In This Month's Issue...

• Greetings
• Words From Da' Prez
• Black Holes No Joke
• Astrophotography by Steve Carter: M104 - The "Sombrero"
• New Members
• NASA SpacePlace For Educators
• Officers and Board Members
• OPT Rewards

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Greetings...

Welcome all ye weary travelers to a new type of M111... "On Line"! Thanks to the magic of the internet, it's now easier than ever to keep up a quarterly newsletter. The only thing that isn't easy is getting new content! Any time you have something you'd like to offer - be it a story of how you first got started in astronomy, a star party you just attended, a telescope you just bought, or your favorite constellation, just drop me a line with the story included and I'll be sure to get it posted!

In the meantime, I do my best to make sure everyone is aware of our newsletter. If for some reason you need a hardcopy and cannot print one yourself, please feel free to contact me at 419-845-2629 and I will be happy to send you one via regular postal mail. As always, if you have something to contribute? Let me know!

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Words From Da' Prez

Greetings, Fellow RAS Members!

I would like to thank our membership so very, very much for stepping up to the plate and taking charge of our Outreach Programs during this time. For many years it has been my great pleasure to take responsibility for our visitors and you'll never know how much I miss just hopping in my car and spending at evening on the Hill. Believe it or not, I still have 2009 gas in my car! Ah, well... Wishes don't wash dishes and my health is improving rapidly! For now, we have many church and camping groups looking forward to visiting with us during the summer months. Please volunteer when you can and I will try my best to accomodate everyone's work schedule and to help out where I can.

Hidden Hollow is also rapidly approaching. Do I need volunteers? You bet. But this time all I need is your legs! (And quite possibly your arms and first-born. ;) Cereally? I am genuinely delighted to be of service to the Club in seeking donations for door prizes, getting guest speakers, sending out advertising, etc. etc. etc. You can put me on wheels, but 'cha ain't gonna' stop my mind! It's my pleasure to get all the pins set up and ya'll can knock 'em down! Until next time?

Keep rockin' the night away! ~Tammy

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Black Holes No Joke

Kip Thorne: Why was the black hole hungry?

Stephen Hawking: It had a light breakfast!

Black hole humor?you gotta love it. Unless you?re an astronomer, that is. Black holes are among the most mysterious and influential objects in the cosmos, yet astronomers cannot see into them, frustrating their attempts to make progress in fields ranging from extreme gravity to cosmic evolution. How do you observe an object that eats light for breakfast? ?Black holes are creatures of gravity,? says physicist Marco Cavaglia of the University of Mississippi. ?So we have to use gravitational waves to explore them.?

Enter LIGO?the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. According to Einstein?s Theory of General Relativity, black holes and other massive objects can emit gravitational waves?ripples in the fabric of space-time that travel through the cosmos. LIGO was founded in the 1990s with stations in Washington state and Louisiana to detect these waves as they pass by Earth.

?The principle is simple,? says Cavaglia, a member of the LIGO team. ?Each LIGO detector is an L-shaped ultra-high vacuum system with arms four kilometers long. We use lasers to precisely measure changes in the length of the arms, which stretch or contract when a gravitational wave passes by.? Just one problem: Gravitational waves are so weak, they change the length of each detector by just 0.001 times the width of a proton! ?It is a difficult measurement,? allows Cavaglia.

Seismic activity, thunderstorms, ocean waves, even a truck driving by the observatory can overwhelm the effect of a genuine gravitational wave. Figuring out how to isolate LIGO from so much terrestrial noise has been a major undertaking, but after years of work the LIGO team has done it. Since 2006, LIGO has been ready to detect gravitational waves coming from spinning black holes, supernovas, and colliding neutron stars anywhere within about 30 million light years of Earth.

So far the results are ? nil. Researchers working at dozens of collaborating institutions have yet to report a definite detection.

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory in Livingston, Louisiana. Each of the two arms is 4 kilometers long. LIGO has another such observatory in Hanford, Washington.

Does this mean Einstein was wrong? Cavaglia doesn?t think so. ?Einstein was probably right, as usual,? he says. ?We just need more sensitivity. Right now LIGO can only detect events in our little corner of the Universe. To succeed, LIGO needs to expand its range.?

So, later this year LIGO will be shut down so researchers can begin work on Advanced LIGO?a next generation detector 10 times more sensitive than its predecessor. ?We?ll be monitoring a volume of space a thousand times greater than before,? says Cavaglia. ?This will transform LIGO into a real observational tool.?

When Advanced LIGO is completed in 2014 or so, the inner workings of black holes could finally be revealed. The punchline may yet make astronomers smile. Find out more about LIGO at http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/. The Space Place has a LIGO explanation for kids (of all ages) at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/ligo, where you can ?hear? a star and a black hole colliding!

This article was written by Dr. Tony Phillips and provided courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Astrophotography by Steve Carter: M104 - The "Sombrero...

Almost every amateur astronomer is familiar with the Sombrero Galaxy (also known as M104 or NGC 4594) ? an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. We've seen it in both small and large telescopes, picked up its ghostly signature in binoculars and dreamed over its structure in photographs. Now, for the first time ever, Jukka Metsavainio is giving us the opportunity to visualize what it might be like to approach this amazing galaxy from space and see it in dimension. Step inside and let's learn.

Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781 and added by Charles Messier's own hand to his personal notes on May 11, 1781, Messier Object 104 wasn't officially added to the official catalog of Messier objects until 1921 by Camille Flammarion. Although Messier had already ended his studies, he hadn't quite ended his fascination with the sky and when Pierre discovered this amazing galaxy, he confirmed his observation by adding his description of a "very faint nebula" to the records. On May 9, 1784 ? almost three years later to the date ? Sir William Herschel independently recovered the galaxy and whose notes state: "Extended [elongated]. Very bright toward the middle. 5 or 6' long."

By 1828, John Herschel was seeing things much differently: "There is a faint diffused oval light all about it, and I am almost positive that there is a dark interval or stratum separating the nucleus and general mass of the nebula from the light above (s of) it. Surely no illusion." Then Emil Dreyer in 1877: "Remarkable, very bright, very large, extremely extended toward position angle 92 deg, very suddenly much brighter toward the middle where there is a nucleus." And the results of Curtis from the same year "A remarkable, slightly curved, clear-cut dark lane runs along the entire length to the south of the nucleus; probably the finest known example of this phenomenon. There are very slight traces of spiral whorls." But it was 1912 and Vesto M. Slipher at Lowell Observatory who was about to make the most amazing discovery of all?

During 1910, Slipher (and later Carl Wirtz) was the first to use a spectroscope to observe the radial velocities of galaxies. What Vesto noticed was that M104 appeared to be cruising away from Earth at 700 miles per second. Such an tremendous speed was an important clue that the Sombrero was really another galaxy, and that the universe was expanding in all directions ? but they didn't know that at the time. At home (within our Milky Way galaxy) noted redshifts almost always correspond to the line of sight velocities associated with the objects being observed. These observations of redshifts and blueshifts have allowed science to measure velocities by a method first designed in 1868 by British astronomer William Huggins. Redshift is also an important tool to measure the velocity of gas of interstellar clouds, the rotation of galaxies, and the actions of accretion around neutron stars and black holes.

What we know now is there's a supermassive black hole at the center of the Sombrero? one of the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies. According the the findings by a research group led by John Kormendy and using spectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of rotation of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun was present at the core. No wonder the eye is drawn there! The nucleus is also a strong source of synchrotron emission ? produced when high velocity electrons oscillate as they pass through regions with strong magnetic fields. Although we can't see radio waves, the low ionization nuclear emission region (LINER) at M104's heart may be the energy source that weakly ionizes the gas in the Sombrero Galaxy.

And what of the dark dust ring? It's cold atomic hydrogen gas. According to infrared spectroscopic studies, it's the primary site for star formation and not the amazing nucleus. "The brightest infrared sources in the galaxy are the nucleus and the dust ring. The spectral energy distribution of the AGN demonstrates that, while the environment around the AGN is a prominent source of mid-infrared emission, it is a relatively weak source of far-infrared emission, as had been inferred for AGNs in previous research." Says George Bendo, "The weak nuclear 160 um emission and the negligible polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission from the nucleus also implies that the nucleus is a site of only weak star formation activity and the nucleus contains relatively little cool interstellar gas needed to fuel such activity. We propose that this galaxy may be representative of a subset of low-ionization nuclear emission region galaxies that are in a quiescent AGN phase because of the lack of gas needed to fuel circumnuclear star formation and Seyfert-like AGN activity."

Take the time to check out this beautiful galaxy yourself. You'll find it eleven degrees west of Spica?.

So, if you look out near the fire ring when you're over at the Observatory, you'll see member Steve Carter busy at work doing some CCD imaging. You know what? He's got ten times more patience than I'll ever have! But when you do have patience, you get beautiful results like this first views of Mars taken with a Toucam. Just check out those polar caps!

What an incredible catch, Steve-O! We're proud of you... ;)

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Welcome To Our New Members

Welcome to our newest members, Philip and Christine Atterson! If you're thinking about joining, come on in! Right now, your $40 membership gets you in until the end of the 2010 year and this means membership to the Astronomical League, the Richland Astronomical Society and Friendly House... the rest goes to covering our electricity and insurance. Our on-line application for membership is now currently updated and running smoothly! In the meantime, if you prefer to print off regular registration and bring it with your dues to our regular monthly meetings. If you can't find what you're looking for, please feel free to email me!

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New Website Feature - NSN "Request A Program

Are you ready for another great resource? Then hang on to your hats as the NASA Night Sky Network gives us an even bigger hand with public outreach!

If you're a member of the public at large and interested in having the Observatory provide you with an educational program, you can now easily request one by visiting the NASA NightSky Network site and simply enter it in. If you are a member of the Observatory and would like to give a program, have the Club notified for help and post your results on the website, all you have to do is log in and add the program. The features are easy to use and it will automatically notify other Club members of the program date and even ask for help if you need it! But that's not all it features! You'll find maps of our location as well as upcoming Club events. Be sure to use this handy new tool! (And if you are uncomfortable about adding your information, please feel free to give me a call and I'll help!

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NASA SpacePlace For Educators

NASA has just published the latest issue of the Space Place Newsletter: News and Notes for Formal and Informal Educators. The newsletter is all about the many useful and--it goes without saying--free resources on the Space Place website that can be helpful for kids and adults interested learning about science, technology, and space.

For your convenience, a .pdf version of the newsletter may be downloaded from http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/educators. We would like to encourage you to either e-mail it, or print, photocopy, and mail it to others who may find it interesting. We hope you and your colleagues find the newsletter and the NASA SpacePlace website helpful.

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2010 Officers and Board Members

• Tammy Plotner - President/Grant Coordinator/Public Outreach Director/Webmaster
  
  
• Terry McQuistion - Vice President/Board Member
  
  
• Bob Kocar - Treasurer/Board Member
  
  
• Bruce Scodova - Observatory Director/Board Member
  
  
• John Neumann - Assistant Observatory Director
  
  
• Dan Everly - Board Member/Chairman
  
  
• Kim Balliett - Board Member
  
  
• Mark Vanderaar - Board Member
  
  
• Dave Mohrbacher - Secretary/Board Member

Please feel free to contact us at any time.

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OPT Rewards

Are you hankering after a new telescope? Do you have an eyepiece you've always wanted? Got your eye on an astronomy book? Don't shop around... Shop at OPT!

Oceanside Photo and Telescope is more than just one of our Hidden Hollow sponsors - they are also a source of our club rewards program. Not only is OPT one of the country's largest and most reputable telescope dealers, but they're also offering a great discount to WRO members! Take a look around on the website. When you find something you want to order and go to check out, simply put "Warren Rupp Observatory" into the club affiliation box and... poof! You automatically get a discount. There's only one thing. The discount doesn't show until you get your final bill. How much? It could be just a few dollars and it can be as much as 20%! Now that's using a real rewards program!

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