Hello. Welcome to the first episode of our program: Astronomy for everyone. This program is a production of the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club in Dearborn. Our club, founded in 1992, as always been very active in the area of public outreach. That is, bringing the science and hobby of astronomy to people from all walks of life. Now I know that some of you have been thinking, "I've always been curious about what's up there, but don't know anything about it." Well this is just the program for you. In each program, we'll have segments dedicated to those of you who've had the curiosity, but not the practical knowledge. We'll also have segments dedicated to both intermediate and advanced observers. Now, 2009 has been declared the International Year of Astronomy, by both the United Nations and the International Astronomical Union. Those are the folks who brought you Pluto as a Dwarf Planet.

And in keeping with the mandate, the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club and it's members is proud to bring you this program. Our first guest is a member of the Ford Astronomy Club. We have Steve Uitti with us.

Steve:
Hi.

Don:
Now. Astronomy. That seems like an expensive hobby. Do you have to spend a lot of money to get started on it?

Steve:
Not at all. You can start with zero. Absolutely zero. You don't need a thing. All you need is your eyes, go outside when it's clear, whenever it's clear, and look up.

Don:
Really? What can you see?

Steve:
Well, certainly, you can see the stars. So, you need to see the stars to navigate to interesting objects. And, your eyes are the absolute best at seeing meteors. Like in meteor showers. And also there are a number of smaller objects that you can see that are fainter. If you have a dark sky site, you can see these objects.

Don:
If you wanted to buy some equipment, what would be the cheapest way to go?

Steve:
You may have some binoculars hanging around in your closet. Any binoculars will do. Just a little tiny pair of binoculars will bring you things your eyes can't normally see, because they bring more light to the topic.

Don:
If you have to look straight up, won't you get a stiff neck?

Steve:
Well, you might. But, again, for free, you can lie down on the ground, and look straight up. No stiff neck. Your head is on the ground.

Don:
If you have a shay's lounge or something in the back yard, you could use that.

Steve:
That's right. A shay's lounge will be a help. A blanket can keep you warm. But even without a shay's lounge, you can drap a blanket on the ground, it'll keep you dry, and it can keep you warm, and look up.

Don:
And a telescope?

Steve:
So, telescopes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. So we have a scope over here that's relatively small. We have a bigger scope over here. And these scopes, especially this 8 inch scope over here will let you see lots of faint fuzzy things in quite a bit more detail than you can without a scope.

Don:
So if I can see these things without any of this equipment, why should I spend the money?

Steve:
Again, you'll see more detail, and you'll see fainter things with a telescope. For example, you can see.. well you can see the Earth, but you can see Mars, and Saturn, and the brighter planets naked eye, and you can see more detail on these objects, but you can see fainter things like Pluto, if you have a big enough telescope.

Don:
Well if I don't have a telescope, and I want to see fainter things, what could I do?

Steve:
For absolutely free, if you want to see objects in the sky just as good as the ameteur's around in their biggest, most expensive equipment, you can do that. It turns out that all of the clubs pretty much have outreach as their primary mission. And all the area clubs - and there are eight area clubs in greater Detroit, all of the clubs have public events, approximately monthly. These might be star parties, they might be they might be an observatory open house, but these are public events. So they're free. You walk up there. An experienced astronomer finds some object for you, and lets you look at it, in their expensive equipment.

Don:
Seriously? They'd let me come up and look throught their expensive piece of equipment for free?

Steve:
It's their mission.

Don:
Wow. That's pretty amazing. So, say I'm outside. Where do I look?

Steve:
Well. The first thing to do is to get oriented. And your naked eye is what you use. Weather you've got equipement or not, you use your eyes first. Because your eyes can take in huge chunks of the sky.

Don:
Then why would I need the telescope? What benefit, what does that telescope specifically do that would help me see these objects more clearly?

Steve:
The telescope make the dim objects brighter, and does magnify them to make them bigger.

Don:
But, how does it do that?

Steve:
(pointing to the 8 inch Newtonian dob)

Well, for example, this telescope, the light comes in the hole in the top, the light goes down to a big mirror at the bottom, which is curved, and the light gets focused up to about there - there's a little tiny mirror - which is a diagnoal mirror - and the light gets shot out the eyepiece. And so you're looking through the eyepiece.

So instead of your eye, which is maybe 7 millimeters in diamter, you have the whole size of the mirror, which in this case, is 200 millimeters, you get to see all of the light that that big mirror captures, instead of just the light that your little eye captures.

Don:
So in other words, this telescope would gather more light, and focus it down to where it would go into my eye, and that's how I would be able to see these objects more clearly?

Steve:
Absolutely.

Don:
Wow, that's really amazing.

Well, but can you see a constellation in one of these? Because I love the Big Dipper, you know.

Steve:

Yeah, that's right. So, a scope like this, (holding arm up with thumb sticking out) you can see an area about the size of your thumb. Nowhere near the size of a constellation.

Don:
Well then how do I look at the constellations?

Steve:
With just your naked eyes.

Don:
So I could use those as a guidepost, and find my way around the sky?

Steve:
That's right.

Don:
Wow, that's pretty amazing. I never thought of that. [Of course, Don's really good at this...] Very amazing indeed.

Are there other things to look at besides the Big Dipper?

Steve:
Well, let's get you to the Big Dipper.

Don:
Alright.

Steve:
The Big Dipper is in the North. So find which way is North. A lot of streets go North/South. So, you know, find which way is North. The Big Dipper, this time of year, is almost straight overhead. The bowl of the dipper is upside down. It's facing down, like it would all drain out. And the handle is to the right.

Don:
OK.

Steve:
So. There are some interesting things about the Big Dipper. If you take the two stars on the end, on the left end of the bowl, And you follow them down, and you reach a fairly bright star. And that is the North Star. And that's how you really know you're facing North. Because the North Star doesn't move very much in the sky.

Don:
So even if I'm out in the county, and I don't have street to point me North, if I find the Big Dipper, and then draw that line down from those two end stars, I'll be able to find the North Star.

Steve:
Absolutely.

Don:
That's really amazing.

Well you know, Steve, this first segment of our show has really been interesting. We're going to take a break for a short PSA (Public Service Announcement), and we'll be right back.

[United Nations / International Astronomical Union - International Year of Astronomy clip].

Don:
Hi. Welcome back to our program.

Steve, before the break, we were talking about the Big Dipper. What do we look for there?

Steve:
OK. So the Big Dipper is upside down. It's almost straight overhead. If you take the two stars on the end of the bowl and go down, you get to Polaris, the North Star. If you go out the handle to the right. The second of the last star from the right is a double star - it's just a little bit special.

Don:
Two stars together?

Steve:
Two stars together. And, naked eye, or with your glasses, and if your vision is really good, you can see two seperate stars, naked eye.

Don:
Really. What would a telescope or binoculars show?

Steve:
That's kind of funny. This telescope here [the 8 inch Newtonian reflector] will show you not just two stars, but one of the stars is also a double by itself. I forget which one...

So, Mizar is the bright one, and Alcore is the not quite as bright one. And I guess there's, what, an Alcor B - do you remember? [Opps, it's Mizar B.]

Don:
You know, Steve, right now I don't recall. But that's really quite interesting. Are those the only two double stars out there?

Steve:
No. In fact, double stars are incredibly common. One of my favorite astronomers says that three out every two stars is a double star. It's kind of a funny thing. [If there are two points of light in the sky, and one is really a triple star, now you have four stars. And three are part of mulitple star systems. But you only see two "stars" in the sky - so, 3 out of 2 stars. Doug, of Slacker Astronomy uses this from time to time.]

Don:
[Sounding quite unsure...] I think I got it Steve.

Don:
But what else is there out there?

Steve:
So. You took those two stars and you went down to Polaris. If you go up and over your head, you can get to Leo. And Leo is just a little bit farther from the two stars of bowl of the Big Dipper than Polaris was. So you go just a little bit farhter. Leo has this backwards question mark, and that's the head of Leo. And it has this sort of triangle which is the hind quarters of Leo. And there's a special treat in Leo just now.

Don:
What's that Steve?

Steve:
Right underneath Leo is the planet Saturn [point to a poster behind - Saturn with rings]. Saturn, it's not going to look like this, Saturn is a bright yellowish star - it looks like a star, naked eye.

Don:
Well, if I looked at it with my naked eye, would I be able to see the rings of Saturn like in this picture?

Steve:
No. For two reasons. One is, it's just too small for your eye. In a small telescope, for example in binoculars, at this moment, the rings are just about edge on. In binoculars, you won't be able to see them. When Galileo first saw them, his telescope was alot like what modern binoculars are. And he described the rings as "ears". Galileo never did figure out what they were.

Don:
A planet with ears. That sure sounds funny.

Steve:
And, a few years after he made the initial discovery of the ears of Saturn, they disappeared. And that's just like what we have now. The rings are edge on, and they're hard to see. In a scope like this [pointing to the 8 inch reflector], it's almost as if they been crossed out. Someone has drawn a line right through Saturn.

Don:
Really. Well, you know, what really interests me is that they look solid. Like NASCAR could run a race on them. Is that how the rings are?

Steve:
No. They're very thin. There only, maybe, a hundred meters thick. And they're very big. They're the same size as the orbit of our Moon. A quarter of million miles out from the Earth. Well, a quarter of a million miles out from Saturn, the rings extend. And they're only a hundred miles thick. So they are much, much thinner than paper.

Don:
So we couldn't drive on them. But are they still solid? What's the composition of them?

Steve:
They're not solid at all. They're made up of lots of little particles.

Don:
What keeps all those particles together? What keeps them from just flying off into space?

Steve:
Gravity. Gravity from Saturn holds them in line. And there are little moons that holds them into bands. You can see here that there is this big dark section - that's the the Cassini division. And inside, there's a moon, that keeps particles that are inside the gap - the Cassini division. The ones that are inside - they stay inside. And the ones that are outside, they stay outside. So there are shepherding moons that sort of hold the rings together dynamically.

Don:
So if I had a telescope, I could put like two thousand power on the rings, and they would look just marvelous, wouldn't they?

Steve:
This eight inch scope here, it's not going to cope with two thousand power. You could get an eyepiece that could magnify by that much. But this telescope is good for up to about 400 magnification.

Don:
And that would be better than two thousand.

Steve:
And that would be better than two thousand. Because you'd have an image that was sharp and clear, rather than just bigger but now really fuzzy.

Don:
So bigger isn't better.

Steve:
Bigger isn't better for magnification. But bigger is better for the size of your biggest mirror or lens.

Don:
We were talking about Leo, which is a constellation that I recognize. But isn't there an another object just the right of Leo?

Steve:
OK, Yeah, that's right. If you're looking at Leo, there's a bright star on the right side of Leo called Regulus. I think it's the brightest - it's Alpha Leonis [it is]. It's the biggest, brightest star in Leo. If you take that and go off to the right, there's a constellation. But it has no really bright stars. It's called Cancer. It's one of the signs of the Zodiac.

Don:
Cancer the Crab.

Steve:
Cancer the Crab. So, I'm not going to use Cancer to get you there, but the object is in Cancer. If go from Regulus - that bright star in Leo, and you go up and to the right, you should come to Pollux - which is one of the two stars of that are the twins of Gemini.

Don:
I recognize that one two. Another one of the signs of the Zodiac.

Steve:
So, not quite on the line from Regulus to Pollux. Just a little bit sort of down and to the right, and sort of in the middle between Regulus and Pollux, you'll get to Cancer and there is a fuzz ball, from a very dark sky site, and it's called the Beehive cluster.

Don:
A cluster of what, Steve?

Steve:
A cluster of stars.

Don:
Really.

Steve:
So, naked eye, you just see a fuzz ball. You don't actually resolve the individual stars. In binoculars, you get to see some of the stars on the outskirts, they show up. In a telescope, you get to see many, many stars.

Don:
Very interesting. So how many stars would we find in a cluster like this?

Steve:
It's hard to say. I think there are hundreds of thousands of stars. [The Beehive is an open cluster, not a globular cluster. So my estimate was way off. There are at least 1000 stars gravitationally bound. It's very dense as open clusters go. Check out the Wikipedia page].

Don:
That's incredible. And they're all held together by gravity?

Steve:
By gravity. And they go in kind of odd sort of wierd orbits. And they all sort of bounce in and out of this one mass of the cluster.

Don:
And is this the only cluster out there?

Steve:
No. There are many clusters.

Don:
And can we see them both with the naked eye under dark skies as you suggested, or through some of the equipment that we have?

Steve:
You can really only see the brightest of the clusters with the naked eye. There are maybe three or four clusters that you can see with the naked eye, and see it even as a fuzz patch. Then you start needing binoculars or a telescope.

Don:
Well, that's really interesting. We're going to take a quick break and show you some of the upcoming events that are happening in our area.

Upcoming Astronomy Events
Astronomy Day
Kalamazoo Valley Museum
Kalamazoo, MI
May 30, 2009
http://www.astroday.kasonline.org

Planetarium Show
Henry Ford Community College
5101 Evergreen Rd., Dearborn, MI
Tuesday Evenings 7:30 PM
313 854-9628

Outreach Events Beginners Night
Island Lake State Park
(Spring Mill Pond)
Bring Your Telescope/Binoculars
May 30, 2009
June 27, 2009

Astronomy At The Beach
Kensington Metro Park
September 25-26, 2009

Star Parties
Michiana Star Party
South Bend, Indiana
May 29-31, 2009
http://www.michiana-astro.org

Great Lakes Star Gaze
Gladwin, Mi
September 17-20, 2009
http://www.greatlakesstargaze.com

Astronomy Clubs

Ford Amateur Astronomy Club
http://www.boonhill.net/faac/

Warren Astronomical Society
http://www.warrenastro.org

Astronomy clubs in Michigan / Planetariums / Museums
http://www.astronomyclubs.com/1/190/24/0/club.aspx

Amateur Astronmy Magazines
Sky & Telescope

Astronomy

Don:
Hello. Welcome back to our program. We'll take a few minutes and recap what Steve and I have been talking about today. We've talked about the Big Dipper. We talked about using that to find a very important star - Polaris - or the North Star. We also discussed about double stars, which we found in the handle of the Big Dipper. We used the Big Dipper as a guide post to help us find other objects besides Polaris. We can use the handle [oops - Don meant pointer stars at the end of the bowl - we use the handle to get to Arcturus and Spica - not covered in this show because of the season...] to find Leo - one of the constellations of the Zodiac. And just below Leo, we found the planet Saturn. In addition, we have found a gathering of stars called a cluster in the constellation of Cancer the crab.

So Steve, some of these objects you can see with your naked eye. Some need equipement like binoculars or a telescope. But there's one bright object that I'm sure everybody can find in the sky with their eyes. We're talking about the Moon.

Steve:
Yeah - the Moon is *there*. There is no not-finding the Moon. If it's clear out, and the Moon is up, you can see the Moon. Now for other objects, finding them means you have to navigate to them. The Moon is so bright, if it's up, it's there. The question is when should you look?

Don:
Isn't the Moon up every night, and we can find it?

Steve:
No, the Moon is not up every night. As the Moon goes around the Earth, as it orbits around the Earth, when it's Full, it's up all night. In it's first quarter, it's up only in the early evening. When it's shrinking - when it's waning - when it's shrinking, then it's a morning object, and when it's New - it's pretty much between us and the Sun and it's very hard to see.

Don:
Well if it's between us and the Sun, wouldn't we have an eclipse at that point?

Steve:
No. The Moon, it turns out, the Moon isn't quite aligned with the Earth and the Sun. It's about five degrees off. And so most of the time it passes either below the Sun or above the Sun. Every now and again it passes right over the Sun and you get an eclipse. Or, it passes exactly opposite the Sun, and you get a lunar eclipse.

Don:
Oh. I see. So while they don't always happen, there are times that cause those events.

Steve:
Absolutely.

Don:
So the Moon goes through phases. I don't quite understand that. Could you explain that a bit better?

Steve:
So, the Moon goes around the Earth. It takes a Moonth - well a month. And each quarter is where the Moon has gone one quarter of a month. It's about a week. So for example, in May 2009, the New Moon happens on the 24th, that happens on a weekend, then on the following weekend, on the 30th, we have first quarter. We see it in the evening sky. A week later, that's on the 7th of June we have the Full Moon, and the Full Moon is visible all night long. So then on the 15th of June, we have the waning 3rd quarter - last quarter Moon, and that's mostly a morning object. So it will rise maybe one in the morning, and for those of us who can stay up, or can get up, you can see the Moon in the morning.

Don:
So is it possible to see the Moon during the day?

Steve:
Absolutely. Especially the first quarter Moon, you know - the Sun hasn't quite gone down yet - just look more or less opposite from the Sun and the Moon will usually be up there. [And in the 3rd quarter, the Moon is visible in the morning.]

Don:
Well, that's really interesting. That's some interesting facts that perhaps most people didn't think about. But besides the Moon and star clusters that we talked about and double stars, what other types of objects would we be able to see in the night sky?

Steve:
That is a good question, but let's get back to the Moon for just a little bit.

Don:
Oh, there's more?

Steve:
Well the Moon isn't just a dot in the sky like most other objects. It's close enough, and big enough, in fact it's about as big as your thumb held at arm's distance, just like these telescopes can show you. The Moon is about the largest thing that these telescopes can show you. It has some detail. And naked eye, there are dark spots and there are bright spots, there are bright areas.

Don:
Just as illustrated on our chart here?

Steve:
So, these big open sort of plain areas, these are the dark spots. So you can see these patterns, and people make patterns out of them. So there's a Man on the Moon, there's a woman on the Moon, there's a rabbit on the Moon, and my favorite, is the dog on the Moon. [pointing] So here's the dog's body, Mare Tranquilitus, where Apollo Eleven landed, with the feet, and the tail, and the head, and the muzzle.

Don:
Oh, I never notice that before.

Steve:
So here's the dog on the Moon. It's kind of a poodle.

Don:
So is there anything else about the Moon that our viewers would like to know?

Steve:
Well, this image shows lots and lots of craters. And you can see craters in binoculars or a telescope. But it's very hard to see any craters naked eye.

Don:
I see. And when's the best time to look at the Moon.

Steve:
Well, if you're looking at it with the naked eye, I like to look at it at Full Moon. Then you can see all these things, all these dark and light areas. But if you're looking at it with binoculars or a telescope, then I like to look at it in First Quarter or last Quarter.

Don:
Why is that?

Steve:
And that's because if one side of the Moon is lit up, and one side is in it's own shadow, then along the line where it is lit up and goes into shadow, then the Sun, on the Moon, is going right across the edge, and the shadows are really long. So along the edge of the shadow, you get to see in very execellent detail, you get to see craters, and little spikes in the middle of craters, and rilles and things.

Don:
That's fascinating Steve. But let's get to those last couple items, other kinds of objects we can see.

Steve:
There are another could kinds of objects you can see. At the moment, the brightest of these, the Andromeda Galaxy, is a morning object, you have to get for this. And the Andromeda Galaxy from a dark sky site, naked eye, is a fuzz ball. In binoculars, it's a bigger fuzz ball. But you get to see some structure. You get to see some structure.

Don:
So the Andromeda Galaxy is much like our own Milky Way galaxy, that we reside in.

Steve:
Absolutlely, in fact of late, scientists have been saying that the Milky Way is bigger than they thought, and that the Milky Way is almost exactly the same size as the Andromeda Galaxy.

Don:
Fascinating. And Andromeda is one of many galaxies out in the Universe?

Steve:
There are maybe 30 galaxies in the local group. There are hundreds of galaxies in the nearby clusters. There are thousands of galaxies in the nearby super cluster. There trillions of trillions of galaxies in the visible Universe.

Don:
Wow. That's really alot out there. You know, this has been really informative. And I hope our viewers have enjoyed the information that we've been able to bring to you in this, our premier episode of Astronomy For Everyone. At the bottom of your screen is an email address that you can write us if you have a question that you'd like us to address on a future program.

astronomyforeveryone@gmail.com

We'd love to hear from you. Also, you'll see our web site, which we're just starting up, so please be patient with us as we populate that web site, with news and views and things that you would like to know.

On behalf of the Ford Amateur Astronomy Club I'd like to thank you for watching, and please join us again next time. So long!