1. Starry Monday at Otterbein Astronomy Lecture Series -every first Monday of the month- February 7, 2005 Dr. Uwe Trittmann Welcome to

2. Today’s Topics Famous Telescopes Objects worthy to be observed The Night Sky in February

3. Feedback! Please write down suggestions/your interests on the note pads provided If you would like to hear from us, please leave your email / address To learn more about astronomy and physics at Otterbein, please visit –http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp (Obs.)http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp –http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics Dept.)http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/

4. Telescopes From Galileo to Hubble

5. Telescopes Light collectors Two types: –Reflectors (Mirrors) –Refractors (Lenses)

6. Famous Telescopes - Galileo Galileo’s first telescope was 3x magnifying his last one 32 x

7. Famous Telescopes -Newton First Reflector ever Built around 1670 After this: gargantuan Telescopes!

8. Famous Telescopes - Hevelius Rooftop observatory of Johannes Hevelius (1670)

9. Famous Telescopes - Hevelius 60 inch ^ 140 inch 

10. Famous Telescopes - Herschel Herschel detected Uranus (1781)

11. Famous Telescopes – Lord Ross 72 inch Reflector built during potato famine in Ireland Largest Telescope until Mt Wilson (1917)

12. Famous Telescopes – Yerkes Largest Refractor Telescope ever 40 inch lens Built 1897

13. Famous Telescopes – Mt Palomar 5 Meter Telescope – Huge and heavy mirror On Mt. Palomar in California

14. Famous Telescopes – Hubble Space Telescope In orbit around earth No limitations due to earth’s atmosphere Brilliant pictures

15. Famous Telescopes – Arecibo Radio Telescope Located in Puerto Rico 300m diameter Receives Radio waves Built 1963 SETI

16. Famous People Hubble in prime focus of Einstein visits Mt Wilson Mt Palomar. Hubble detected the Expansion of the Universe  Proof of Einstein’s General Relativity Theory

17. Largest Earth-Based Telescopes Keck I and II, Mauna Kea, Hawai’i –36  1.8 m hexagonal mirrors; equivalent to 10 m –Above most of atmosphere (almost 14,000 ft ASL) –Operating since 1993

18. Visiting Mauna Kea

19. Mauna Kea Elevation: 14,000 ft. Oxygen: 60% Freezing on top, snorkeling at sea level Road: strictly 4 wheels!

20. Mauna Kea 325 observing days per year! Darkest skies on the planet! Maui

21. The biggest Telescopes in the World

22. Sunset on Mauna Kea

23. Classifying Objects Sun and Moon Planets and their moons Stars and Constellations –Variable stars The Milky Way Deep Sky Objects –Star Clusters (Open and Globular) –Bright and Dark Nebulae –Galaxies (used to be called nebulae also)

24. When to observe which Objects The surface features on the Moon are best seen when the Moon is not full (nor new ) Observe Jupiter’s four Galilean moons with binoculars whenever Jupiter’s up Small telescope will show Saturn’s rings Milky Way can be seen under dark skies (…but already in Madison county)

25. Deep Sky Objects Usually faint and/or small Best observed under dark skies/ moonless nights Some are binocular objects, some require sizeable telescopes

26. Deep Sky Objects: Open Clusters Classic example: Plejades (M45) Few hundred stars Young: “just born”  Still parts of matter around the stars

27. Deep Sky Objects: Globular Clusters Classic example: Great Hercules Cluster (M13) Spherical clusters may contain millions of stars Old stars Great tool to study stellar life cycle

28. Observing Stellar Evolution: Example

29. From the Rooftop  Plejades in Taurus, Open Cluster M92 in Hercules, Globular Cluster 

30. Deep Sky Objects: Nebulae Classic example: Orion Nebula (M 42) hot glowing gas Temperatures ~ 8000K Made to glow by ultraviolet radiation emitted by young O- or B-type (hot) stars located inside Color predominantly red, the color of a particular hydrogen emission line (“H  ”)

31. Friday Night 27 seconds exposure

32. Friday Night 87 seconds exposure

33. Dark Nebulae Classic Example: Horsehead Nebula in Orion

34. Trifid Nebula (M20) Good example for dark dust lanes in front of an emission nebula

35. Deep Sky Objects: Planetary Nebulae Classic Example: Ring nebula in Lyra (M57) (Here: “Eye of God” Nebula) Dead, exploded stars We see gas expanding in a sphere In the middle is the dead star, a “White Dwarf”

36. Friday Night: Eskimo Nebula

37. Eskimo Nebula:close up

38. Deep Sky Objects: Galaxies Classic example: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) “Island universes” Made out of billions of stars and dust Very far away (millions of ly’s) Different types: –Spiral, elliptic, irr.

39. Deep Sky Catalogues Some of the best deep sky objects can be found in the Messier Catalogue (e.g. M 31) Messier (around 1770) catalogued the objects not to confuse them with comets There are 110 Messier Objects Other catalogues: –NGC: new general catalogue (1880) lists 7800 objects –Caldwell list: 109 best non-messier objects –Herschel 400: from Herschel’s famous list, early 1800’s

40. The Night Sky in February The sun is still very low in the sky -> long nights! Winter constellations (Orion, Gemini, Taurus,…) contain many bright stars and objects Saturn was in Opposition last month (i.e. at its brightest)

41. Moon Phases Today (Waning crescent, 2%) 2 / 8 (New Moon) 2 / 15 (First Quarter Moon) 2 / 28 (Full Moon) 3 / 3 (Last Quarter Moon)

42. Today at Noon Sun at meridian, i.e. exactly south

43. 10 PM Typical observing hour, early January no Moon Saturn!

44. Midnight Jupiter

45. Zenith High in the sky: Perseus and Auriga with Plejades and the Double Cluster

46. North- East Big Dipper points to the north pole

47. Due South The Winter Constellations –Orion –Taurus –Canis Major –Gemini –Canis Minor

48. East Spring Constellations - Cancer - Leo - Hydra Deep Sky Objects: - Beehive Cluster (M44)

49. Mark your Calendars! Next Starry Monday at Otterbein: March 7, 2005, 7 pm (this is a Monday ) We’ll talk about Mars Missions and more… Web pages: –http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp (Obs.)http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/weitkamp.asp –http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/ (Physics Dept.)http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/PHYS/