

th

January 26 11:30pm

th

February 5 1am

th

February 10 10:45pm

th

February 15 12:15am

th

th

February 25 9:55pm

February 25 11:45pm

Jupiter:

Uranus:

Jupiter the giant planet will reach th opposition on January 5 , and that means Jupiter will rise in the eastern horizon as sunsets, this gives full night of observation time. In the constellation of Gemini, Jupiter th will be closest to Earth on January 4 at a distance of 4.2AU with angular diameter of 46.8” of arc and shining bright at 2.7magnitude.

Uranus is in evening sky and can be spotted easily with a pair of binoculars in the constellation of Pisces at a magnitude of 5.8

Rise time of Jupiter: th

January 5 6:07pm

Setting time of Uranus: th




February 5 10pm th

th

February 15 9:30pm

th

February 25 8:50pm

January 16 5:15pm January 26 4:30pm

th

Neptune:

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Neptune too is in the evening sky in the constellation of Aquarius at 7.9 magnitude. Neptune is getting lower in the evening horizon as days pass and will be difficult to spot after second week of February as Neptune will reach Conjunction with Sun rd on February 23 .

Moon: New Moon: January 1

st

First Quarter: January 8 Full Moon: January 16

th

th

Last Quarter: January 24

th

Neptune will be furthest from Earth on th February 24 at 30.96AU.

New Moon: January 30

Set Time of Neptune:

First Quarter: February 6

th

th

Full Moon: February 14

January 6 9:30pm

th

th nd

th

Last Quarter: February 22

th

There are two New moons in a month; this is called a Black Moon.

January 16 9pm January 26 8:15pm th

February 5 7:40pm th

February 15 7pm Pluto is hidden in the Sun’s glare for any observations.

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Ravindra Aradhya =============================

Earth will be closest to Sun, Perihelion, th on January 5 at 0.98AU

In the next issue… Radioastronomy – An introduction Book review : Patrick Moore’s last book Equipment for deep sky photography Flat universe …and our usual columns

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An ABAA meeting in progress, November 2013

Upcoming events at ABAA (Promises !)

Astrophilately - Lecture-demo on The Apollo years by an invited speaker A history of the telescope ATM course

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