At last a star party that was not greeted with a solid blanket of clouds at best or a statewide line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes at worst. CAAS members joined the good people at Woolly Hollow State Park for a star party by the lake tonight (July 19). The estimate of the crowd from Julie Lovette was over 300! Members John Reed, Carl Freyaldenhoven, Rocky Togni, Bill Sanders, Jason Wallawine, Allen Lee, Jim Fisher, Linda Sorrows, Don and Carolaina Ferren, and David and Nightvid Cole greeted the enthusiastic group. There was also some other scopes and people I did not recognize. If I missed anyone my apologies. The sky was hazy compared to the recent days but crystal clear compared to recent star parties. The usual summer fair was on order plus a brilliant Jupiter and even brighter pass of the ISS almost directly overhead.
Meeting Minutes from the July 2008 meeting
President John Reed called the meeting to order at 7 PM. There were 10 members and visitors in attendance.
John reminded us of our busy next few weeks.
- Woolly Hollow State Par Star Party on July 19. This is always a popular event though this time it happens the day after the Full Moon. We’ve been informed that CAAS members can camp overnight for free if we will let Rocky know before Tuesday the 15th. The event starts at 8 PM.
- Pinnacle Mountain State Park Star Party. AS usual it will be at the Visitor Center and will start at 9 PM.
- Pinnacle Mountain State Park Star Party. AS usual it will be at the Visitor Center and will start at 8 PM.
Jim Fisher and John Reed went to the Mid-States Region of the Astronomical League (MSRAL) convention last weekend. They had a good time and told us a little about it.
John Reed gave a present ion on the Dobsonian Telescope. He traced its humble origins through the modern era where you can buy all kinds of bells and whistles (or it so it seems until more bells and whistles are invented). It was very interesting and left more than one member planning their Christmas.
We adjourned the meeting at 8:30.
Death of a Supergiant
By all outward appearances, the red supergiant appeared normal. But below the surface, hidden from probing eyes, its core had already collapsed into an ultra-dense neutron star, sending a shock wave racing outward from the starâs center at around 50 million kilometers per hour.
The shock wave superheated the plasma in its path to almost a million degrees Kelvin, causing the star to emit high-energy ultraviolet (UV) radiation. About six hours later, the shock wave reached the starâs surface, causing it to explode in a Type IIP supernova named SNLS-04D2dc.
Long before the explosionâs visible light was detected by telescopes on Earth, NASAâs Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) space telescope captured the earlier pulse of UV light â scientistsâ first glimpse of a star entering its death throes.
âThis UV light has traveled through the star at the moment of its death but before it was blown apart,â? explains Kevin Schawinski, the University of Oxford astrophysicist who led the observation. âSo this light encodes some information about the state of the star the moment it died.â?
And thatâs exactly why astronomers are so excited. Observing the beautiful nebula left behind by a supernova doesnât reveal much about what the star was like before it exploded; most of the evidence has been obliterated. Information encoded in these UV “pre-flashesâ? could offer scientists an unprecedented window into the innards of stars on the verge of exploding.
In this case, Schawinski and his colleagues calculated that just before its death, the star was 500 to 1000 times larger in diameter than our sun, confirming that the star was in fact a red supergiant. âWeâve been able to tell you the size of a star that died in a galaxy several billion light-years away,â? Schawinski marvels.
âGALEX has played a very important role in actually seeing this for a few reasons,â? Schawinski says. First, GALEX is a space telescope, so it can see far-UV light thatâs blocked by Earthâs atmosphere.
Also, GALEX is designed to take a broad view of the sky. Its relatively small 20-inch primary mirror gives it a wide, 1.2-degree field of view, making it more likely to catch the UV flash preceding a supernova.
With these advantages, GALEX is uniquely equipped to catch a supernova before it explodes. âJust when we like to see it,â? Schawinski says.
For more information, visit www.galex.caltech.edu, âUltraviolet Gives View Inside Real âDeath Starâ.â? Kids can check out how to make a mobile of glittering galaxies at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/galex_make1.shtml .
This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Caption:
Sequence of images shows supernova start to finish. The top left image shows the galaxy before the supernova. At top right, the bright UV flash called the shock breakout indicates a red supergiant has collapsed. At bottom left, moments later, the flash is mostly gone. As the debris expands, it heats up again and becomes brighter (bottom right). The supernova became 10 times the size of the original over the following few days, thus becoming visible to supernova hunters.