March 16, 2010

Mr. Hugh McDonald

President & CEO

Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

Dear Mr. McDonald:

We are writing in regards to the flier that were inserted in this month’s Entergy bills entitled “Light it Up!” which promote the sale by Entergy to your customers of unshielded, dawn-to-dusk, high wattage security lighting.  The unshielded design of these light [...]]]> CENTRAL ARKANSAS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

March 16, 2010

Mr. Hugh McDonald

President & CEO

Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

Dear Mr. McDonald:

We are writing in regards to the flier that were inserted in this month’s Entergy bills entitled “Light it Up!” which promote the sale by Entergy to your customers of unshielded, dawn-to-dusk, high wattage security lighting.  The unshielded design of these light fixtures offers neither a chance to direct the light effectively or contain it from shining beyond property lines where it may be unwelcome. This type of light creates glare, light trespass and contributes to light pollution.

Your flier states that that these lights will give “peace of mind” for “just pennies a day” and “It’s a fact: You can deter intruders with our security lighting.”  We strongly disagree that such irresponsible lighting is necessary to deter crime.  Instead we strongly recommend that Entergy customers be made aware security lighting that carry the International-Dark Sky Association (IDA) Fixture Seal of Approval (FSA) as dark sky friendly fixtures, which are by far more environmentally responsible than the lighting being promoted in the “Light it Up!” promotion.

The Central Arkansas Astronomical Society (CAAS) is a non-profit organization that promotes astronomy education in Little Rock and through-out central Arkansas.  Our primary mission is to promote the hobby of amateur astronomy and science education within Little Rock and through-out all of central Arkansas. For example, CAAS in conjunction with the Pinnacle Mountain and Woolly Hollow State Parks hosts seven public star parties each year. During these star parties, CAAS members using large aperture telescopes share views of the heavens with members of the public without charging admission.  The star parties held in 2009 at these parks were attended by hundreds of people.  The attendees included families, scouts, and high school and college students enrolled in science classes. Most of these star partiers enjoyed their very first view ever through a telescope with views of the moon, Jupiter, galaxies and nebulas as well as naked eye views of the Milky Way.

Astronomers world-wide decry the loss of the beauty of the night sky.  In 1988 astronomers founded the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), a registered 501(c) (3) organization, with the mission to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies.  IDA promotes the use of “environmentally responsible outdoor lighting,” which provides safe and secure lighting for both business property and homes and combats light pollution.  Dark skies are necessary not only for professional scientific research to learn more about our Universe but also for the family in central Arkansas to go into their backyard and look up and see the awesome beauty of the Milky Way.

Saving both the beauty and the science of the night sky should be reason enough to make a stand against light pollution.  But recent studies strongly indicate that the damage to our environment by light pollution runs deeper than just disrupting recreational stargazers and astronomical research. The damage from light pollution is very real.  It results in a huge waste of energy.  Wasted outdoor lighting, lighting which shines upward and does not reach its intended target, is estimated by the IDA to amount to 22,000 gigawatt-hours per year.  At an average of 10 cents per kilo-watt hours this equals $2.2 billion and translates to 3.6 million tons of coal or 12.9 million barrels of oil per year.

Light pollution has also been implicated in causing insomnia and disease in humans by interfering with circadian cycles.  In June of just last year the American Medical Association House of Delegates issued a resolution, which advocates that all future outdoor lighting be of energy efficient designs to reduce waste of energy and production of greenhouse gasses that result from this wasted energy use.  The resolution also noted that light trespass – unwanted light pollution that enters another’s home – “has been implicated in disruption of human and animal circadian rhythms, and strongly suspected as an etiology of suppressed melatonin production, depressed immune systems, and increased in cancer rates such as breast cancer.”  Further, the AMA resolution reads that nighttime glare “causes decreased nighttime visibility by pupil constriction” thus actually reducing safety rather than promoting it.

Bright lights from urban areas and unshielded security lighting in rural areas also disrupt the ecosystems of both migratory birds and nocturnal animals.

Finally, we find the statements in your flier regarding lighting’s deterrence on crime to be disingenuous.  According to a University of Maryland study presented to the U.S. Congress on behalf of the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, it is inconclusive that street lighting is an effective approach in the reduction and deterrence of crime.  Preventing Crime, What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising, Sherman, et al, 1979.

This Saturday evening at 8 p.m. we are co-hosting a public star party with the staff of Woolly Hollow State Park, ay the park which is near Greenbrier.   Please accept this as a warm invitation to you, your family, all Entergy employees and their families to be inspired by the beauty that inspired the Psalmist to pen “The Heavens declare the glory of God!”

If you need even further information about light pollution issues, please visit the IDA’s website which is at www.darksky.org

Sincerely,

Carolaina Ferren

President

Central Arkansas Astronomical Society

Messier (French for “Overcast”)

The March meeting was a great success.

Don Ferren presented a fantastic PowerPoint on how to do a Messier Marathon and the thoughtful tips on how to make it a success when it is late and chilly. The slides showing how to hop across the sky in the fastest sequence were [...]]]> by Bill Engberg

Messier (French for “Overcast”)

The March meeting was a great success.

Don Ferren presented a fantastic PowerPoint on how to do a Messier Marathon and the thoughtful tips on how to make it a success when it is late and chilly. The slides showing how to hop across the sky in the fastest sequence were the first time I’d ever seen that. (Hope he posts that PPt presentation on the website so it is down loadable!) Carolaina showed some great log books with “picture, sketch and notes” pages for capturing each object. Fantastic presentation by both of them!

Since Murphy’s Law dictates clouds gravitate towards anyone assembling people for a Messier Marathon, we are preemptively CANCELING next year’s Messier Marathon.

No one will be there.

Not a person.

Don’t even come to CAAS in March of 2011 since we’ll all be…ummm…doing laundry.

-Who was at the Meeting?

13 people were here tonight: Don and Carolaina Ferren, Carl Freyaldenhoven, Kevin Krug, Mike Baker, Pat and Sandy Morris, Jim Fisher, Bill Sanders, Eric Walker, Coy Scott, Wade Van Arsdale, and me…your humble scribe.

-DUES / TShirts via PayPal

A motion was passed authorizing the temporary payment to Andy Reed (Treasurer) via his personal PayPal account (if he is willing) and he will then write a check transferring all funds collected… and pay for all the TShirts plus deposit the annual dues.

Andy, what is your PayPal Account? (I still owe the club $252.80 in collected dues from other members…as I collected more tonight… and I want to pay the Club!)

People can still mail a check to our treasurer:

Andy Reed, 312 Maranes Circle, Maumelle, AR  72113

-Upcoming Events

20 March – Woolly Hollow Star Party

See http://www.caasastro.org for more details.

Blue Skies
Bill

About 900 light years from here is a rocky planet not much bigger than Earth. It goes around its star once every hundred days, a trifle fast, but not too different from a standard Earth-year. At least two and possibly three other planets circle the same star, forming [...]]]> By Patrick L. Barry and Dr. Tony Phillips

About 900 light years from here is a rocky planet not much bigger than Earth. It goes around its star once every hundred days, a trifle fast, but not too different from a standard Earth-year. At least two and possibly three other planets circle the same star, forming a complete solar system.
Interested? Don’t be. Going there would be the last thing you ever do.

The star is a pulsar, PSR 1257+12, the seething-hot core of a supernova that exploded millions of years ago. Its planets are bathed not in gentle, life-giving sunshine but instead a blistering torrent of X-rays and high-energy particles.
“It would be like trying to live next to Chernobyl,” says Charles Beichman, a scientist at JPL and director of the Michelson Science Center at Caltech.

Our own Sun emits small amounts of pulsar-like X-rays and high energy particles, but the amount of such radiation coming from a pulsar is “orders of magnitude more,” he says. Even for a planet orbiting as far out as the Earth, this radiation could blow away the planet’s atmosphere, and even vaporize sand right off the planet’s surface.
Astronomer Alex Wolszczan discovered planets around PSR 1257+12 in the 1990s using Puerto Rico’s giant Arecibo radio telescope. At first, no one believed worlds could form around pulsars—it was too bizarre. Supernovas were supposed to destroy planets, not create them. Where did these worlds come from?

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope may have found the solution. In 2005, a group of astronomers led by Deepto Chakrabarty of MIT pointed the infrared telescope toward pulsar 4U 0142+61. Data revealed a disk of gas and dust surrounding the central star, probably wreckage from the supernova. It was just the sort of disk that could coalesce to form planets!

As deadly as pulsar planets are, they might also be hauntingly beautiful. The vaporized matter rising from the planets’ surfaces could be ionized by the incoming radiation, creating colorful auroras across the sky. And though the pulsar would only appear as a tiny dot in the sky (the pulsar itself is only 20-40 km across), it would be enshrouded in a hazy glow of light emitted by radiation particles as they curve in the pulsar’s strong magnetic field.
Wasted beauty? Maybe. Beichman points out the positive: “It’s an awful place to try and form planets, but if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.”

Find more news and images from Spitzer at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/ . In addition, The Space Place Web site features several games related to Spitzer and infrared astronomy, as well as a storybook about a girl who creamed of finding another Earth. Go to http://tiny.cc/lucy208.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Caption:

Artist’s concept of a pulsar and surrounding disk of rubble called a “fallback” disk, out of which new planets could form.

Suddenly, those dark spaces between stars don’t appear [...]]]> Exploring the universe is a bit like groping around a dark room. Aside from the occasional pinprick of starlight, most objects lurk in pitch darkness. But with the recent launch of the largest-ever infrared space telescope, it’s like someone walked into the room and flipped on the lights.

Suddenly, those dark spaces between stars don’t appear quite so empty. Reflected in the Herschel Space Observatory’s 3.5-meter primary mirror, astronomers can now see colder, darker celestial objects than ever before—from the faint outer arms of distant galaxies to the stealthy “dark asteroids” of our own solar system.

Many celestial objects are too cold to emit visible light, but they do shine at much longer infrared wavelengths. And Herschel can observe much longer infrared wavelengths than any space telescope before (up to 672 microns). Herschel also has 16 times the collecting area, and hence 16 times better resolution, than previous infrared space telescopes. That lets it resolve details with unprecedented clarity. Together, these abilities open a new window onto the universe.

”The sky looks much more crowded when you look in infrared wavelengths,” says George Helou, director of the NASA Herschel Science Center at Caltech. “We can’t observe the infrared universe from the ground because our atmosphere blocks infrared light, and emits infrared itself. Once you get above the atmosphere, all of this goes away and suddenly you can look without obstruction.”

Herschel launched in May from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana aboard a European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket. Since then, it has expanded the number of distant galaxies observed at far infrared wavelengths from a few hundred to more than 28,000. And with the instrument testing and system check-out phases finally completed, the discoveries are only now beginning.

Beyond simply imaging these dark objects, Herschel can identify the presence of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and water based on their spectral fingerprints. “We will be able to decipher the chemistry of what’s going on during the beginnings of star formation, in the discs of dust and gas that form planets, and in the lingering aftermath of stellar explosions,” Helou says.

And those are just the expected things. Who knows what unexpected discoveries may come from “flipping on the lights?” Helou says “we can’t wait to find out.”

Herschel is a European Space Agency mission, with science instruments provided by a consortium of European-led institutes and with important participation by NASA. See the ESA Herschel site at sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16. Also, see the NASA sites at herschel.jpl.nasa.gov, www.herschel.caltech.edu, and www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/herschel. Kids can learn about infrared light by browsing through the Infrared Photo Album at The Space Place, spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/sirtf1/sirtf_action.shtml.

This article was provided courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Caption:

The Herschel Space Observatory has 3.5-meter primary mirror, allowing astronomers to see colder, darker celestial objects than ever before.

-Dollar for Dollar MATCH every donation to CAAS …via PAYPAL

I believe in our amazing group of Amateur Astronomers so much, and us using PayPal to take in Donations , Dues , TShirt money, etc.; that I will personally MATCH every donation $1 for $1, no matter what the size of your donation though [...]]]> by Bill Engberg

-Dollar for Dollar MATCH every donation to CAAS …via PAYPAL

I believe in our amazing group of Amateur Astronomers so much, and us using PayPal to take in Donations , Dues , TShirt money, etc.; that I will personally MATCH every donation $1 for $1, no matter what the size of your donation though Feb28 up to $100.00 total

Simply go to PayPal.com, login, and click on “Send Money” and then send it to treasurer@caasastro.org You can even pay with your Credit Card!

I’ll report to the entire group how much comes in during the next 2 weeks and the names of the donors (unless you wish to remain anonymous).

-Who was at the Meeting?

The best news during the Feb 13^th Meeting was the attendance of 4 new members. Please welcome them the next time you see them.     (p.s. for these new members:  –How do you want your name written on the Name Tags I’m making for everyone?)

There were 16 people at the meeting:

Don Lewis,  Jim and Samantha Dixon, Rocky and Carol Togni, Don and Carolaina Ferren, Lev Guter (New member!), Carl Freyaldenhoven, Rick Friday (New member!), Michelle Stinson (New member!), Paul Deeter, Gentleman in ball cap (sorry missed your name), John Reed, Kevin Krug  (New member!), and me  … your humble scribe.

-DUES via PayPal

If you owe dues, simply go to PayPal.com, login, and click on “Send Money” and then send it to treasurer@caasastro.org -or- mail a check to our treasurer:  

Andy Reed, 312 Maranes Circle, Maumelle, AR  72113

-Photo Log

John Reed took excellent photos of the meeting:    http://tinyurl.com/y8qkhwt

-TShirts

Order your TShirts before 28Feb… buy now, because we are getting a HUGE discount with this first big order. AFTER the initial discounted order is placed, price will probably increase to about $15-$18, so get one now while it is inexpensive!          Mail the check to Andy Reed -or- PayPal the funds as described above.

Tell him the size you want via email (andy.reed72@gmail.com)

$12.10   up to XXL

$14.10   3XL and larger

We passed a motion to buy from our CAAS Treasury funds:   FIVE “Large”,  FIVE “XL” T-shirts for future buyers and members. They will sell for about $15 (so get yours while it is cheap!)

-Hubble Over Flight visible at meeting!

Carl tipped us off that the Hubble Space Telescope was making a flyby. Funny quote of the evening (in best Austin Powers voice) “I’m looking with my naked eye, at a telescope… in space… and I’m not using a telescope…and it’s freaking me out, man!”

We all got to see it travel from West to East in the southern hemisphere of the sky. Thank you Carl!

-Lawn Care Donation via PayPal

Special thanks to Don and Carolaina Ferren for donating $20 for Wade’s project to hire a trimming and lawn care/brush cutter service (about $130 needed?)     I also donated $20 and hope you will to.

Cut all the brush = Better viewing  +  keeps the bugs far away!

Simply go to PayPal.com or mail a check.

-Presentation

I gave a Power Point Presentation on “How to build a telescope”

There were so many great questions, the 20 minute brief took almost an hour. The presentation used images taken by Wade and Danny ( awesome photos, fellas !!! )

Later, an “in depth photo journal” was shared for people that really wanted to get deep into the details and pitfalls of building a Dobsonian reflector with a 24″ mirror.

-Need your ideas for my Radio Show on Wed/Sat nights (Perryville 96.5 KQIX)

Every week I host a radio show, but I need your ideas on ASTRONOMY RELATED TOPICS. Help!

-Driving Directions

I’m making an improved set of driving directions for our members. Hopefully even more will attend our meetings, when they have easy to read/easy to follow directions that can be downloaded from our website!  They will be complete with:

Photos of “turn points/intersections”

Odometer measurements between turn points

Google map

17 Degrees….Kelvin

Tonight was a great night at CAAS for friendship, camaraderie, all the delicious chili you could hope to eat, and to watch an excellent documentary, with a few people doing some winter observing after. In attendance were: Carolaina and Don Ferren, Andy Reed, Carl Freyaldenhoven, John Reed, Eric Walker, Allen Lee, Sandy [...]]]> by Bill Engberg

17 Degrees….Kelvin

Tonight was a great night at CAAS for friendship, camaraderie, all the delicious chili you could hope to eat, and to watch an excellent documentary, with a few people doing some winter observing after. In attendance were: Carolaina and Don Ferren, Andy Reed, Carl Freyaldenhoven, John Reed, Eric Walker, Allen Lee, Sandy Pat, Coy Scott, and me… your humble scribe.

Our new President, Carolaina, started the year off right bringing lots of energy and she hit the ground running with club business, fun future goals and projects.

• Club T-Shirts- Allen Lee volunteered to get info on “bulk cost�? from a T-Shirt printer in Sherwood. We all talked about how nice it would be to all have a cool looking “club shirt�? for members only that has “glow in dark�? printing as an outline on a 2-color ink design.  Non-members will get to buy a different color or style. Free T to the person who volunteers to be main point of contact for the T-shirt printing! Who would like to get that free T-Shirt and be a club hero for heading this fun project?

• Related to that, does anyone have any contacts with the staff or teachers at a local Middle and High School? We’d like to involve as many schools as possible for “CAAS�? logo design, which will also be used on the T-Shirt, as well as get a digital image created of the “Red River�? logo which is on our entry sign. Do we already have a digital “Red River�? logo?

• 2010 Dues were paid by those attending (http://www.caasastro.org/join-caas ). If you missed the meeting, please mail dues to Andy Reed. Andy, please email your address.

• Calendar events and some future CAAS presentations were determined:
  • Feb 13 (club meeting) –  Bill Engberg will present “How to plan/build a telescope�?
  • Mar 13 (club meeting) –  Don Ferren  will present “How to do a Messier Marathon�? which interested parties can do that same night!
  • Mar 20 – Woolly Hollow State Park Star Party (in lieu of club meeting)
  • Apr 10 – (club meeting)
  • Apr 24 – Astronomy Day (Pinnacle Mountain State Park)
  • Email us what other events you think should be put on our calendar.

• Glow in the Dark Name Tag pins for everyone!!   I’ve volunteered to get them made. Need to have everyone who wants one, please email me their “preferred name�? as you want it printed. We will keep the name tags on a foam board in the Club House.   –  It is important that we help break the ice (when we have visitors / new members) and make them feel welcome with everyone wearing their Glow In The Dark name tag during the meetings and when observing. This way, newcomers can relax and call us by name, rather than feel awkward when trying to learn 30 new names in one night and having only “Hey you�? to call out to people.

• Jim Fisher provided us an update:   Mayor sent 2 notes requesting that they use IDA Approved lights that are “Full Cut Off.�?   We learned that the city’s Phase1 (due to budget problems) are planned to have no lights to be installed at all at soccer fields, so we have time to engage them.

The temperatures were legendary last night. 17 Degrees…wow that is cold. It felt like it was 17 Degrees on the Kelvin scale.  We all had to walk around pools of liquid nitrogen to get into the club house. Okay…maybe not…, but the temps felt like it.

We watched a brand new and just released excellent PBS documentary on “400 Years of the Telescope.�?  (Thank you Jim Fisher for your generous donation to our video library!)

Then, Carl and I did some binocular observing; saw a huge meteor… slow, big, bright and the bolide left a thick orange trail as it arced past Mars to the east.

John Reed brought out his fantastic camera with macho wide angle lens  http://tinyurl.com/ygvgwkz and captured Orion and some other brilliant celestial objects in the nights sky. If you’ve ever seen the scary SciFi movie “The Thing�? with Kurt Russell, we think John Reed captured a view ( in image #8 ) of one of those hideous alien creatures standing in front of the “dome observatory.�? For comparison: http://tinyurl.com/ycpmr5a You be the judge…scary!

A great time was had by all. We can’t wait to see you all out for the next meeting on 13 Feb. I promise it will be warmer by then.

Always remember, CAAS is our family. We stick together as a family should. If anyone ever has good news to share or needs help, we are always here for each other. Come to us in good times and in rough times. On the day we all pass on, what makes us rich isn’t the money in a bank… what makes us rich are the friendships we have made and memories we have created with each other. I’m so proud to be a member of such a great group of people: articulate, friendly, trustworthy, funny, creative and skilled in so many areas.

I wish you all a blessed New Year.

Bill Engberg

Club Scribe

///—  Club Meeting Minutes for 9Jan2010  —///

They are as [...]]]> The 2009 Central Arkansas Astronomical Society (CAAS) Annual Meeting marked the end of the rainiest, cloudiest astronomy season on record. ¹ Eighteen members braved mild weather and darkness to attend the festivities. After socializing and sampling seasonal fare, we got down to CAAS business and elected next year’s officers and board members.

They are as follows:

• President: Carolaina Ferren.
• Vice-President: Jim Fisher.
• Treasurer: Andy Reed.
• Secretary: Bill Engberg.
• Board Members:  Carl Freyaldenhoven, Don Lewis, John Reed,  and Rocky Togni.

After the voting, we also discussed our new membership in the International Dark Sky Association and some other items of interest for the coming year.
We closed the 2009 Annual Meeting at about 8:30.

¹ Based on data collected from a window next to my desk in West Little Rock.

Old Business:

This cataclysmic scene has happened countless times in countless solar systems. In fact, scientists think that such [...]]]> Two small planets hurtle toward each other at 22,000 miles per hour. They’re on a collision course. With unimaginable force, they smash into each other in a flash of light, blasting streams of molten rock far out into space.

This cataclysmic scene has happened countless times in countless solar systems. In fact, scientists think that such collisions could have created Earth’s moon, tilted Uranus on its side, set Venus spinning backward, and sheared the crust off Mercury.

But witnessing such a short-lived collision while pointing your telescope in just the right direction would be a tremendous stroke of luck. Well, astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer space telescope recently got lucky.

“It’s unusual to catch such a collision in the act, that’s for sure,�? said Geoffrey Bryden, A cosmic Crashspitzer_an astronomer specializing in extrasolar planet formation at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a member of the science team that made the discovery.

When Bryden and his colleagues pointed Spitzer at a star 100 light-years away called HD 172555, they noticed something strange. Patterns in the spectrum of light coming from nearby the star showed distinctive signs of silicon monoxide gas — huge amounts of it — as well as a kind of volcanic rock called tektite.

It was like discovering the wreckage from a cosmic car crash. The silicon monoxide was produced as the high-speed collision literally vaporized huge volumes of rock, which is made largely of silicon and oxygen. The impact also blasted molten lava far out into space, where it later cooled to form chunks of tektite.

Based on the amount of silicon monoxide and tektites, Bryden’s team calculated that the colliding planetary bodies must have had a combined mass more than twice that of Earth’s moon. The collision probably happened between 1,000 and 100,000 years ago — a blink of an eye in cosmic terms.

The scientists used the Spitzer space telescope because, unlike normal telescopes, Spitzer detects light at invisible, infrared wavelengths.

“Spitzer wavelengths are the best wavelengths to identify types of rock,�? Bryden says. “You can pin down which type of rock, dust, or gas you’re looking at.�?

Bryden says the discovery provides further evidence that planet-altering collisions are more common in other star systems than people once thought. The “crash-bang” processes at work in our own solar system may indeed be universal. If so, Spitzer has a front row seat on a truly smashing show.

See Spitzer Space Telescope’s brand new Web site at http://spitzer.caltech.edu/. Kids can learn about infrared light and see beautiful Spitzer images by playing the new Spitzer Concentration game at http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/spitzer/concentration.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Caption:

Artist’s rendering of cosmic collision involving two objects whose combined mass was at least twice that of our Moon. Discovered using the Spitzer Space Telescope in the planetary system of a star called HD 172555 100 light-years away.