Notice of Annual Meeting and Potluck
The Central Arkansas Astronomical Society will hold its Annual Meeting on the evening of Saturday, December 10, 2011, 7 p.m., at the River Ridge Observatory. In accordance with the CAAS By Laws the “annual meeting of the membership shall be held before, after, or in place of the regular December meeting each year, at such time and place designated in the notice for such meeting, for the purposes of receiving reports on the operation of the corporation, election for officers, and transacting related business.”
The lone matter of official business will be the election of the 2012 Officers and Board members. The following members have been nominated for the 2012 CAAS leadership positions:
Bill Engberg President
Eric Walker Vice President
Jim Fisher Secretary
Andy Reed Treasurer
Jim Fisher Immediate Past President
Jim Dixon Board
Carl Freyaldenhoven Board
John Reed Board
Coy Scott Board
Further nominations will be accepted from the floor just prior to the election. All active CAAS members may participate in voting.
Holiday themed pot luck: All CAAS members and guests are invited to bring potluck dishes. Set up will begin at 4 p.m. Social hour and observing on the observing field beginning at 5 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. in the classroom. The brief business meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Clouds permitting will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the full moon and stars.
Please email jrfisher7@gmail.com if you plan to attend (no regrets please) and the dish or food item you plan to bring.
If you need directions to the River Ridge Observatory, please email info@caasastro.org.
Note: We do NOT need any plastic plates, cups or service ware as the club has plenty. In the event of an inclement weather forecast, we will move the meeting to the Whole Hog Café, 2516 Cantrell Road Little Rock, Arkansas 72202 with food service provided by the restaurant pay as you go (no pot luck necessary).
Re-thinking an Alien World: The Strange Case of 55 Cancri e
Forty light years from Earth, a rocky world named “55 Cancri e” circles perilously close to a stellar inferno. Completing one orbit in only 18 hours, the alien planet is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun. If Earth were in the same position, the soil beneath our feet would heat up to about 3200 F. Researchers have long thought that 55 Cancri e must be a wasteland of parched rock.
Now they’re thinking again. New observations by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that 55 Cancri e may be wetter and weirder than anyone imagined.
Spitzer recently measured the extraordinarily small amount of light 55 Cancri e blocks when it crosses in front of its star. These transits occur every 18 hours, giving researchers repeated opportunities to gather the data they need to estimate the width, volume and density of the planet.
According to the new observations, 55 Cancri e has a mass 7.8 times and a radius just over twice that of Earth. Those properties place 55 Cancri e in the “super-Earth” class of exoplanets, a few dozen of which have been found. Only a handful of known super-Earths, however, cross the face of their stars as viewed from our vantage point in the cosmos, so 55 Cancri e is better understood than most.
When 55 Cancri e was discovered in 2004, initial estimates of its size and mass were consistent with a dense planet of solid rock. Spitzer data suggest otherwise: About a fifth of the planet’s mass must be made of light elements and compounds—including water. Given the intense heat and high pressure these materials likely experience, researchers think the compounds likely exist in a “supercritical” fluid state.
A supercritical fluid is a high-pressure, high-temperature state of matter best described as a liquid-like gas, and a marvelous solvent. Water becomes supercritical in some steam turbines—and it tends to dissolve the tips of the turbine blades. Supercritical carbon dioxide is used to remove caffeine from coffee beans, and sometimes to dry-clean clothes. Liquid-fueled rocket propellant is also supercritical when it emerges from the tail of a spaceship.
On 55 Cancri e, this stuff may be literally oozing—or is it steaming? —out of the rocks.
With supercritical solvents rising from the planet’s surface, a star of terrifying proportions filling much of the daytime sky, and whole years rushing past in a matter of hours, 55 Cancri e teaches a valuable lesson: Just because a planet is similar in size to Earth does not mean the planet is like Earth.
It’s something to re-think about.
Get a kid thinking about extrasolar planets by pointing him or her to “Lucy’s Planet Hunt,” a story in rhyme about a girl who wanted nothing more than to look for Earth-like planets when she grew up. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/story-lucy.
The original research reported in this story has been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The lead author is Brice-Olivier Demory, a post-doctoral associate in Professor Sara Seager’s group at MIT.
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 compares the size Earth with the rocky “super-Earth” 55 Cancri e. Its year is only about 18 hours long!
Minutes from the November 2011 Meeting
What a great night on our Nov 12, 2011 Club meeting.
The place was packed and almost every seat was taken with new guests, new members, and the usual suspects 
Eric Walker opened the floor to the board and attendees to nominate next year’s staff and voting will be done at the 10 Dec Club Meeting and BANQUET!
President – Bill Engberg
Vice President – Eric Walker
Secretary –Jim Fisher
Treasury – Andy Reed
Immediate Past President – Jim Fisher
Board: Jim Dixon, Carl Freyaldenhoven, John Reed, and Coy Scott.
After calling Hollywood, I verified there are no Astronomers, nor Prophets on staff that were consulted before making “2012”. I gave a PPT brief about the Mayan Calendar and how it is very cool how they developed it and that CAAS/Little Rock will be aligned with the Mayan Ball Court at Izapa for the (Friday) Dec 21, 2012 Galactic alignment…front row seats!
I think we should throw a big astro-party at CAAS and invite Little Rock (new membership / huge interest)
John Reed showed/taught about his excellent (and portable) Nikon DSLR Astro Camera rig…nice!
Roger Gudith gave a wonderful presentation on Astronomy.
Jim D gave a great lesson on the Constellation Perseus, its history and the objects of interest in it.
We had many guests Saturday night:
Vikrant Vijay
Amanda Poss
James Lane
David Williams
Nancy Jackman (winner of the Telescope!)
Lorali Brown (?)
Other CAAS members there were
Jim Dixon,
Eric Walker,
John Reed,
Rocky and Carol Togni,
Pat and Sandy Morris;
Coy Scott;
Roger Gudith;
Landon Sanders
Aimee Voisin;
William Bryden;
Allen Lee;
Carl Freyaldenhoven;
John Reed;
Tom and Barbara Walker
…and me, your humble scribe.
The clouds broke at the perfect time and the “Club built 10-inch scope ” was set up by Carl F. and the gang, for viewing by all of our first time guests.
Projects:
Done! Ardent’s new 9’ x 9’ concrete pad was uncovered and unveiled to the club.
Done! New driveway is smooth like….like…new concrete butter!
Hero!: Allen Lee came up with a great idea to work with PMSP or a school, etc, to advertise a L.R. “Set up your telescope Night” at PMSP or downtown, since so many people are asking CAAS members to help set up. A great membership drive to get Kids ( = Parents!) and young people into CAAS. Contact Allen if you have ideas or wish to help.
—Need a CAAS hero to take care of this small $10 project.
Three…let me emphasize…. THREE different 1st time visitors at different times said the same thing. When they arrived in the pitch black night, the only light they saw was to the bathroom (I had propped the door open). They said we need a light above “the door you are supposed to go to, if you’ve never been here before.” For safety/liability reasons, I couldn’t agree more. Recommend a RED “L.E.D. Touch light” / hanging Red L.E.D. Lamp we can reach up and hang on a hook / or some other battery powered (or permanent switch fixture), for people to “home in on” at night, since it is a maze of buildings for 1st time guests arriving in a sea of darkness. Once we have our 501C status approved, you will get a donation slip for the amount you paid. If you paid $100 for the lamp or permanent switch/fixture, you get a $100 tax write off. Or, if you can visit some electricians in town, ask if they will volunteer a donation of parts OR labor.
—Officers
Need permission for me to buy this $35 HDMI-to-VGA-converter- box so new laptops can run our old projector
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Converter-Support-1080P-Output/dp/B0057UNQ18/ref=lh_ni_t
—Need a CAAS super hero who will donate an old computer to permanently plug into the projector, for when people want to run a Presentation. I’ll even donate the Microsoft Office / PowerPoint software. Once we have our 501C status, you will get a donation slip for the amount “you paid for the computer back in 200X.” If you paid $3000 for the computer, you get a $3000 tax write off. Nice. Contact me if questions.
Blue Skies
Bill
Club Scribe