Vrystaat Sterrefees / Free State Star Party

Waarnemingshulp /  Aid for Observers

Vrystaat Sterre Partytjie                         
( English version below)

ASSA Bloemfontein nooi u na twee nagte van waarneming en verwondering van die Winterkonstellasies in die unieke Vrystaatse naghemel.  Daarmee saam gedurende Saterdag 28 Junie, is daar praatjies en besprekings oor onder meer teleskoopkollimasie deur Brett du Preez.

Plek: Gansvlei-gasteplaas tussen Brandfort, Bloemfontein en Winburg. (G.P.S.: Suid 28°47'49.9" en Oos 26°28'23.1"; Elevasie: 1395m).
Tyd: Vanaf 17:00 op 27 Junie tot omtrent 09:00 op 29 Junie 2014, dus twee nagte.
Koste: R80 per persoon per nag, wat insluit 'n bed met paslaken, ablusiegeriewe, volledig toegerusde kombuis en eetgerei, hout en braai geriewe soos roosters en selfs potte.
Benodigdehede: U eie waarnemingstoerusting soos teleskope, vêrkykers, kameras, sterkaarte, stoel/tafel, beligting (beperk tot die flouste rooi liggie wat jy het...!) ens.  U eie kos en drinkgoed - genoeg vir die tydperk wat u daar bly - naaste winkel is omtrent 40km vanaf die plaas.  Warm klere en warm slaapgoed: onthou dis in die middel van die winter en dis in die middel van die Vrystaat...!!!
Bespreking: Indien u belangstel, antwoord asseblief per e-pos na assabfn@gmail.com, en doen dit asseblief nie later as 20 Junie 2014 nie.  Geen voorafbetaling is nodig nie.  Daar is huisvesting vir 40 mense so laat weet asseblief vroegtydig. 

Finale informasie sal per e-pos gekommunikeer word op Maandag 23 Junie aan diegene wat bespreek het teen daardie tyd.

• Waarnemingshulp /  Aid for Observers

Free State Star Party

ASSA Bloemfontein invites you to two nights of wonderful observation of the Winter Constellation in the unique Free State night skies.  Including, during Saturday 28 June, there will be talks and discussion on telescope collimation by Brett du Preez.
Venue: Gansvlei guest farm situated between Bloemfontein, Brandfort and Winburg (G.P.S.: South 28°47'49.9" and East 26°28'23.1"; Elevation: 1395m).
Time and duration: Two nights, from 17:00 on 27 June to about 09:00 on 29 June 2014.
Cost: R80 per person per night, which includes a bed with a fitted sheet, ablution facilities, fully equipped kitchen with cutlery, wood and braai facilities such as braai grids and even pots.
Requirements: Your own observation equipment such as telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star charts, chair and table, lighting (confined to the weakest and reddest light you own...!) etc.  Your own food and drinks for the duration of your stay - the nearest shops are about 40km from the farm.  Warm clothes and bedding: remembers it is mid-winter in the middle of the Free State...!!!
Booking: Please answer by e-mail to assabfn@gmail.com not later than 20 June 2014 if you are interested.  No pre-payment is necessary.  There is accommodation for 40 people so please respond soon.

Final information will be communicated by e-mail on 23 June 2014 to those who have booked by then.

• Waarnemingshulp /  Aid for Observers

Astrofotografie Werkswinkel vir beginners / Basic Astrophotography Workshop

Foto: Hannes Pieterse

ASSA Bloemfontein bied aan:

‘n Basiese Astrofotografie Werkswinkel.

(English version below)

Aanbieder: Brett du Preez, lid van ASSA Bloemfontein en ervare Astrofotograaf.

Plek: Boyden Sterrewag

Tyd: Saterdag 24 Mei 2014, vanaf 15h00.

 Toegang: Gratis vir Klublede en R100-00 per persoon vir nie-lede.

Weens die aard van die Werkswinkel, kan slegs 30 persone geakkomodeer word.

Bespreek asseblief deur per e-pos te stuur aan assabfn@gmail.com

 Program:15h00 vir 15h30 – Ons begin op die Platform: Almal pak hul goed uit en slaan op wat hulle saamgebring het.

15h30 - 16h30 – Gesels oor wat ons gaan doen en begin die Werkswinkel met die afneem van Son (bring hoedens ens saam….).  Brett sal ‘n beperkte hoeveelheid son-filter saambring vir afneem van die son.  Bring ook ‘n skêr of matmes, karton, dubbelkantige kleefband en gewone kleefband of kits-gom vir die maak van sonfilters.

16h30 - 18h00 – In die Ouditorium: stapsgewyse demonstrasie van die omskepping van die son se data na 'n foto. Bring asseblief u eie rekenaars en geheue-stokkie (“flashdisc”) saam. Brett sal sagteware verskaf en ook basiese prosesering demonstreer op 'n foto van die naghemel.

18h30 - 19h30 - 'n Kort praatjie oor astrofotografie. Die plan is om as groep saam te gesels. Brett sal begin met die basiese beginsels asook 'n verduideliking van die konsep oor "noise". Hannes Pieterse verduidelik ook die gebruik van die “barndoor“ montering vir nag-hemel fotografie.

20h00 - 22h00 – Terug op die Platform wys Brett hoe om polêre oplyning (“polar alignment“) te doen met 'n kamera asook watter tipe fotografie mens kan doen met die minste moeite en met ‘n basiese kamera….

Onthou asseblief:

Almal wat fotografiese en ander toerusting saambring, moet weet hoe om dit te gebruik sodat ons nie gedurende die werkswinkel tyd hoef te spandeer om basiese gebruike aan te leer nie.  Toerusting om saam te bring sluit in: kamera, driepoot, genoeg batterye (daar sal kragpunte op die Platform wees), nodige verbindingskabels en afstandsbeheer kabel, tafeltjie om op te werk ens: eerder teveel as te min.  

Daar sal tussendeur geleentheid wees om ietsie te eet: elkeen bring sy eie verversings.  Daar sal kookwater wees vir diegene wat koffie of ‘n soppie will maak. 

ASSA Bloemfontein presents:

A Basic Astrophotography Workshop.

Presenter: Brett du Preez, member of ASSA Bloemfontein and experienced Astrophotographer.

Venue: Boyden Observatory

 Time: Saturday 24 May 2014, at 15h:00.

 Admission: Club members free.  Non-members: R100-00 per person.

Only 30 persons can be accommodated.

Send  e-mail to assabfn@gmail.com to book

Program: 15h00 for 15h30 – We start on the Platform:  unpacking and setting-up of equipment.

15h30 - 16h30 – Discuss the program and start the Workshop by taking a photo of the Sun (remember to bring a hat…).  Brett will demonstrate the making of a solar filter: he has a limited stock of solar film which he will provide.  For this, please also bring along scissors or a carpet knife and carton, double sided tape and normal tape or fast-drying glue.

16h30 - 18h00 – In the auditorium: step-by-step demonstration of the conversion of the Sun data to  a photographic image.  Please bring your own computer and flash disc. Brett will provide the necessary software and also demonstrate the basic processing of a night-sky image.

18h30 - 19h30 – A short discussion on Astrophotography, also involving the audience.  Brett will also explain the importance of the concept of “noise”.  Hannes Pieterse will demonstrate the use of the “barn door” mounting for night-sky photography.

20h00 - 22h00 – Back to the Platform: Brett demonstrates polar alignment using a camera and also demonstrates what type of photography can be performed with the least effort and with a basic camera.

Please remember:

Make sure that you know how to operate all the equipment you bring along: you do not want to figure out how to use your equipment during the workshop, you actually want to use it.  This equipment can include:  camera, tripod, enough batteries (power outlets are available on the Platform), all necessary connecting cables and remote control cable, a small table to work on: rather bring too much than forget something vital…!  

There will be time to eat/drink something in between: please bring your own refreshments.  There will be boiling water for coffee and/or soup.

Sutherland by Night - Milky Way, Melkweg

Sutherland by Night - Milky Way, Melkweg

In this beautiful image by SAAO Astronomer Stephen Potter we see the Milky Way setting behind the 20, 30, 40 inch, MONET and SALT telescopes. Jupiter is the bright star at the top and Venus is setting into the MONET dome. The bright glow on the horizon is from distant city lights.

• What’s Up – March 2014  (The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO))

Key Signature of the Big Bang's Origin Discovered

  South pole telescope detects echoes of Big Bang

UPDATE MARCH 17: All the rumors were true. The story below was written yesterday, before today's announcement that "primordial B-waves" have been found in the cosmic background radiation. These must have arisen from inflation-driven gravitational waves rippling through spacetime in the first 10^–34 second of the Big Bang. 

• Watch Sky & Telescope.com for new material soon!

MARCH 16: Rumors have been racing through the physics and cosmology communities for the last few days that long-sought, Nobel Prize-worthy evidence for cosmic inflation driving the Big Bang will be announced on Monday, March 17th. A press conference for a "major discovery" regarding this topic is scheduled for noon EDT (16:00 UT) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, just up the street from Sky & Telescope. We'll be there.

Word of what may be announced first broke into wide circulation late Friday night, when The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. published an article online, Gravitational waves: have US scientists heard echoes of the big bang? Here are excerpts:

Watch Sky & Telescope.com for new material soon!

 South pole telescope detects echoes of Big Bang Mail & Guardian

First glimpse of big bang ripples from universe's birth    NewScientist

Swirls of colour reveal primordial gravitational waves   NewScientist

ESA's Gaia Mission Launches to Map the Milky Way

 

“Gaia promises to build on the legacy of ESA’s first star-mapping mission, Hipparcos, launched in 1989, to reveal the history of the galaxy in which we live,” says Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General.

 

-          Universe Today

-          Space.com

-          ESA

 

Scientists detect extraterrestrial neutrinos (Down South)

Buried deep in the pristine Antarctic ice lie 5,160 basketball-sized detectors that look for flashes of blue light. 

This radiation signals that a high-energy particle has interacted with an atom of the ice and given off some energy in the process. Scientists built the underground cubic kilometer IceCube detector to find a specific type of particle called a neutrino. This particle has no electric charge, is nearly massless, and interacts extremely weakly with matter. (In fact, billions of them are zooming through you as you read  this story.)

Astronomers have detected neutrinos from the Sun and from Supernova 1987A when a massive star exploded. Now, the IceCube team reports in the November 22 issue of Science that it has found 28 high-energy neutrinos during a two-year all-sky search. The newly discovered particles have energies at least a million times that of the SN 1987A neutrinos.

At most, 11 of the 28 detected signals could result from background events or atmospheric neutrinos — those created as high-energy particles called cosmic rays collide with atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere and create secondary particles. However, the researchers say the neutrinos don’t have the characteristics of atmospheric ones.

They looked in the data for evidence of multiple neutrinos originating from a specific location on the sky or arriving at a similar time but were unable to trace the 28 neutrinos to specific sources. Most of the detected signals correspond to locations on the Southern Hemisphere sky.

Scientists can calculate the energies of the incoming neutrinos from the light the detectors register. The 28 particles discussed in the Science study had energies ranging from 30 trillion electron volts (TeV) to 1,141 TeV; visible light has energy between 1.5 and 3 electron volts. The data also include the two highestenergy neutrinos ever observed. — L. K.

Source:  Astronomy March 2014

Mark Kelly, twin brother enlisted for NASA study

This undated photo provided by NASA, astronauts Mark Kelly, right, STS-124 commander, and Scott Kelly are pictured in the check-out facility at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA announced Friday, March 7, 2014, that Mark Kelly and astronaut Scott Kelly will participate in 10 different investigations. Craig Kundrot, deputy chief scientist of NASA's Human Research Program, says in a news release that the brothers provide a unique opportunity to study two people with the same genetics who were in different environments. Officials say Scott Kelly spent a year in space while Mark Kelly was on Earth. NASA says it is hoping the studies can be the basis for future research initiatives. (AP Photo/NASA)

Read more

John Dobson - Sidewalk Astronomy Evangelist (1915–2014)

• Washington Post
• AAVSO
• Wikipedia
• Universe Today
• Sky and Telescope
• The Sidewalk Astronomers
• Astronomy Magazine
• The Globe and Mail
• The Times
• Huff Post
  
• Official facebook Page

Klubbyeenkoms: ASSA Bloemfontein - 1 Februarie 2014

Die Bloemfonteinse Amateur Sterrekunde Vereniging  (ASSA Bloemfontein) hou op Saterdag 1 Februarie sy eerste byeenkoms van die jaar. Voornemende amateur sterrekundiges is welkom om die geleentheid by te woon.

Op die program is onder meer:

• Die gebruik  van 'n teleskoop insluitende die eienskappe van verskillende oogstukke;
• Wat kan gesien word in die nagruim in verskillende ligomstandighede (Limiting Magnitude);
• Ons kyk ook na `n nova wat onlangs uitgebars het en met `n verkyker sigbaar is;
• As die weer saamspeel soek ons die Perdekopneuwel in Orion.

Koste: Gratis vir lede en R50 per persoon vir besoekers. Die bedrag word terugbetaal as jy by die   vereniging aansluit. Ledegeld is R100 per jaar vir `n gesin.

• Stuur e-pos aan assabfn@gmail.com om vir die geleentheid te bespreek.

Datum: 1 Februarie 2014
Tyd: 18:30 (Ons braai, so bring jou eie kosmandjie met vleis, eetgoed, eetgerei en koeldrank. Braaivuur en roosters is beskikbaar.)
Plek: Boyden-sterrewag (Langs Maselspoort)

Naked Eye Nova Centauri 2013 - Astronomy Picture of the Day

Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day 

 Naked Eye Nova Centauri 2013
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution)

Explanation: Brightest stellar beacons of the constellation Centaurus, Alpha and Beta Centauri are easy to spot from the southern hemisphere. For now, so is new naked eye Nova Centauri 2013. In this night skyscape recorded near Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean southern Atacama desert on December 5, the new star joins the old in the expansive constellation, seen at early morning hours through a greenish airglow. Caught by nova hunter John Seach from Australia on December 2 as it approached near naked eye brightness, Nova Cen 2013 has been spectroscopically identified as a classical nova, an interacting binary star system composed of a dense, hot white dwarf and cool, giant companion. Material from the companion star builds up as it falls onto the white dwarf's surface triggering a thermonuclear event. The cataclysmic blast results in a drastic increase in brightness and an expanding shell of debris. The stars are not destroyed, though. Classical novae are thought to recur when the flow of material onto the white dwarf eventually resumes and produces another outburst.