ONLINE – General Meeting – January 2022

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

Title:  Dark Skies in Southern Arizona: Past, Present and Future

Presentation:  John Barentine, astronomer, historian, and policy-maker will present on the global dark-skies movement. That the movement effectively began in the Tucson area, is no surprise given its long astronomical history. In his presentation, John will review regional achievements to date and the challenges we face in the coming decade that involve the balance of managing growth and sustaining astronomy’s contribution to the local economy. Lastly, he will touch on satellite ‘megaconstellations’, an issue not limited to our region, but of increasing concern to professional and amateur astronomers alike.

Presenter:  John Barentine is the Principal Consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC, and was formerly the Director of Public Policy for the International Dark-Sky Association. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin, and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Throughout his career, he has been involved in educating the public about science. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid (14505) Barentine is named in his honor. His interests outside of astronomy and light pollution research include history, art and architecture, politics, law and current events.

7:15 pm – Seasonal Night Sky Presentation

Mary Turner will present her popular Seasonal Night Sky Presentation.

ONLINE – General Meeting – December 2021

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

Title:  Constructing SAM; a Mars Habitat at Biosphere 2

Presentation:  Kai Staats, Director of the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) will talk about this hermetically sealed habitat being built at the University of Arizona Biosphere 2 to simulate living conditions on Mars. The SAM pressure vessel incorporates a greenhouse and crew quarters with workshop, kitchen, common area, sleeping accommodations and airlock into the adjacent Mars yard.  The greenhouse provides hydroponic and soil-based growing environments, controlled lighting, humidity, heating and cooling. Other support systems provide clean air and water. The adjacent half acre is a replica of a Martian landscape. Pressure suits, rovers, and drones can be tested over varied terrain and obstacles. The first teams are scheduled for May 2022. Kai will describe SAM’s core science research objectives, and share photos and stories about the construction process.

Presenter:  Kai Statts, science researcher, filmmaker, and writer and a veteran developer of platforms for research and science education. He was co-founder and CEO of the world-renowned Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) operating system for ten years. The YDL platform was used in Department of Energy, NASA, and University research across a full spectrum of sciences. Kai wrote the machine learning algorithm Karoo GP which has been used at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) for classification of glitches and supernovae; and was principal designer of the Mt. Meru Astronomical Observatory in Tanzania, the first of its kind in East Africa.

At Arizona State University Kai led the development of SIMOC, a research-grade computer simulation and educational interface hosted by National Geographic that enables citizen scientists to explore the complexity of a human habitat on Mars. At Biosphere 2, Kai and his team are taking the next big step by building SAM.

Of special interest to TAAA, many years ago, Kai was president of the Phoenix Astronomical Society where he first met David Levy, who remains a dear friend today.

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: November 2021

By Erich Karkoschka

Mercury is an easy dawn object in the east-southeast, but only until the 10th since it is moving fast toward the sun. At the beginning of the month it passes Spica but their distance increases to 14 degrees by the 10th. The best morning is the 3rd when the moon joins both of them.
Venus is at its best this month. It reaches its brightest possible magnitude of -4.9 at the end of the month. This is so bright that it can be found in daylight, such as 3:20 pm 30 degrees hight straight south. It is brilliant after sunset. It is so far south that just past 8 pm it sets further left than the sun can ever set. Its phase can be seen in binoculars, going form half illuminated at the beginning of the month to a thick, large crescent by the end.
The Moon has a great eclipse on the 18th-19th, although not at the best time of the night. It probably is the greatest partial eclipse of your life since 97 percent of its diameter will be inside the umbra at maximum, or 99 percent of its disk area. Maximum is at 2:03 am. Partial phase lasts from 12:18 am to 3:47 am. The interesting phase around maximum lasts for quite a while this time, but only a couple of minutes during most total lunar eclipses. It is interesting because of the contrast between the dark red moon in the umbra and the very bright and very narrow part of the moon getting direct sunlight. At maximum phase, the moon might be dark enough that shadows disappear. Its location only 5 degrees from the Pleiades should be beautiful. The moon transits at the beginning of the eclipse 77 degrees high.
Mars has been behind the sun for a while. At the end of the month, it slowly becomes visible again during dawn.
Jupiter and Saturn transit during the early evening, separated by 15 degrees. In a telescope it is a good time to watch their satellites. This month, the orbits of Jupiter’s satellite are almost edge-on. This means that they appear perfectly in a line and pass each other very closely. On the 23rd, a rare event happens. The two largest satellites, Ganymede and Callisto, cast their shadows onto the planet simultaneously. This happens about once every 5 years, but most of these events happen during daylight or when Jupiter is below the horizon. At sunset, both shadows are close to each other on the eastside of the disk. Ganymede’s shadow is faster and exits 7:39 pm, Callisto’s shadows leaves at 9:03 pm.
Uranus comes into opposition in Aries. So, it is up all night and 73 degrees high at midnight. It is visible naked eye in principle, and no other star of 6th magnitude is currently nearby.

Neptune can be found in binoculars 50 degrees further west of Uranus.

Ceres comes into opposition at 7th magnitude. It moves very close to Aldebaran on the 3rd and 4th, crosses the Hyades for the following two weeks, and then takes aim at the Pleiades.

Stargazing at Elfrida Library, Cochise County

Join TAAA and the Elfrida Library for an evening of stargazing at the Elfrida Library, Elfrida, AZ. We will have a couple TAAA telescopes and the Library will have their tabletop library telescope available for patrons to get familiar with so you can check it out in the future.

Empire Ranch Solar

Saturday November 6 and Sunday November 7 — SE TUCSON [SONOITA] (SOLAR (all day)
Empire Ranch Cowboy Festival 
Highyway 83 SE of Tucson approximately 20 miles
Age/Grade Level:  All Ages
# Participants:  300
Solar Observing throughout the day / Other Festival activities.
Nearest Moon Phase:  N/A
Directions:  East on I-10 to Highway 83. South on Highway 83 approximately 18 miles to paved road on left between miles post 40 & 39 (watch for brown Historic Empire Ranch sign). East on raod and follow for 3 miles to Empire Ranch House.
Viewing Location:  TBD.

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: October, 2021

By Erich Karkoschka

Mercury has its best morning apparition starting on the 17th. During the last week of October it will be easily visible just before 6 am looking east.
Venus is finally becoming a brilliant evening “star”. All month it sets at 8:10 pm. It speeds past Antares on the 16th at 1 1/2 degrees distance. On the 29th, it is in greatest elongation from the sun at 47 degrees. It moves far south and thus sets further south of west than the sun does in December.
The Moon will be a thin crescent at dusk on the 7th. Two days later it will make a beautiful pair with Venus.
Jupiter and Saturn transit halfway up mid evening. They stop their retrograde motion and move prograde again in Capricornus. They reach their closest separation of 15 degrees at the end of the month. The next time they will be that close will be in 2040. Mondays will be the days to look for Ganymede’s shadow on Jupiter’s disk, on the 11th until 7:30 pm, on the 18th from 8-11:30 pm, just after Io’s shadow entered at 11:15 pm, and on the 25th starting just before midnight. A double transit will occur on the 20th until 8 pm with Io’s shadow and Callisto itself.
Uranus and Neptune are up most of the night in Aries and Aquarius, respectively.
32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: September 2021

By Erich Karkoschka

Mercury is visible about 15 degrees to the lower right of Venus until September 21st. It is so low that it remains close to the limit of visibility (use extreme caution to avoid looking at the Sun). It passes Spica on the 21st. However, Spica definitely requires binoculars since it is one magnitude fainter than Mercury.
Venus is the obvious evening star until it sets after 8 pm. It passes Spica on the 5th. Venus is slowly brightening towards its best in December.
The two giant gas planets shine in the southeast during dusk. Their distance slowly decreases from 18 degrees at the beginning of September to 15 degrees at the end. They transit around 10 pm, perfect for telescope or binocular viewing.
The Galilean satellites’ orbits are very close to edge-on this month, so that conjunctions of two satellites become very close. The best shadow transit occurs on the 5th starting at 7:45 pm when the dark disk of Ganymede is already close to the center of Jupiter’s disk, so that two dark spots will be visible. The same occurs 7 days later, although Ganymede’s transit does not start until 9:20 pm with its shadow joining at 11:47 pm. Also, on the 17th, Callisto’s shadow can be seen until 8:13 pm.
Neptune comes into opposition in the constellation Pisces on September 14th. Uranus is one constellation further east in Aries.
The Moon might be just barely visible on September 7th (one day past New Moon), 10 degrees to the right of Mercury. Even if Mercury is difficult to spot, you will see it before you see the Moon. The three day old Moon has a beautiful pairing with Venus on September 9th. Three days later it passes Antares.

International Observe the Moon

International Observe the Moon is October 16, 2021. If there are not any specific events scheduled, get out a pair of binoculars or just go out and observe the Moon with your eyes. The Moon will be a Waxing Gibbous, between First Quarter and Full.

We have several telescopes available to check out from the Pima County Library. This is a great use of the telescope, having fun observing the Moon with your family or friends. For more information on our Library Telescope program and how to check one out, visit our webpage at Library Telescope.

Chiricahua Astronomy Complex Observing

Come join us for an evening of observing at our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (CAC), 100 miles southeast of Tucson near the Chiricahua Mountains. CAC is an incredibly dark site with several large telescopes. The number of telescopes used will depend on the number of participants. Cost is only $50/adult and $25/child under 15. For reservations and additional information, visit our Tucson Stargazing Adventures or select Star Parties, Tucson Stargazing Adventures, Observing at our very dark site.