EYEPIECE Journal of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York

March 2011

Volume 59 Number 3 ISSN 0146-7662

Speaking at the Hayden February 7, Dr. Brian

Greene, physicist, string cosmologist and Columbia pro-

fessor, gave a mind-bending yet lucid talk on how a

range of parallel universes can emerge from current theo-

retical insights which attempt to explain the cosmos.

In a talk on “The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes

and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, ” Greene was quick

to note that no experiments or observations had proven

the existence of parallel universes, or multiverses. That

said, recent developments in physics and mathematics,

especially string theory, have led scientists to consider

the possibility that ours is but one of many universes and

that otherwise baffling observations can be explained

within the multiverse framework.

At the outset, Greene referred to his new book, “The

Hidden Reality--Parallel Universes and the Laws of the-

Cosmos” (Knopf, $29.95), where he describes nine

types of parallel universes--of which our universe is just

a part--that could result from the mathematics now being

used to explain the workings of the cosmos. Because of

time considerations, his lecture covered only three: the

“quilted multiverse,” the “inflationary multiverse” and

the “landscape multiverse.”

The quilted-patchwork multiverse is easiest to un-

derstand since it doesn’t require a heavy dose of higher

mathematics. This structure depends on whether our uni-

verse is finite or infinite. When pressed, most scien-

tists opt for “infinite.” Within our part of the universe,

we can observe a sphere of 82 billion light-years: the

cosmic horizon adjusted for the expansion of space.

Multiverses continued on page 5

One of the greatest mysteries of science, dark matter,

was probed February 4 in an AAA lecture at the AMNH

by Dr. Neil Weiner, associate professor of physics at

NYU’s Center of Cosmology and Particle Physics.

In a talk on “Illuminating Dark Matter--Uncovering the

Dark Universe,” Weiner noted the mysteriousness of

dark matter and dark energy, which together account for

96 percent of the universe: 74 percent dark energy, 22

percent dark matter. One obvious question is that if

there’s so much dark matter, how can it be so difficult to

find and explain?

Even though dark matter accounts for some 80 percent

of all matter, the existence of dark matter can only be

inferred, Weiner noted. The major problem in detecting

dark matter is that light doesn’t interact with it. Or as he

put it, “How do you find what you cannot see?”

The first clue that dark matter exists is that it seems

to exhibit the tug of gravity. In fact, it was about 75 years

ago that astronomers studying distant galaxies found

they had hundreds of times more gravitational pull than

the mass of visible stars would warrant.

Fritz Zwicky postulated the existence of dark matter in

1934 to account for evidence of “missing mass" in the

orbital velocities of galaxy clusters.

Over the years, more evidence as to the probable exis-

tence of dark matter came to substantiate the hypothesis.

These observations included rotational speeds of galax-

ies, gravitational lensing of background objects by gal-

Dark Matter continued on page 5

Speakers Discuss Subjects at the Cutting Edge of Astronomy

Multiverses

By Alan Rude

Dark Matter

By Edward J. Fox

2

What‟s Up

By Tony Hoffman

The Sky for March 2011

A Drop of Mercury. Mercury creeps into the evening

sky in the second week of the month to start its best eve-

ning apparition of the year, appearing about 10 degrees

below Jupiter and blazing at mag -1.3. It will quickly

climb in the evening sky and pass Jupiter (which is

gradually sinking towards the sunset) at midmonth, when

Mercury will as bright as mag -1. It will be at its highest

March 21, when it will be more than 10 degrees high a

half-hour after sunset, shining at mag -0.3. From there it

will fade rapidly and slip back into the solar glare.

March's Constellations. Orion stands high in the

southwest in the early evening, with Gemini and Procyon

near the meridian and Sirius brilliant south. Taurus lies

almost due west as Cassiopeia swings down into the

northwest, trailed by Perseus and Auriga. Leo rises head-

first, followed by Virgo, carrying its trove of galaxies.

Hydra, with its bright orange star Alphard, climbs in the

southeast. Ursa Major swings up in the northeast, trailed

by Arcturus. Saturn is in Virgo about 10 degrees above

Spica between the stars Eta and Theta Virginis. Saturn’s

ring system is gradually opening, now tilted about 9 de-

grees from our line of sight.

Messier Marathon. This is the best month to try a

Messier marathon. Around the New Moon, it’s possible--

with clear, dark skies, an unobstructed horizon, proper

equipment, lots of practice and willingness to stay up all

night--to see all but one of the 109 Messier objects over

the course of a night.

March 4 New Moon at 3:46 p.m.

March 6 Moon lies near Jupiter.

March 12 First-quarter Moon at 6:45 p.m.

March 16 Mercury lies near Jupiter.

March 19 Full Moon at 2:10 p.m.; Moon at perigee,

221,565 miles from Earth, 3:09 p.m.

March 20 Vernal equinox at 7:21 p.m.; Moon lies near

Saturn.

March 21 Mercury is at greatest elongation in evening

sky (see above).

March 26 Last-quarter Moon at 8:07 p.m.

March 31 Moon lies near Venus. ■

By Joseph A. Fedrick

I have been projecting the Sun’s image weekly to

observe sunspot activity. I have, as usual, been using my

60mm f/15 achromatic refractor and a 20mm eyepiece to

project the Sun’s image onto a piece of paper and tracing

sunspot positions.

So far this year, the Sun has been rather inactive. I

have seen, at most, up to a half dozen small, unimpres-

sive sunspots on the solar disk at one time. Most of the

time, I have seen only one or two barely visible sunspots,

or else the Sun appears blank, with no spots at all.

The appearance of the Sun’s projected image this year

contrasts starkly with what happened 11 years ago, in

2000. Then, the projected image displayed numerous

spots. There were two distinct parallel bands of sunspots

on the Sun’s disk. Each band was parallel to the Sun’s

equator, one north and the other south.

So far, I haven‟t seen the Sun get that active during

the present sunspot cycle. The present cycle is predicted

to peak in 2013. That would be a rather delayed peak.

The last cycle had a double peak. I observed maximum

activity in 1999 and 2001. 2013 would be 12 years be-

yond the second peak of the last sunspot cycle.

It seems the present cycle will be less active than the

last. However, we might be treated to a few large sun-

spots in two years, and perhaps one or two violent, huge

storms. This happened in 1859 during a sunspot cycle

that apparently wasn’t very active as a whole. A solar

storm like the two storms of 1859 would cause chaos that

could last weeks or months, unless technicians could

protect our electronic infrastructure from the Sun’s elec-

tromagnetic assaults. Perhaps they might do this by tem-

porarily putting satellites and the electric power grid into

shutdown mode while the storms pass.

On the morning of February 15, I saw emerge, on

the otherwise inactive Sun, a large group of sunspots

extending approximately one-tenth across the solar disk.

Soon afterward, I heard there was a coronal mass ejec-

tion that caused auroral displays in Norway. I believe

that this year, the Sun will remain mostly inactive, but

with a few brief, intense spurts of high activity. ■

Sun Still Not Very Active

3

Hello members:

March is finally here, and with it a revival of many of our observing sessions. We have Great Kills in Staten Island

on the 5th, Dana Center at the north end of Central Park on the 10th, Inwood Park on the 11th and 25th, Floyd Bennett

Field on the 18th and solar observing in Central Park on the 26th. Whether you’re coming with scope, binoculars or

just your eyes, get reacquainted with the sky.

Bart Fried, famed restorer of telescopes, spoke at last month’s board meeting as an invited guest. He’s offered us an

8-inch refractor if we can provide an observatory. We are currently investigating where such an observatory might be

located.

Board member Dan Harrison is chairing this year’s nominating committee, which nominates members for positions

on the board. If you’d like to serve on the board, contact Dan at dsharry2@aol.com or 914-762-0358.

I was leafing through the Dover Edition of T. W. Webb’s classic guide “Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes”

when I discovered that two illustrations were done by AAA members, Charles Cuevas (a 1955 photograph of Comet

Arend-Roland) and Al Kolkin (a photograph of a bolide in 1957). Do any of you remember these members?

Rich Rosenberg, president@aaa.org, (718) 522-5014

A Message from AAA President Richard Rosenberg

AAA Lecture March 4: „Searching for Exoplanets with Kepler‟

Dr. Andrea K. Dupree, senior astrophysicist at the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Har-

vard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge,

Mass., will address the AAA on Friday, March 4 on

“Searching for Exoplanets with Kepler.” The free public

lecture begins at 6:15 p. m. in the Kaufmann Theater of

the AMNH.

“For centuries, people have wondered whether our

Earth and the solar system are unique in the universe,”

Dupree observes. “Only 16 years ago, in 1995, the dis-

covery of the first planet outside the solar system marked

the beginning of an astonishing sequence of planetary

detections from the ground. Several hundred exoplanets

are now known to orbit their stars but all are larger than

Earth.

“However, this situation may soon change. NASA’s

Kepler satellite, launched in March 2009, is aimed at a

100-square-degree area of the sky in Cygnus, and carries

out photometry with exquisite precision on a field con-

taining more than 100,000 stars. Kepler will stare at

these stars for several years in order to detect planetary

transits with the goal of finding terrestrial planets in the

“habitable zone,” where liquid water and possibly life

might exist.

“Verifying planetary candidates with spectroscopy,

high-resolution imaging and modeling also comprises a

critical part of the planet-search program. A number of

planets and planetary systems have been discovered with

Kepler, including a small rocky planet. In addition to

detecting planetary transits, Kepler obtains a wealth of

information on stellar variability, including studies of

asteroseismology and gyrochronology.

“This presentation will give an overview of the Kepler

mission highlighting new results.”

Harvard-Smithsonian is the largest research institute

dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics in the world.

Dupree, who holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University

in astrophysics, is an internationally recognized leader in

stellar physics and ultraviolet astronomy, and is a mem-

ber of the Kepler Science Team. She led the team mak-

ing the first direct image of a star other than the Sun, and

studies winds and mass loss in young and old stars. She’s

Lecture continued on page 11

4

The Complexities of the Human Eye that Enable Observing

By Katherine Avakian

Obvious vision-based aspects of observational astron-

omy are mirrored by astronomy-related aspects of human

vision, a January 25 AMNH speaker stated.

“Astronomy has been a vision-based science for thou-

sands of years,” prior to the development of photography

in the first half of the 19th century and digital technolo-

gies in the 20th century, said Dr. Emily Rice, in a talk on

“Astronomy and Vision,” in conjunction with the mu-

seum’s major exhibit on the brain.

Rice, a postdoctoral researcher with the AMNH’s

Exoplanet Group, said the eye developed “as an out-

growth of the brain,” and was therefore part of the cen-

tral nervous system. She spelled out the basics of vision:

“The retina is composed of light-sensitive cells (seven

million cones and about 100 million rods) that convert

detected light to electrical signals (neural impulses) proc-

essed by the visual cortex in the brain.”

As the Space Theater darkened, Rice explained that

the star projector, Universarium Model IX, uses fiber

optics to project more than 9,000 stars, planets and deep-

sky objects onto the dome, simulating the night sky. At

the same time, our eyes started adapting to the dark.

She noted that when the eyes are exposed to a very

dark sky, a large change occurs in the pupils in about

four seconds. Thereafter, the pupils continue to gradually

dilate over the next half hour or so, enabling the viewer

to see more detail. Rice added that, unfortunately, as we

age, the pupils do not dilate as much, diminishing one’s

ability to see fainter objects.

In the dome, major constellations became recogniz-

able, prompting Rice to say the brain can recognize pat-

terns even better than computers. The Big Dipper was

one, with three stars in the handle and four stars in the

cup, the top stars in the cup pointing to the North Star.

But the Big Dipper is part of a larger constellation,

Ursa Major, with the three handle stars comprising the

bear’s tail. The Iroquois also saw that star group as a

bear, but interpreted the handle stars as three hunters in

pursuit. Rice pointed out the use of imagination--

picturing something not right in front of you --as another

way in which the brain functions, and said other cultures

have imagined the Big Dipper to be a wagon, a plough, a

cart and a saucepan.

Orion‟s distinctive belt leading the eye to the bright-

est star in the sky, Sirius in Canis Major. Orion, contain-

ing the red star Betelgeuse, also displayed the various

colors of stars, color in the astronomical sense being de-

fined as “the relative intensities of different wavelengths

of light.” Thus, blue stars such as Sirius, with the short-

est wavelengths, are hottest, and red stars like Betel-

geuse, with longer wavelengths, are coolest.

The retina in humans, containing light-sensitive rods

and cones, enables us to detect brightness and color. In

his book, “Eyes and Ears,” Seymour Simon explains,

“Rod cells are sensitive to shades of brightness and are

used to see in black and white….Cone cells work best in

bright light and let us see color….We use the cones more

during the day and the rods more during the night.”

Rice spoke about the use of averted vision to better

see faint objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy. Be-

cause rod cells “are more densely concentrated at the

edge of your vision…if you look at a faint object and

then you look away from it, looking at it out of the cor-

ner of your eye, it becomes noticeably brighter.”

Color vision was one of the last things to develop, Rice

said. She also noted that our eyes have evolved to see in

only a small segment of the much larger electromagnetic

spectrum. In animals, color vision evolved separately

from that of humans, and creatures such as birds, insects

and snakes can see beyond the visible spectrum into the

infrared and ultraviolet. ■

Contacting the AAA

General club matters: president@aaa.org. Member-

ship business, such as dues and change of address: mem-

bers@aaa.org. Eyepiece: editor@aaa.org. Lectures: lec-

tures@aaa.org. Classes: classes@aaa.org. Seminar: semi-

nar@aaa.org. Observing: president@aaa.org. Please visit

us on the web at www.aaa.org. ■

5

axy clusters, such as the Bullet Cluster, and temperature

distribution of hot gas in galaxies and galaxy clusters.

To find proof of dark matter, Weiner humorously

said, “I draw pictures.” He showed how his pictures il-

lustrate the combinations of particle interactions in the

study of particle physics. Through particle physics, sci-

entists hope to find dark matter or proof of its existence.

The process starts with collisions of neutrons to get

protons, electrons and neutrinos. Neutrinos are difficult

to detect. It’s theorized that a neutrino doesn’t interact

with matter. The Sun is a massive generator of neutrinos.

Every second, 100 billion neutrinos go through our

thumbnail.

Physics Nobelist Raymond Davis was the first scientist

to detect solar neutrinos, the ghostlike particles produced

in nuclear reactions that power the Sun. He detected only

about one-third of the anticipated number of neutrinos.

Davis’ results threw astrophysics into an uproar, and, for

nearly three decades, physicists have tried to resolve the

so-called “solar neutrino puzzle.”

Experiments in the 1990s, using different detectors,

eventually confirmed the solar-neutrino discrepancy.

According to Weiner, Davis’ findings led to a variety of

new suppositions, or “crazy hypotheses.”

Imagine there are multiple types of neutrinos, only

some of which can be detected. “Suppose three-quarters

of solar neutrinos turn into something else,” Weiner said.

Many experiments continue to be carried out: the Sub-

marine Neutrino Observatory, using heavy water; the

study of Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPS),

and the Large Hadron Collider’s search for the Higgs

Boson particle. Scientists also study the possibility that

we’re moving through a “wind of dark matter.”

Weiner said there’s no apparent relationship between

dark matter and dark energy. “Many people have gone

down this path, including myself.” He used the analogy

of dark matter in a box. If you make the box bigger, you

still have the same amount of dark matter. But if you

have dark energy and you make the box (the universe)

bigger, you get more dark energy.

Dark Matter continued from page 1 As to alternate theories to account for dark matter,

one is the modified gravity model, Modified Newtonian

Dynamics (MOND), which adjusts Newton’s laws to

create a stronger gravitational field when gravitational

acceleration levels become tiny, such as near the rim of a

galaxy. It’s had some success in predicting galactic-scale

features, such as rotational curves of elliptical galaxies

and dwarf elliptical galaxies. But it’s fallen short in pre-

dicting galaxy-cluster lensing.

After so many years of study, he stated, "Finding the

Higgs Boson particle is going to be less surprising than

not finding it.” He fully expects scientists to find some-

thing in the next couple of years. “We know dark matter

is there. Something is there.” ■

The AAA’s annual meeting

is Wednesday, May 18

at headquarters.

Plan on coming!

Inside a given cosmic horizon--Greene’s cosmic

patch on the “patchwork quilt”--the number of particle

arrangements, while enormous, is nevertheless finite.

Given a finite number of particle arrangements and infi-

nite space, the particle arrangements will eventually re-

peat. In every collection of 10¹³² cosmic patches, there

should be a patch that exactly replicates our own: the

Milky Way, the solar system, the Earth and us.

The inflationary multiverse is based upon the theory of

inflationary cosmology which modifies the Big

Bang theory by incorporating an extreme burst of colos-

sally fast (inflation) expansion in the very early state of

the cosmos. Inflation has proven critical to explaining

puzzling aspects of the microwave background radiation,

and at least one version of inflation theory has hinted at

the possibility of a structure that yields a very large num-

ber of parallel universes.

Multiverses continued from page 1

Multiverses continued on page 12

6

Nicole Mortillaro, author of “Saturn--Exploring the

Mystery of the Ringed Planet” (Firefly, $29.95), is a Ca-

nadian amateur astronomer and children’s book editor

who’s written a book for all ages about the glorious,

ringed planet.

Illustrated with beautiful and magnificent photographs

from the early Pioneer and Voyager probes, the Hubble

and especially the more recent Cassini-Huygens mission

still underway, her effort has the look of a coffee-table

book. What sets it apart from that genre is the accompa-

nying text, which is both clear and scientific (although

her copy editor should have eliminated overuse of words

such as “enigmatic”).

In addition to Saturn, the book concentrates on its

rings and moon systems. On the planet, Cassini-Huygens

sighted what’s believed to be the most violent storm in

the solar system, a more than 340 mph hurricane with an

eye wall and vortex.

There are splendid color photographs of the rings,

which are far more complicated than imagined. There

may be millions of tiny moonlets in Saturn’s ring.

The section on the moons is the most interesting part

of the book. The celebrity here is Titan, second largest in

the solar system after Jupiter’s Ganymede. On January

14, 2005, Huygens landed on Titan, sending back aston-

ishing pictures of the surface. The topography, which

appears similar to Earth’s mountains, is pictured in all its

red-brown glory. There’s also an image of Titan’s liquid-

methane lakes, looking like bodies of water as seen on

Earth from an orbiting satellite.

In the section “Curious Moons,” Mortillaro gives us

photographs of other interesting and major Saturnian

moons, such as Hyperion, resembling a giant sponge;

pockmarked Phoebe, and Tethys with its unusually

bright crater floors. The most interesting of these lesser

satellites is Enceladus. In 2005, when Cassini came

within 99 miles of the moon, it collected images of water

vapor and ice particles erupting from the surface. It was

discovered that the temperature at Enceladus’ South Pole

was 100 degrees and that there was evidence of simple

carbons. So there’s a question whether Enceladus could

harbor simple life.

No mission has contributed as much as Cassini-

Huygens to the knowledge of the Saturn system, and in

2008 it was extended for another four years. Mortillaro

outlines the scientific advances resulting from the mis-

sion, and has even more strikingly captured in splendid

photographs the beauty of Saturn, its rings and its

moons. ■

Review: The Beauty of Saturn, Its Rings and Its Moons

By Alan Rude

NASA has formed a partnership with Space-

weather.com to solicit the amateur-astronomy commu-

nity to submit the best images of the orbiting NanoSail-D

solar sail. NanoSail-D unfurled the first-ever 100-square-

foot solar sail in low-Earth orbit January 20.

To encourage observations of NanoSail-D, Space-

weather.com is offering $500, $300 and $100 prizes.

The contest is open to all types of images, including,

but not limited to, telescopic captures to wide-field cam-

era shots of solar-sail flares. If NanoSail-D’s in the field

of view, the image is eligible.

The solar sail, about the size of a large tent, will be

observable from early March to late May before it enters

the atmosphere and disintegrates. The contest continues

until NanoSail-D re-enters Earth’s atmosphere. Info:

http://www.nanosail.org. ■

Amateur Photogs Sought for Solar Sail

Photo Contest Winners—The European Southern

Observatory announced winners of its 2010 astrophot-

ography contest. The competition invited amateurs to dig

through ESO archives and transform gray-scale scope

observations into full-color images. Igor Chekalin, from

Russia, won the grand prize, a trip to ESO’s Very Large

Telescope in Paranal, Chile, for a shot of the M78 nebu-

lar complex in Orion. He also submitted the second-

highest-rated image, galaxies NGC 3166 and NCG 3169.

The highest-ranked photos will be on www.eso.org as

Photo Releases or Pictures of the Week.■

7

NASA unveiled a wealth of new data from its planet-

seeking Kepler space telescope last month, observations

that significantly increase the number of possible alien

planets and identify potential Earth-size worlds. More

than 500 exoplanets have been discovered, but that could

more than double if all candidate exoplanets from new

Kepler data are confirmed. Amid 1,200 possible alien

worlds, Kepler has found 68 potentially Earth-size plan-

ets and 54 candidates in the habitable zone, a region

where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.

Some candidates could even have moons with liquid wa-

ter. Five planetary candidates are near Earth size and

orbit in the habitable zone of their stars. The data also

reveal that smaller worlds and multi-planet systems may

be more common than thought.

Kepler has also discovered a solar system in which

six planets are orbiting a Sunlike star, with five in close

configuration. Few stars have been observed with plane-

tary arrangements like our solar system. The smallest

planet is about 2.3 times Earth mass. None of the

exoplanets are inside the habitable zone. Astronomers

made the find from Kepler images of changing bright-

ness of the system’s star, Kepler-11, as the planets

passed in front of it. The discovery of five small planets

with close orbits around the star, with another planet far-

ther out, was unexpected. Kepler-11 is about 2,000 light-

years away. The system is compelling because of the

number of planets around the host star, their relatively

small sizes and their tightly packed orbits. The discovery

validates a powerful new method to measure planet

mass. The five inner planets are 2.3 to 13.5 times Earth

mass. Their orbital periods are 10 to 47 days, which

means all five planets would fit inside Mercury’s orbit.

The sixth planet has an undetermined mass, but is larger

than the other five. It orbits every 118 Earth days. Of the

six planets, the most massive are potentially like Nep-

tune and Uranus, but the three lowest-mass planets are

unlike anything in our solar system. Before detection of

the Kepler-11 system, astronomers had size and mass

calculations for only three exoplanets smaller than Nep-

tune. Now, measurements from a single planetary system

have added five more, and they’re among the small-

est. All six planets have densities lower than Earth’s.

This implies most of their volumes are made of light ele-

ments. The inner two could be mostly water, with possi-

bly a thin skin of hydrogen-helium gas on top. The ones

farther out have densities less than water, which seems to

indicate significant hydrogen-helium atmospheres. This

was surprising, since it’s hard for small, hot planets to

hold onto a lightweight atmosphere. Close proximity of

the inner planets means they likely didn’t form where

they are now.

A new instrument will help NASA’s Kepler space-

craft confirm and characterize potential alien planets. On

the drawing boards is a new precision spectrograph in-

strument, called HARPS-North. HARPS stands for

"High-Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher." This

spectrograph is designed to detect the tiny radial velocity

signal induced by planets as small as Earth if they orbit

close to their star. Kepler provides the size of a planet,

based on the amount of light it blocks when it passes in

front of its star. Scientists now need to measure planetary

masses. That will allow them to distinguish rocky planets

and water worlds from ones dominated by atmospheres

of hydrogen and helium. HARPS-N will partner with

Kepler to characterize worlds enough like Earth that they

might be able to support life as we know it. HARPS-N’s

measurements are expected a year from now.

Hubble has found what‟s likely to be the most distant

object ever seen in the universe, 13.2 billion years away.

That’s roughly 150 million years longer than the previ-

ous record holder. (The age of the universe is 13.7 billion

years.) The tiny, dim object is a compact galaxy of blue

stars that existed 480 million years after the Big Bang.

New data show the rate of star birth in the early universe

grew dramatically, increasing by about a factor of 10

from 480 million years to 650 million years after the Big

Bang. Astronomers don’t know when the first stars ap-

peared. The object was found when astronomers looked

at Hubble infrared data. The galaxy appears as a faint dot

of starlight, too young and small to have the familiar spi-

ral shape of galaxies in the local universe. Although its

stars can’t be resolved, evidence suggests it’s a compact

galaxy of hot stars formed 100 million-200 million years

earlier from gas trapped in a pocket of dark matter. The

proto-galaxy is only visible at the farthest infrared wave-

lengths observable by Hubble.

NASA‟s next-generation space telescope could con-

Continued on page 8

Briefs: Kepler Data Boost Number of Possible Exoplanets

8

Briefs: Sun Unleashes Strongest Flare in Four Years

firm the existence of the oldest galaxy yet seen and peer

back even further in time. The infrared James Webb

Space Telescope (JWST), powerful successor to Hubble,

which could launch in fall 2015, will look back even fur-

ther in time, to just a few hundred million years after the

universe’s birth. Hubble's capabilities max out at about

480 million years after the universe's birth, but JWST

should be able to see objects that formed 200 million-

300 million years after the Big Bang. The first stars may

have come together at about 200 million years. JWST

should provide data from when galaxies were coming

together.

The Sun unleashed its strongest solar flare in four

years February 14, hurling a massive wave of charged

particles from electrified gas toward Earth. A flash of

radiation hit Earth in a matter of minutes, followed by a

coronal mass ejection. The flare triggered a geomagnetic

storm in our magnetic field that interrupted radio com-

munications and GPS systems. Satellites and power grids

could also be affected. On February 13, sunspot 1158,

which is growing rapidly, unleashed the strongest solar

flare of the year. The mega flare was the first class X

flare to occur in the new solar cycle of activity, which

began last year. Meanwhile, the chief of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said

February 19 that space weather could pose serious prob-

lems on Earth in coming years. A severe solar storm has

the potential to take down telecommunications and

power grids, and the country needs to be better prepared,

NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco told the annual

meeting of the American Association for the Advance-

ment of Science in Washington. “This is not a matter of

if, it’s simply a matter of when and how big,” Lubchenco

said of the potential for a dangerous solar flare. The

space-weather threat is becoming direr as the Sun ramps

up toward solar maximum, predicted for around 2013.

An artificial crater on comet Tempel 1 created in

2005 by a NASA spacecraft took center stage in new

photos released after another probe revisited the comet.

The intentional scar on the comet was created by the

Deep Impact mission, which dropped a small probe to

see what the comet was made of. The Stardust spacecraft

flew by Tempel 1 February 14. There’s a crater with a

Continued from page 7 small mound in the center, and it appears that some

ejecta went up and came right back down. This indicates

the cometary nucleus is fragile based on how subdued

the crater is. It also means Tempel 1's man-made crater

partially healed itself as the ejecta settled and refilled

part of the depression. High-res Stardust photos clearly

show the crater created during the Deep Impact collision.

The crater is 492 feet across and is tucked between two

larger craters that predate Deep Impact. Tempel 1 is 3.7

miles wide and completes one trip around the Sun every

five and a half years. Deep Impact smacked it with an

800-pound copper probe. Stardust’s main mission was to

observe how Tempel 1 has changed since then. It flew

within 110 miles of Tempel 1 and collected information

on its atmosphere. Stardust also recorded data on the

amount of dust cloud around the comet. It apparently

took a beating as it zoomed past Tempel 1 at 24,300

mph, passing through waves of particles as it flew

through the cloud around the comet.

First results from the ESA‟s Planck mission reveal

clues about how the universe began, including never-

before-seen distant galaxy clusters and echoes of the Big

Bang. The spacecraft’s initial surveys of the entire sky

produced much new data. Planck found thousands of

new dusty cocoons where stars are forming, as well as

some of the most massive galaxy clusters. The mission

aims to garner some of the most detailed data to date on

the cosmic microwave background (CMB). By studying

CMB fluctuations, researchers hope to glean info about

the origin and evolution of the universe, including what

main ingredients were present at its beginnings. Planck

takes measurements between infrared and radio that re-

veal an otherwise invisible population of galaxies

shrouded in dust, billions of years in the past. These gal-

axies formed stars at huge rates, 10-1,000 times higher

than we see in our own galaxy, and are some of the cold-

est places in the universe. Planck’s new catalog includes

some of the coldest dusty star nurseries ever seen, with

temps as low as seven degrees above absolute zero. The

catalog also contains some of the most massive galaxy

clusters known, including newfound ones. The most

massive of these holds the equivalent of 1 million billion

Suns’ worth of mass. As yet, scientists can’t see beyond

the CMB, which blocks the first 380,000 years of the

Continued on page 9

9

Briefs: Solitary Stars in Early Universe Weren‟t the Rule Dunes in the north of Mars aren’t frozen in time as

some have thought. Their sands can shift both slowly and

quickly. These dune fields cover an area the size of

Texas in a band around Mars at the edge of its north po-

lar cap. Most data suggested they were fairly static, per-

haps crusted over when winds were much stronger than

today. But before-and-after pictures from the Mars Re-

connaissance Orbiter over two Martian years, the equiva-

lent of four Earth years, reveal a different story. What’s

behind these shifting sand dunes is twofold: the seasonal

coming and going of “dry ice” and surprisingly powerful

gusts of wind. About 30% of carbon dioxide in the at-

mosphere freezes out of the atmosphere and blankets

whatever pole is experiencing winter. It changes back to

gas in the spring. The gas flow destabilizes sand on the

dunes, causing avalanches and creating alcoves, gullies

and sand aprons. The level of erosion in just one Mars

year was surprising.

Mars‟ poles might not be the only place where water

ice might be hidden. Scientists now suggest it could also

lurk at the equator in craters. Radar scans of equatorial

hills suggest they might harbor as much water as a polar

ice cap. There appears to be ice-rich material buried at

the bottom of at least 38 craters near the equator. This

material appears similar to what’s thought to be buried

ice at mid-latitude craters in both hemispheres. That wa-

ter ice exists near the equator raises questions about re-

cent climate change. Findings confirm that Mars experi-

ences dramatic climate swings whenever the tilt of its

poles in relation to the Sun shifts. Scientists are monitor-

ing locations along the equator for new meteor impacts

that could expose buried ice.

NASA‟s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission

needs an $82 million infusion to maintain its late No-

vember launch date after development of the $2.47 bil-

lion rover exhausted program funding reserves last

year. The 3% cost increase was attributed to problems

developing mobility systems, avionics, radar and drill,

and delays completing an instrument suite to sniff the air

for carbon-containing compounds. With MSL slated for

delivery to Cape Canaveral in June, funding reserves

must be restored to gird against further development or

test problems that could cause the rover to miss a three-

Continued on page 10

universe from view. However, scientists hope Planck can

eventually look beyond this to formation of the uni-

verse’s first large-scale structures. Data indicate material

obscuring the universe’s birth is dust grains, spinning at

tens of billions of times per second, most likely set in

motion by collisions with fast-moving atoms or packets

of ultraviolet light.

Astronomers have long believed the early universe

was populated by huge, solitary stars. But a new study

suggests these loners were more the exception. Astro-

physicists pushed the timeline of early star-

formation simulations further than before. They found

most early protostars, precursors to full-blown stars,

likely formed in tight systems of multiple stars. Some

primordial multiple-star systems may have had separa-

tions as small as between the Earth and the Sun. Tests

revealed isolated stellar disks were likely to fragment

because after becoming so heavy and massive, they be-

came gravitationally unstable. They then collapsed in on

themselves and formed other protostars. The simulation

also suggests that if conditions were right, some of the

first stars could have been ejected from their local stellar

groups over time. As each protostar accreted more mate-

rial, it radiated heat, eventually ionizing the cloud and

ending the fragmentation. The initial protostar remained

largest, still well within the high-mass range predicted by

the previous model. Instead of existing in isolation, how-

ever, it found itself accompanied by a small group of low

-mass companions. The accretion of mass takes hundreds

of thousands of years. This simulation ends at 10,000.

An unusual spiral galaxy with a flat, pancake-like

shape is missing the trademark central bulge common to

other galaxies. NGC 3621 appears to be a classical spiral

galaxy at first. But a closer look reveals its lack of a cen-

tral bulge makes it a “pure-disk galaxy.” The galaxy’s

flat shape indicates it has yet to come face-to-face with

another galaxy, since a violent galactic smash-up would

disturb the thin disk of stars and create a small bulge at

the galaxy’s center. Recent research suggests pure-disk

galaxies may be fairly common. NGC 3621 is about 22

million light-years away in Hydra. It’s comparatively

bright and can be detected with moderate-size scopes.

Continued from page 8

10

Briefs: Laser to Pave Way for New Adaptive Optics System pergiant stars are extremely bright and radiate so

strongly that their stellar wind would normally prevent

matter from condensing as dust. Astronomers conclude

that a companion star, with a mass roughly equivalent to

the Sun, is likely the key to HD 62623’s strange baby-

like features and the reason for the uncharacteristic disk

around HD 62623. This companion wasn’t directly de-

tected because its brightness is thousands of times lower

than the primary star, but its presence is betrayed by a

central cavity that lies between the gas disk and the cen-

tral star.

A new study has pinpointed the lower limit of dark

matter needed to ignite frenzied star formation: a mass

equal to 300 billion Suns. While dark matter has yet to

be directly observed, it's a vital ingredient for galaxies in

star formation. The 300 billion solar masses' worth of

dark matter is about 10 times less than the amount previ-

ously estimated. If one starts with too little dark matter, a

developing galaxy would peter out. If there's too much,

gas doesn't cool efficiently to form one large galaxy, and

you end up with lots of smaller galaxies. But if you have

the just the right amount of dark matter, a galaxy burst-

ing with stars will pop out. Such galaxy characteristics as

brightness and stellar mass are directly related to the size

of their dark matter halo. Scientists studied a patch of

sky the size of the Moon in Ursa Major to make their

discovery. This wedge of sky is ideal for studying ob-

jects outside our galaxy because of low dust contamina-

tion from the Milky Way.

A giant ring of black holes has been viewed by sev-

eral scopes across different parts of the light spectrum.

Two interacting galaxies, known collectively as Arp 47,

about 430 million light-years from Earth, set the stage

for the view. Arp 147 contains the mixed-up leftovers

from the collision of a spiral galaxy and an elliptical gal-

axy that unleashed an expanding wave of star formation.

The wave of stars creates the ring effect. But these stars

are short-lived, lasting no more than a few million years

before they explode as supernovas or collapse into black

holes. The black holes pepper the ring, with their power-

ful X-ray emissions appearing as bright pink specks. An-

other galaxy is present in the image, appearing as a dull

red, along with a bright star and distant quasar. The most

intense period of star formation ended an estimated 15

million years ago. ■

week launch window beginning November 25. Postpon-

ing MSL’s launch again isn’t an option.

To help take extra sharp images of space, a tele-

scope in Chile is firing a mega-laser, made up of five

beams, into the night sky. The sodium laser is part of a

telescope and is the cornerstone for a next-generation

adaptive-optics system. The laser is a thick, bright yel-

low beam of light. The system consists of a single 50-

watt laser split into five beams that create a five-point

“star” grouping when fired 56 miles into the sky. Com-

puters use the laser to build a real-time, three-

dimensional view of the atmosphere and use that data to

change the shape of the telescope’s mirror to cancel out

blurring effects about 1,000 times per second. At ground

level, the laser is visible to the unaided eye due to scat-

tering effects. The system begins observations in 2012.

NASA last month released the first 360-degree view

of the entire Sun. The photo came courtesy of the

agency’s twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Ob-

servatory) spacecraft, which aligned exactly opposite

each other on opposite sides of the Sun to capture the

image. The ability to see the whole Sun, front to back,

will allow scientists to better understand complicated

solar-weather patterns and make plans for future robotic

or manned spacecraft missions throughout the solar sys-

tem.

From December 13-22, a mob of icy comets pelted

the Sun in an extraordinary storm. During that time, the

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected 25

comets diving into the Sun. Sungrazers aren’t uncom-

mon, but 25 in 10 days is unprecedented. The small com-

ets were about the size of a room or a house. Scientists

think the storm could be a signal that a much larger sun-

grazer is to come, one that people might be able to see

with the naked eye during the day.

A giant star nearing its death is surrounded by an

unusual cloud of gas and dust that is generally only

found around baby stars, as revealed by a new 3-D imag-

ing technique. The star, HD 62623, is a supergiant.

Unlike almost all stars of that class, HD 62623 is sur-

rounded by a dense shroud of plasma and dust. Hot su-

Continued from page 9

11

Events on the Horizon

March 2011

M: members; P: open to the public; T: bring your telescopes, binoculars, etc.;

C: cancelled if cloudy;

HQ: at AAA headquarters, Downtown Community Center, 120 Warren St.

Thursday, March 3, 6:30-8:30 p. m.

Recent Advances in Astronomy Seminar, M, HQ

The seminar now incorporates the Observers’ Group.

Next date: April 7.

Friday, March 4, 6:15 p. m.

AAA‟s annual John Marshall Memorial Lecture, P,

AMNH, FREE

Dr. Andrea K. Dupree, senior astrophysicist at the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, will speak on

“Searching for Exoplanets with Kepler” in the Kaufmann

Theater of the AMNH.

Saturday, March 5, 7:30-11 p. m.

Observing at Great Kills Gateway National Park,

Staten Island, P, T, C

Next date: April 2, 8-11 p. m.

Monday, March 7, 7:30 p. m.

LeFrak Theater, AMNH

Annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, P, AMNH

Can the universe be explained with a single, unifying

theory? Hayden director Neil deGrasse Tyson will mod-

erate a panel consisting of Katherine Freese, professor of

physics at the University of Michigan; Jim Gates, profes-

sor of physics at the University of Maryland-College

Park; Janna Levin, professor of physics and astronomy at

Barnard College; Marcello Gleiser, professor of physics

and astronomy at Dartmouth College; Brian Greene, pro-

fessor of physics and mathematics at Columbia Univer-

sity; and Lee Smolin, theoretical physicist at the Perime-

ter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Thursday, March 10, 6:30-8 p. m.

Observing at Charles A. Dana Discovery Center,

Central Park North at Lenox Avenue, P, T, C

Preceded by presentation on late winter/early spring sky.

Fridays March 11 and 25, 8-11 p. m.

Observing at Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan, P, T, C

Next dates: April 8, 22.

Friday, March 18, 8-10 p, m.

Observing at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, P, T, C

Next date: April 15.

Saturday, March 26, 10-noon

Solar Observing at Central Park, P, T, C

At the Conservatory Water. Next date: April 30. ■

For directions to AAA observing events, check the club's website, www.aaa.org.

published hundreds of papers and articles, and edited

several books. Dupree has also been involved in the de-

sign of satellite telescopes.

The speaker is a past president of the American As-

tronomical Society. She’s led and served on many com-

mittees of the National Academy of Sciences, NASA and

others to determine the course of astronomical research

in the U. S. and other countries. Dupree was earlier asso-

ciate director of the Harvard-Smithsonian, the first

woman and youngest person in that post, and served as

head of the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Physics Division.

Other upcoming lectures are: April 1, Greg Matloff,

New York City College of Technology, “Regreening the

Earth Using Space Resources,” and May 6, David J.

Thompson, NASA, “Exploring the Extreme Universe

with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.”

Dupree‟s talk will be the club‟s annual John Mar-

shall Memorial Lecture, which honors a past president

and executive director of the AAA who was instrumental

in its growth. Marshall died in 1997. ■

Lecture continued from page 3

12

Amateur Astronomers Association

Gracie Station

P. O. Box 383

New York, NY 10028

Forwarding and Address

Correction Requested First Class

of a vast number of universes in an inflationary cosmos,

each of which has its own collection of quilted-

patchwork universes. Thus, there are not only parallel

universes but parallel, parallel universes.

The landscape multiverse was the final parallel uni-

verse Greene discussed. He introduced string theory,

which many physicists consider as the basis for a “theory

of everything.” String theory proposes as yet unseen ex-

tra dimensions. The mathematics of the theory dictate

that these extra dimensions take the form of Calabi-Yau

shapes (after their discoverers). There are an incompre-

hensible number of these shapes: 10 ⁵⁰⁰.

Greene believes that when string theory and inflation-

ary cosmology are merged, all of string theory’s possible

shapes for extra dimensions are distributed throughout

the cosmos and determine properties specific to each

universe. The big question is: Do any such universes

have similar physical laws to ours?

Although, with present resources, we cannot come

close to testing, by experiment and observation, the exis-

tence of the multiverses Greene described--and perhaps

we never can--by trusting in mathematics to lead us to

hidden truths about the workings of our universe, we’ll

follow a path that has led time and again to major dis-

coveries in science in general and physics in particular. ■

This theory posits eternal inflation occurring in the

inflaton field; physicists drop the second i in naming the

field as a matter of convention. The inflaton is a super-

high energy field undergoing inflationary expansion.

From time to time parts of the inflaton field experience a

decrease in energy. Such portions will transit out of the

super-fast expansion, converting the inflaton field’s en-

ergy level into familiar particles, photons, quarks, stars,

galaxies and planets.

Greene used the description of a block of Swiss

cheese: The cheesy part is the high-energy inflaton field,

occupying most of what he calls the greater cosmos, and

the holes are lower-energy regions like ours. He calls

these holes “bubble universes,” ours being only one of a

huge number of them.

Greene asserted a difference of perspective by observ-

ers inside and outside a bubble universe. Because of the

relativistic perception of time and space, outside observ-

ers will see a finite bubble universe and experience end-

less time. But from the point of view of observers inside

the bubble, space will appear infinite.

We can therefore think of ourselves as occupying one

Multiverses continued from page 5

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