M A R C H , 2 0 1 7 W W W . N J A A . O R G

AstroNotes

NJAA Supports Columbia High School Astronomy Club Maplewood school receives equipment loan.

By Paul Cirillo

Astronomy 101 Lecture Series

Thursdays in April - Members Only

Presented by NJAA members for NJAA members.

April 6 The Deep Sky

April 13 The Sun and Stellar Evolution

April 20 The Solar System

April 27 The Constellations

Time: 8 - 10pm

Please register here.

HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

In this issue…

Columbia H.S / Astro 101 Series …. Page 1 Georges Prin Telescope ...........…. Page 4

Youth Education Grant ................... Page 2 Kuiper Belt Object Recovered ….. Page 6

Voorhees H.S. Club / NEAF 2017 … Page 3 Happenings / Links ……………....… Page 10

NJAA Members Tim Schott and Judson Graham met with members of the Columbia H.S. Astron-omy Club to deliver the 8” Celestron Edge and CGEM mount and provide instruction on their operation.

The equipment is being loaned to the school through the end of the 2017/18 school year in order to help eager students get their Astronomy Club started.

Letter of Appreciation (excerpt)

Dear NJAA,

Thank you. As a teacher in a public school, I often find myself in a position where I would like to share cutting edge technology with my students, but I am unable to due to budget restrictions. By lending us this equipment, you have made it pos-sible for many students to gain access to a view of the Universe that they might never have had.

For that we are very grateful.

Christopher Cook

Advisor - Columbia High School Astronomy Club

Members of Columbia H.S. Astronomy Club happily display their new telescope. The school’s original Brashear telescope towers in the background.

The Great American Eclipse! - Aug 21, 2017

NJAA Youth Education finds itself in good company! By Bob Reichman

Sparking astronomy interest in kids is just one way NJAA contributes to sustaining astron-omy awareness, growing its public popularity and continuing the 50-year legacy of our club. Providing opportunities to share telescope images for young audiences may create the spark that ignites a lifetime of interest in the cosmos. Our club helps influence and sat-isfy a growing school and community emphasis on STEM education for all 21st-century learners. Scout and camper drop-ins to our observatory and public night and day visits nurture interest, knowledge and provide "edutainment" for many in our surrounding community.

It has been an NJAA tradition to specifically target student audiences. Many club members are engaged in outreach programming through schools, libraries and parks that impact hundreds of schoolchildren. We have an informal group of about a dozen active observers who regularly gather with their telescopes, bin-oculars and laser pointers to thrill area groups small and large with night sky wonders. These dark sky events, or "star parties," are thoroughly satisfying for everyone involved: students, parents, teachers, admin-istrators and most definitely the volunteers who help their host organizations make it happen. Ooh's and aah's at the eyepiece are the sounds of satisfaction that motivate outreach astronomers.

The target audience for our May-October monthly Young Astronomer Programs are typically middle elemen-tary to junior high students. Program topics include optics and telescopes, size and scale of our solar system and finding your way around the night sky. Typically, the children who attend are accompanied by siblings, parents and grandparents. Many YAP families have evolved from interested registrants to dues-paying NJAA members after their initial experiences through our youth programming.

NJAA recently submitted an application to the Na-tional Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Net) to compete for one of 250 free Explore Science: Earth & Space 2017 toolkits. Each toolkit (our 90 lbs of kit arrived at the Voorhees State Park Police Barracks) consists of free-standing activities, specifically de-signed for the youngest learners, and focused on ba-sic concepts of solar system and earth sciences. In

collaboration with NASA, the NISE Network assembled this set of engaging, hands-on experiences with con-nections to science, technology, and society and targeting pre-K, kindergarten and early primary audiences.

The scope and focus of most of the activities are appropriate for our astronomy mission:

Exploring Earth: Bear’s Shadow Exploring the Solar System: Solar Eclipse

Exploring Earth: Rising Sea Exploring the Universe: Ice Orbs

Exploring Earth: Investigating Clouds Exploring the Universe: Imagining Life

Exploring the Solar System: Pocket Solar System Exploring the Universe: Orbiting Objects

Exploring the Solar System: Big Sun, Small Moon

After submitting our application and justification for selection, NJAA was chosen to be a recipient of a physi-cal toolkit and to participate in a series of 10 webinars to review the activities in the toolkit and the theory and implementation strategies for each. The only other 4 recipients granted awards in NJ were Princeton University, the Liberty Science Center, the Newark Museum and Glassboro University. Continued...

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 2 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

NJAA Youth Education finds itself in good company! ...continued

Good company, indeed! During the roll-out of live, interactive workshops across the country, NJAA was one of only 2 astronomy clubs to participate.

Many of the toolkit's activities complement our astronomy curriculum and have application in the Young Astronomer Program. We'll be able to use a couple in preparing youngsters for the August 21 solar eclipse. Other uses might include other family programming at our observatory, visits to area classrooms and out-reach programming that NJAA occasionally hosts in the community.

Click here to link to the NISE Net Explore Science: Earth & Space 2017 toolkit site to learn more about each of the exercises and the science concepts reinforced in each activity.

Editor’s Note: Kudos to Bob for putting in the effort to obtain this terrific grant!

Voorhees High School Astronomy Club Revival

With the backing of NJAA, Voorhees High School sophomore (and NJAA Mem-ber) Mikayla Berman and VHS Astronomy teacher Mrs. Teri Bellows recently resumed the high school’s astronomy club.

On March 3rd, 2017 the club had its inaugural meeting at the NJAA observatory with a presentation by Paul Cirillo and a tour of the observatory by Jim Roselli. The club plans to meet monthly at the observatory with hopes to reach out to other schools in the nearby communities to promote interest in astronomy.

Please email here if you would like to attend the next meeting.

NJAA at NEAF 2017

NJAA will once again have a table at one of the

nation's largest astronomy and space event.

Attending the show? Want to take a break? We have chairs! Volunteer to staff the table for an hour.

Have something to sell?

Feel free to drop off for-sale flyers at the table. If your item isn't too big, arrange to leave it for the day and we'll try to sell it for you!

NJAA NEAF Contact

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 3 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

Restoration of the Georges Prin Telescope of the Rutgers Schanck Observatory By Steven K. Korotky

Greetings. I hope this letter finds you in good spirit and that your new year is off to a wonderful start. It was a little over a year ago that I first wrote to inform the membership of the NJAA of the pending completion of work to reno-vate Rutgers University’s Daniel S. Schanck Observatory; to ask your assistance to locate its third and final telescope - the 6” Georges Prin refractor (1929); and to extend an invitation to attend the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Observatory in June of 2016. Today I am writing to provide an update on our project to restore the antique Prin telescope and reassemble it in its original home, the Schanck Observatory. I also write to invite you and mem-bers of your organization to visit the Observatory to see the restored Prin.

Very soon after first writing you and other astronomy clubs last February we learned from Kevin Conod of the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jer-sey that the Prin telescope was at their headquarters in Jenny Jump State Forest. There it had sat undisturbed in storage since being removed from the Schanck Observatory in March of 1994. In learning of our interest to restore the Prin, in March, 2016, the leadership of the UACNJ transferred custody of the telescope to my wife and me. (Both of us are alumni of Rutgers College and had used the telescope together in the Schanck Ob-servatory between 1973 and 1975.) With the assistance of Chris Callie, Kevin Conod, and Gil Jeffer of UACNJ and Bob Brubaker and Mihaela Dinu of Friends of Rutgers Astronomy, the pieces of the telescope were gath-ered from storage and transported to our home. We then began the process of disassembling, inventorying, and restoring the individual parts of the telescope.

Among the many steps, our restoration activities have encompassed stripping the flaking original finish, removing the rust, powder-coating the steel parts (including inside and outside of the Prin and field telescope tubes) , plating the fastener heads, and polishing and clear-coating the majority of the brass work. At the celebration of the 150th anni-versary of the Schanck Observatory on June 18, 2016, we displayed the refinished parts of the telescope in Kirkpatrick Chapel adjacent to the Observatory.

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 4 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

Schanck Observatory - Rutgers

Georges Prin Telescope

Photo: Holtzman / The Daily Targum.

Year Unknown

Restoration of the Rutgers Georges Prin Telescope ...continued

After the celebration, and continuing through the fall and into the winter, with the help of family and friends, we re-assembled the telescope in the Observatory. We finished attaching all of the available original parts, save for the restored electric drive motor assembly, just before the holidays in December. To illustrate this milestone and ac-knowledge the effort of all involved, I’ve included a photograph taken of the telescope in the Schanck Observatory on December 2, 2016.

Although we have made substantial progress on the restoration of the Prin telescope we still have a significant amount of work to do to fully complete the restoration. The remaining work includes replicating or replacing several key parts, among them the objective lens and lens cell of the Prin, the tail pieces of both the Prin and finder telescope, and the eye pieces - all of which went missing sometime after the tele-scope was last used in the Schanck Observatory for teaching in 1979 and prior to it being disas-sembled and removed from the Schanck in 1994. Also missing are the worm screw and several components of the drive shaft assem-bly, which went missing after the telescope was moved to the UACNJ facility. Our goal this year is to find these missing pieces or, if that proves intractable, to design and fabricate replace-ments. Regarding the latter prospect, among the many pleasant experiences and surprises that we have enjoyed during the journey to find and restore the Prin, we have also recently learned that it has a surviving twin located in a trade school in Besancon, France.

In closing this update, I invite you and members of your organization to come to see the re-stored Prin telescope in the renovated Schanck Observatory. Weather permitting, we plan to have the observatory

open for invited tours

on Rutgers Day, Saturday, April 29.

The invited tours will be given between the hours of 12 PM and 4 PM and will include a guided portion lasting ap-proximately 30 minutes. As the capacity of the observatory is small, the total number of persons that can be accom-modated throughout the afternoon is limited. Those individuals who would like a tour of the observatory are asked to RSVP me by April 20. Please note that by the nature of the tours and the sensitivity of the beautifully renovated historic building, the tours are limited to adults and to children 12 years of age and older.

If members of your organization would like to tour the observatory, but are unable to attend on April 29, please con-tact me to make arrangements for a private group tour on an earlier or later date.

Steven (Steve) K. Korotky

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 5 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

Paul Robinson Observatory Recovers Kuiper Belt Object Beyond Pluto! December 10, 2016 By Stephen D. Blazier

Most people would consider discovering an asteroid to be a very big deal. While finding an asteroid that has been lost for many years is not quite the same thing, it is still very special. And when that asteroid is farther away than Pluto, appearing about as bright as a single candle at a distance of 10,000 miles, it would usually take a professional observatory with a meter class telescope to find it, but this one, 2008 QB43, was recovered by your very own Paul Robinson Observatory.

Discovering an asteroid means much more than spotting something that’s moving in the sky. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) decides when an asteroid has been discov-ered and who gets the credit. They want enough obser-vations that a reliable orbit can be computed so that when an observatory goes looking for the object they can point their telescope and find it in the field of view. To compute a reliable orbit, they need measurements over a substantial orbital arc so that the curve of the orbit can be computed. That takes time, and how long depends upon the period of the orbit. The farther an asteroid is from the sun the longer the period. The first measure-ments of an asteroid allow an approximate orbit to be computed. If follow-up observations are done soon then the asteroid will be in the field of view when a telescope is pointed to the predicted position. However, there are many important things for professional observatories to do, and if too much time elapses before an observatory attempts to make another measurement, the predicted position may not be close to the actual position of the asteroid. When that happens things usually just get worse from that point on, as the predicted position using the approximate orbit parameters gets farther and farther away from the actual position as time goes on. When an asteroid is not in the field of view of a telescope based on the predicted position, the asteroid is sometimes referred to as lost. Some observatory may happen upon that asteroid in the future, while imaging something totally unrelated. If there are enough new measurements then it might be possible to show mathematically that the new measurements can reasonably be combined with the old measurements to produce a more accurate orbit, based upon the longer orbital arc. That is some-times referred to as recovering that asteroid or rediscovering that asteroid. Read on to find out how we recovered 2008 QB43.

In collaboration with Lowell Observatory1 your Paul Robinson Observatory (Minor Planet Center Observa-tory Code W67) has rediscovered an asteroid that orbits the sun in the Kuiper Belt, and is currently over 3.4 billion miles away (farther than Pluto). Designated 2008 QB43, the Kuiper Belt Object was first discovered in 2008 by Palomar Observatory, but not observed by any other observatory until our recovery.

Our hunt began with a list of objects from Lowell Observatory. Michael Smilios and Stephen Blazier2 se-

lected 2008 QB43 from that list, and used the 26” telescope to image at the position predicted by the Mi-

nor Planet Center. In processing the images Stephen noticed that the orbit uncertainty from Lowell

continued ... 1 “NJAA Collaborates with Lowell Observatory”, AstroNotes, December, 2016

2“International Astronomical Union - Minor Planet Center Recognizes Paul Robinson Observatory!”, AstroNotes, March, 2015

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 6 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

Palomar Observatory first found Kuiper Belt Object 2008 QB43, but there were not enough measurements for an accurate orbit today. The KBO was effectively lost.

Paul Robinson Observatory Recovers Kuiper Belt Object ….continued

Observatory was much smaller than that calculated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is often considered the gold standard in calculating solar system positions, since they need great accuracy for probe flybys, such as the July 2015 New Horizons mission past Pluto. Discussions with Lowell uncovered that in 2013 they thought the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope, operated by Lowell, had recovered the ob-ject, but the Minor Planet Center rejected those measurements for some unknown reason. Some of the Discovery Channel Telescope data was used in producing the list sent to us by Lowell. We thought 2008 QB43 would be in our field of view that night, but the JPL numbers indicated we would need to image over 150 nights to have that confidence, and of course the object would have moved far from our predicted po-sition over the course of 150 clear nights. On a long shot, Stephen requested orbit parameters from Lowell based upon an assumption that the 2013 images had found 2008 QB43. With a caution that the MPC had rejected that notion, Lowell sent the orbit parameters. At the next opportunity, Mike and Stephen took images at the predicted location of 2008 QB43 based on Lowell’s orbit (which was far from the MPC prediction).

Processing images to measure objects this faint, ~22 magnitude, takes a lot of work. Processing of the first set of im-ages was completed after the second set was taken, and no moving objects were found, as expected. If the MPC was right, then the uncertainty was far larger than our field of view. If the Dis-covery Channel Telescope images found 2008 QB43, then the first images were at the wrong location.

When Stephen processed the second set of images the predicted position was examined, and no asteroid was moving within Lowell’s predicted uncertainty range. On closer examination, however, there was a moving object in the images at a different location.

This launched an effort to figure out where the object might go in the future, and see if we could pin down

whether we had found 2008 QB43, or if it was a new asteroid. Stephen studied the problem of calculating

an orbit from measured positions, the first time we have done that. Using the Palomar measurements

from the discovery in 2008 and our Paul Robinson Observatory measurements from the second set of im-

ages (but not the Discovery Channel Telescope measurements), he was able to calculate new orbital pa-

rameters. Using those new parameters, a position was calculated for an upcoming clear night, and Mike

and Stephen imaged at those new coordinates. Sure enough we found a moving object where we pre-

dicted, confirming the recovery of Kuiper Belt Object 2008 QB43. We reported our measurements to the

Minor Planet Center. They accepted those measurements and calculated a new orbit based upon them.

continued ...

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 7 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

The Paul Robinson Observatory 26” Telescope, rigged for imaging Kuiper Belt Objects.

Paul Robinson Observatory Recovers Kuiper Belt Object ….continued

Within 2 weeks of the Minor Planet Center publication of our measurements and new orbital parameters,

Purple Mountain Observatory, operated under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, decided to check our

work with their 40-inch telescope. They confirmed our recovery of 2008 QB43.

Purple Mountain Obser-

vatory operates in con-

junction with the Chi-

nese Academy of Sci-

ences. Purple Mountain

Observatory confirmed

the Paul Robinson Ob-

servatory recovery of

Kuiper Belt Object 2008

QB43, as reported by

the Minor Planet Center

to professional astrono-

mers.

The sketch below illustrates the object's orbit as computed by the Minor Planet Center, based on measure-

ments of images taken at our Paul Robinson Observatory (MPC Code W67). The inclined orbit is that of

2008 QB43, while the orbits of planets Mercury through Neptune lie close to a plane. The line connecting

points on the orbit of 2008 QB43 and passing through the sun shows the intersection with the ecliptic.

All of the MPC measurements appear are the next page.

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 8 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

Paul Robinson Observatory Recovers Kuiper Belt Object ….continued

Excerpted and Edited from the IAU Minor Planet Center

2008 QB43

(Discoverer will be defined when the object is numbered. See this note on how discoverers are determined.)

Observations

Date (UT) J2000 RA J2000 Dec Location

2008 08 25.26396 23 01 42.283 +08 52 17.33 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 08 25.31084 23 01 42.070 +08 52 16.82 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 08 26.23269 23 01 37.524 +08 51 59.63 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 08 26.27638 23 01 37.222 +08 51 58.42 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 09 19.13023 22 59 37.31 +08 42 29.2 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 09 19.23726 22 59 36.80 +08 42 26.6 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 09 19.29176 22 59 36.49 +08 42 24.9 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 10 17.14491 22 57 34.61 +08 28 16.9 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 10 17.19910 22 57 34.38 +08 28 15.4 675 – Palomar Mountain

2008 10 17.25372 22 57 34.19 +08 28 13.5 675 – Palomar Mountain

2009 07 03.44431 23 09 21.66 +10 00 33.7 675 – Palomar Mountain

2009 07 04.44110 23 09 19.95 +10 00 51.9 675 – Palomar Mountain

2016 09 02.15897 23 38 14.95 +17 55 21.2 W67 – Paul Robinson Observatory, Voor-

hees State Park

2016 09 02.22655 23 38 14.59 +17 55 19.8 W67 – Paul Robinson Observatory, Voor-

hees State Park

2016 09 08.10118 23 37 44.31 +17 53 37.5 W67 – Paul Robinson Observatory, Voor-

hees State Park

2016 09 08.15100 23 37 44.05 +17 53 36.2 W67 – Paul Robinson Observatory, Voor-

hees State Park

2016 11 05.47874 23 33 14.80 +17 22 31.9 D29 – Purple Mountain Observatory, XuYi

Station

2016 11 05.49553 23 33 14.74 +17 22 31.5 D29 – Purple Mountain Observatory, XuYi

Station

2016 11 05.51233 23 33 14.72 +17 22 31.6 D29 – Purple Mountain Observatory, XuYi

Station

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 9 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

NJAA Links

Astrophotography Group blog: http://njaaphotography.blogspot.com

NJAA Sky Cam: http://www.njaa.org/skycam.html

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUxI9pNPUVVpaquyON3pSGQ or search “New Jersey Astronomical Association YouTube”

Book Recommendation

From observing the night sky to looking to the stars and beyond, Smithsonian Nature Guide Stars and Planets contains a guide to all 88 constellations of the night sky, as wells as the best tools and techniques to get started.

A perfect gift to yourself or that budding astronomer!

Now available in the NJAA Store for $10 for Members and $12 for non-Members.

ISBN 978-0-7566-9040-3

NJAA Membership Gift Certificates Available

Give a gift of Membership in NJAA.

An attractive personalized certificate will be sent to you in printable format suitable for framing or as a pre-sent. Send your request to membership@njaa.org

Happenings

Please check the NJAA web page to learn about the exciting lineup of 2017 public presentations.

Also, the Research & Astrophotography meetings are usually on the first Fridays of each month.

(Always check the njaa.org website calendar for the latest happenings.)

NJAA AstroNotes March, 2017 Page 10 HELPING THE PUBLIC REACH FOR THE STARS!

The AstroNotes - Paul Cirillo

Published quarterly, the purpose of the AstroNotes is to keep the membership informed of important is-sues relating to the organization and facility and not to simply reprint astronomical and space news already reported by mainstream media.

Members are encouraged to submit articles, pictures, for-sale items or anything you think the membership would enjoy reading at any time. Send to: AstroNotes@njaa.org