Bad Astronomy:The Best Astronomy Images of 2012.

Phil Plait selected the best astronomy photos of 2012 and posted them on the "bad astronomy blog". The blog entry begins...

I couldn’t pick just 10—you have to see all 21 of these mind-bending shots. 

The Universe is beautiful. 

Which is interesting. It doesn’t have to be; it could be all colorless and weird and lumpy. Instead, it’s bursting with color, sculpted by vast forces, molded into fantastic shapes that please our eyes and delight our brains—especially once we understand what we’re seeing.

To see the entry, go here...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astronomy/2012/12/best_astronomy_images_2012_see_the_most_beautiful_images_of_the_universe.single.html

Watch livestream as NASA crashes twin GRAIL spacecraft into moon

From earthsky.org:

NASA’s twin GRAIL moon gravity probes – named Ebb and Flow – have nearly run out of fuel. NASA intends to crash the probes into the side of a mountain near the moon’s north pole today (Monday, December 17, 2012) and you can watch it happen live on NASA Television or via livestream from NASA’s website. The show starts with live commentary from NASA scientists at around 4 p.m. CST (2200 UTC). The crash landing will take place around 4:28 CST (2228 UTC) on December 17.

NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

The coverage will also be streamed live on Ustream:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

The rest of the article can be found at...

http://earthsky.org/space/watch-livestream-as-nasa-crashes-twin-grail-spacecraft-into-moon

There is also an article at Huffington Post at...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/nasa-moon-probe-crash-grail-ebb-flow-lunar-surface_n_2311404.html

AA OSA Meeting Next Tuesday, 11 December 2012

All,

It is rare that we have such an exciting talk and great speaker, but Dr. Stephen Rand has agreed to cover practical applications of his research in "New Frontiers in Non-Linear Optics".  I really recommend that people try to make this last AA OSA meeting of 2012.  As always, everyone is invited to join us for dinner at Paesano's prior to the meeting.  (We have also shifted the date for our January meeting due to the holidays to Tuesday, the 15th of January, as the 2nd Tuesday seemed too tight for people coming back from the holiday break.)  I hope to see all of you at this talk!

Meeting Flyer

Amateur Astronomers contribute to Science

Amateur astronomers have an opportunity to contribute to science.

At least in Michigan, amateur astronomy is mainly about keeping track of the weather (you can't observe when it is 100% overcast), the moon phase (dim objects can't be observed when the moon is out), the planets, comets and unusual/rare events (such as Venus transits and the like). It is also learning to use your eyes, telescopes and/or binoculars to find static/unchanging objects (constellations and star clusters, nebulae and galaxies). But for the most part you are looking at objects that many other people have looked at before.

Don't get me wrong, these challenges are enough for most amateur astronomers. Nevertheless a few amateur astronomers find ways to make novel observations; novel observations which can add to scientific knowledge. I will not produce a complete list here, but here are a few ideas...

• If you connect a camera to a computer, it is possible to monitor the night sky for meteors. If you combine your observations with observations made at other locations, you can determine the velocity of the meteor and it's trajectory. Anyone interested should go the web site "Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance," http://cams.seti.org/
• Extrasolar planets: These days, most extrasolar planets are discovered by the Kepler space telescope, however occasionally amateur astronomers find one. One of the more interesting recent discoveries was of a planet orbiting a group of four stars (the first time such an observation has been made). See http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/planet-hunters-four-star/
  
  For information about Kepler (see http://kepler.nasa.gov/)
• Another avenue for contributions is variable star research. This requires repeated observations, night after night, for long periods with no guarantee of useful results. But there is the possibility of making a useful contribution. For more information start with this article from Astronomy Magazine: "Fun with double and variable stars" http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/Urban%20Skies/2006/12/Fun%20with%20double%20and%20variable%20stars.aspx
• For more ideas, see the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/) and Pamela Gay's Citizen Science (http://www.starstryder.com/category/citizen-science/)

So far I've discussed observational astronomy; but I would be remiss if I didn't mention theoretical astronomy and physics. Contributions to this area by amateurs are possible, but not easy. On occasion I get emails from people who claim to have a new theory of astronomy and/or physics. As a service for anyone else who might want to contribute, I would like to point out the following...

• Over the past hundred years, most advances in astronomy/physics theory have involved groups of scientists working together. Single individuals making ground breaking advances are rare.
• Any new idea will be subjected to intense criticism; many people can't deal with criticism, but this is fact of life for theoretical science.
• It is essential that you understand all the ideas that come before. If you are proposing a new theory, you must demonstrate that you understand the existing theories and explain why your theory is better.
• In almost all cases, physics and astronomy requires math. A theory without math probably wont be be taken seriously.
• Above all it is hard work.

The Higgs Boson and Supersymmetry.

On Wednesday night (November 14) Gordy Kane (the Victor Weisskopf Distinguished University Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan) gave a presentation for this November's Science Cafe. The Ann Arbor Science Cafes are hosted by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History (formerly known as the Exhibit Museum) and are typically held once a month (except in summer).

Gordy's presentation was the Higg's Boson: What’s it all about?  What’s the evidence? What does it mean? What are the next steps? More info about the November Science Cafe.

One of my earlier posts talked about the Higg's (see "Saturday Morning Physics (October 6)"), I wont repeat that here, instead I'm going to describe what's next for CERN and the Large Hadron Collider.

Now that we have established that the Higgs boson exists, there is still work on probing the properties of the Higgs boson (or Higg bosons). But there is another unanswered question: supersymmetry.

What is supersymmetry? The standard model describes a collection of elementary particles. The most commonly observed of these particles are the photon, electron, up quark and down quark. The photon is responsible for light and the electric and magnetic forces (which physicists describe as a single electromagnetic force). The electron, up and down quarks combine to form protons, neutrons, atoms and molecules in the everyday world. Less commonly observed are two heavier versions of the electron, particles called neutrinos, four heavier quarks and various antiparticles. The photon belongs to a group of particles known as "bosons," there are other bosons as well. (See Wikipedia "The Standard Model").

Supersymmetry is an extension to the standard model: if supersymmetry is correct, each particle in the standard model has a "supersymmetric partner". The photo has a new partner called the photino. The electron has a new partner called the selectron. And so on. This doubles the number of particles. However none of these new particles have been observed, at least so far. (See Wikipedia "Supersymmetry").

The Large Hadron Collider is starting to look for these particles. If you are optimistic, it is possible hints of these new particles might show up in the next few months. A more cautious prediction: those hints might show up in the next few years.

So why care about supersymmetry? Knowledge gained from quantum mechanics and general relativity resulted in technologies such as transistors, computers, laser scanners, GPS, etc; probing the elementary structure of matter may result in new applications that we can't imagine today. Also supersymmetry may explain "dark matter": it is possible that dark matter is composed of supersymmetric particles. If we can prove these particles exist experimentally, that may help us understand dark matter.

(An outline of gravity and dark matter can be found at Gravity, Part 4: Globular Clusters & Galaxies. by Dave Snyder. Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers: October, 2006).

November Club Meeting:

The University Lowbrow Astronomers are meeting on Friday, November 16 at 7:30 PM. The location is room 130 of the Dennison Building, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Mi. Our guest speaker is Professor Edwin Loh from Michigan State University. He will be speaking about the SOAR telescope located in the mountains of Chile and the Spartan Camera. This camera is the main instrument attached to the SOAR telescope and it was designed and built by Edwin and colleagues at MSU. The public is welcome to this and all monthly club meetings.

Another Blog....

Mark Bialek is a freelance photographer based in Southeast Michigan; he has taken photographs at Peach Mountain (the location of the Lowbrow observatory).

He sent this message along...

I've started a new blog - http://markbialek.com/blog/ Or, www.annarbornights.com will re-direct you.
Just put a lowbrow shot on there. 

The blog background is a shot I took right outside my pad - pointed the camera up high towards the SW.  Wondering if you recognize any of the stars or constellations in it.  I have no idea, myself.  Just thought it would make a cool background for the blog.

This is a screen shot from his blog and shows a photograph taken at Peach Mountain...