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Starry Monday at Otterbein

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Note: the sky is not black as on the moon, but pale pink of the dust in the atmosphere! ... Zodiac: Capricorn. Aquarius. Mark your Calendars! Next Starry ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Starry Monday at Otterbein


1
Starry Monday at Otterbein
Welcome to
  • Astronomy Lecture Series
  • -every first Monday of the month-
  • November 5, 2007
  • Dr. Uwe Trittmann

2
Todays Topics
  • Recent Advances in Astronomy - Introduction
  • The Night Sky in November

3
Feedback!
  • Please write down suggestions/your interests on
    the note pads provided
  • If you would like to hear from us, please leave
    your email / address
  • To learn more about astronomy and physics at
    Otterbein, please visit
  • http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp
    (Obs.)
  • http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics
    Dept.)

4
Recent Advances in Astronomy
  • Data
  • Theory
  • Instruments
  • Space Flight
  • Space probes

5
Introduction
  • In the last 15 years cosmology has become a
    (very) exact science
  • 1970ies Age of the universe is 10-20 billion yrs
  • Now the universe is 13.70.1 billion years old
  • Eagerly anticipated results have been obtained
  • Temperature of the universe is 2.725 K,
    isotropic 1 part in 100,000
  • Unexpected discoveries occurred
  • Acceleration of cosmological expansion
  • The universe contains strange unknown stuff
  • Changing of space exploration agencies
  • Commercial spaceflight
  • China, Japan, India
  • Bushs Moon-Mars initiative changes NASAs
    objectives
  • Instrumentation has improved dramatically
  • CCD cameras
  • Adaptive optics
  • New Astronomies
  • Neutrino, X-ray, IR, ...

6
Recent Advances in Astronomy Space Probes
  • Cassini / Huygens
  • Chandra
  • Mars Rovers
  • WMAP
  • Galileo
  • Hayabusa
  • Deep Impact
  • Many more

7
Deep Impact The Comet Crasher
  • Comet Impact July 4, 2005Impact
    Velocity 23,000 mphSpacecraft SizeFlyby
    spacecraft - nearly as large as a Volkswagen
    Beetle automobile.Impactor spacecraft - about
    the same dimensions as a typical living room
    coffee table.

8
Comets - Traveling Dirty Snowballs
  • Small icy bodies, dirty snowballs
  • Develops a tail as it approaches the Sun

9
Comet Anatomy
  • Tail may be up to 1 A.U. long

10
Halleys Comet Now and then
  • Halleys Comet in 1910
  • Top May 10, 30 tail
  • Bottom May 12, 40 tail
  • Halleys Comet in 1986
  • March 14, 1986

11
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
  • HST image (1994) Earth added to show scale

12
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
  • Headed for Jupiter

13
Impact on Jupiter
14
Deep Impact The Comet Crasher
  • Comet Impact July 4, 2005Impact
    Velocity 23,000 mphSpacecraft SizeFlyby
    spacecraft - nearly as large as a Volkswagen
    Beetle automobile.Impactor spacecraft - about
    the same dimensions as a typical living room
    coffee table.

15
Temple 1 Coordinate System
16
Deep Impact crashes into comet Temple 1
  • This is how a comet looks like!

17
Viewed from the flyby spacecraft
from Hubble Space Telescope
18
  • Spirit at Gusev Crater
  • Sol 1365 Time 2118
  • Sols past warranty 1275
  • Opportunity at Meridiani Sinus
  • Sol 1345 Time 917
  • Sols past warranty 1255

19
Martian Surface
  • Iron gives the characteristic Mars color rusty
    red!
  • View of Viking 1 1 m
    rock Sojourner

20
Martian Panorama
  • Note the sky is not black as on the moon,
  • but pale pink of the dust in the
    atmosphere!
  • Twin Peaks about 1-2 km away

21
Mars Panorama Opportunity has landed!
22
Landing Sites
  • A couple of 1000 miles apart!

23
Meteorite ALH 84001
  • Discovered in Antarctica in 1984
  • 2 kg, 17 cm across
  • Chemical analysis indicates it came from Mars
  • In 1996, a team of scientists argued that it
    contains fossilized evidence of bacteria that
    came from Mars

24
Cassini/ Huygens
  • Spectacular data from Saturn, Titan, and the Rings

25
Titan
  • Titan is the only moon in the solar system known
    to have an atmosphere
  • Infrared picture shows surface details

26
Titan from Cassini
27
Haze and Atmosphere
28
Methane Clouds
29
False Colored Image
30
Map of Titan
31
Methane Rain Lakes
32
Huygens sees Shoreline descending
33
SOHO
  • The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
    monitors the Sun (launched 1995). It provides
    crucial early warnings of impending space weather
    that can destroy satellites and knock out power
    grids. Scientists credit SOHO with allowing
    forecasts that prevent damage and losses that
    might otherwise occur.

Erupting prominence
34
Hubble Space Telescope
  • Launched 1993
  • Above the atmosphere
  • 2.4m Mirror

35
HST Planets
36
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
37
HST M51 Spiral Galaxy
38
The Night Sky in November
  • The sun is past autumn equinox - longer nights!
  • Autumn constellations are coming up Cassiopeia,
    Pegasus, Perseus, Andromeda, Pisces ? lots of
    open star clusters!
  • Mars is visible later at night

39
Moon Phases
  • Today (Waning Crescent)
  • 11/ 9 (New Moon)
  • 11 / 17 (First Quarter Moon)
  • 11 / 24 (Full Moon)
  • (Last Quarter Moon)

40
Today at Noon
  • Sun at meridian, i.e. exactly south

41
10 PM
  • Typical observing hour, early October
  • Mars
  • Uranus
  • Neptune

42
Star Maps
40º

90º
Celestial North Pole everything turns around
this point Zenith the point right above you
the middle of the map
43
West
  • The summer triangle lingers on

44
Due North
  • Big Dipper points to the north pole

45
High up the Autumn Constellations
  • W of Cassiopeia
  • Big Square of Pegasus
  • Andromeda Galaxy

46
Andromeda Galaxy
  • PR Foto
  • Actual look

47
South-East
  • Perseus,
  • Auriga Taurus
  • with Plejades and the Double Cluster

48
South-West 2006
  • Planets
  • Uranus
  • Neptune
  • Zodiac
  • Capricorn
  • Aquarius

49
South-West 2007
  • Planets
  • Uranus
  • Neptune
  • Zodiac
  • Capricorn
  • Aquarius

50
Mark your Calendars!
  • Next Starry Monday February 4, 2008, 7 pm
  • (this is a Monday
    )
  • Observing at Prairie Oaks Metro Park
  • Friday, November 16, 630 pm
  • Friday, January 11, 600 pm
  • Friday, February 15, 630 pm
  • Web pages
  • http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp
    (Obs.)
  • http//www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics
    Dept.)

51
Mark your Calendars II
  • Physics Coffee is every Wednesday, 330 pm
  • Open to the public, everyone welcome!
  • Location across the hall, Science 256
  • Free coffee, cookies, etc.
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