Category Archives: Astronomy

Our upcoming lunar eclipse has a direct connection to an eclipse that occurred in the late 1960s. There is a reason for this that I will make clear in just a moment. But first, let's take a look back at that eclipse of more than half a century ago, when a bunch of young people "one-upped" adults in obtaining a view of their celestial quarry.

It was in the predawn hours of Oct. 18, 1967, that the full moon moved completely into the Earth's dark umbral shadow, resulting in a total lunar eclipse. The previous year, in cooperation with New York City's department of parks, the Hayden Planetarium invited the public to Sheep Meadow in Central Park at midnight, to observe the Leonid meteor shower. Although cloudy weather prevailed, some 10,000 persons assembled, listening attentively to a 45-minute talk on astronomy.

So, based on the strength of that event, a similar gathering was arranged to view the total eclipse from Sheep Meadow, beginning at 4 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 18. Members of the planetarium staff were to be on hand to answer questions. In addition, the Planetarium planned to take photographs from the top of the United Nations Secretariat Building and the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington also planned observations as well. The first observable change would have been the dark umbra "biting" into the upper-left edge of the moon at 4:25 a.m. EDT.

Related: Beaver Moon lunar eclipse 2021: When, where and how to see it

Unfortunately, once again, the weather did not cooperate. About 11 p.m. low cloudiness settled in and soon made for a nearly solid overcast over much of the Northeast US. In addition, fog drifted in from off the water. The cloud ceiling at times extended as far down as 300 to 500 feet (90-150 meters). There was not the tiniest aperture through which the moon could wink at the small platform that had been set up in Central Park for the Hayden Planetarium astronomers.

None of them showed up anyway.

And instead of the thousands that showed up for the Leonid shower the previous year, just four skywatchers stood in a fruitless vigil scanning the thick quilt of low clouds for even a fleeting glimpse of the moon. The photographers stationed on the United Nations tower got none, and the U.S. Naval Observatory drew a blank as well.

The unsettled weather, however, did not stop 10 boys and two girls, ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old all amateur high school astronomers from trooping into the lobby of the Empire State Building at 11:30 p.m., carrying cameras, binoculars, monoculars (hand telescopes), two six-inch telescopes, a radio for shortwave time signals and a guitar.

They were members of the Amateur Observers Society (AOS), an astronomy club founded in 1965 by 17-year-old, Ronald Abileah. And thanks to Daniel Howe Jr., a manager at the Empire State Building, a special arrangement was made to allow the AOS members to watch the eclipse from the building's 86th-floor observation deck, long after the building had closed its doors to members of the general public.

As the budding young astronomers set up their equipment, conditions were far from ideal: it was raw and wet on the deck, and the mists ran fast in a stiff wind. At times, the kids were enveloped in fog with a visibility of about five feet.

But at the 86th floor, the altitude above street level thrusts to 1,050 feet.

I was able to track down Eric Bram, who was one of the twelve young people who were fortunate to catch a view of the eclipse that foggy morning. In an exclusive interview via Facebook Messenger, he told Space.com:

"There was thick fog all around and we couldn't see a thing; not the eclipse or anything else. Then suddenly the fog dropped and we found ourselves standing on a little island, on the low terrace of a tower protruding above the clouds that stretched like an ocean to the horizon in all directions. Nothing else existed in the world: just the tower, the clouds, the stars, the eclipsed moon, and we who observed it."

Overhead there were patches of fast-moving clouds, and the moon kept teasing the young observers, with the wind dissipating the fog a bit. But it was enough to allow for snatches of the celestial display, with the initial penumbral phase visible a couple of times and then there was a brief view of what appeared to be a crescent moon, with only about one-quarter of the face lit up about a half-hour before the start of the total phase.

In the aftermath of the eclipse, there was a considerable amount of publicity about how the teenagers had managed to catch views of the eclipse while older and presumably more experienced observers did not.

The New York Times carried the story in their Oct. 19, 1967 edition under the headline:"The Young See Moon in Eclipse as Their Elders Fail to Show Up"

So how does this eclipse of decades past, bear any relation to our upcoming lunar eclipse?

It is an interesting phenomenon that an eclipse, whether of the sun or the moon, will repeat itself. Ancient astronomers in Assyria and Babylonia kept track of time by carefully observing the motions of the moon and the sun. By recording the details of solar and lunar eclipses, the accuracy of these measurements increased markedly. As they studied the record of centuries of eclipses, a pattern began to emerge: Eclipses tend to repeat themselves at intervals of just over 18 years, though they recur at different locations on Earth. Thiseclipse cycle is called the "saros" Greek for "repetition."

A saros cycle encompasses 18 years and 10 1/3 days or 11 1/3 days, since almost always five or four leap years, respectively, intervene with almost equal frequency. Because of the extra third of a day, each successive eclipse occurs about 120 degrees in longitude to the west of its predecessor.

Thus, after three saros repetitions (54 years and 33 plus or minus 1 day) an eclipse recurs in the same general part of the world. The late science writer Isaac Asimov coined the phrase "triple saros" to describe this interval of time. However, astronomer Owen Gingerich notes that the Greeks called a period equal to three saros cycles an "Exeligmos," sometimes also referred to as "the turning of the wheel."

In this case, the 1967 lunar eclipse and our upcoming lunar eclipse aremembers of saros #126and can be tied together using the Exeligmos:

Oct. 18, 1967 Mid-eclipse: 6:15 a.m. EDTNov. 19, 2021 Mid-eclipse: 4:02 a.m. EDT

And comparing the path that the moon took through Earth's shadow in October 1967 as well as the general region of the visibility of that eclipse, with the shadow path and visibility zone for our upcoming eclipse, we would readily notice the similarities:

The only significant difference over 54+ years is that the moon takes a track a bit farther to the south in 2021, so that the southernmost edge of the moon remains just outside of the umbra, making it an "almost total" eclipse compared to 1967.

So, a relative of the lunar eclipse that was witnessed by a coterie of young moon watchers in the fall of 1967 will be paying us a visit this week. Let's hope the weather will be a bit more cooperative for everybody this time around!

And incidentally, the then-fledgling Amateur Observers Society, which catered only to teenagers back in 1967, is still active today, though is no longer restricted just to high schoolers, but to astronomy buffs of all ages.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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How the Beaver Moon lunar eclipse of Nov. 19 has shades of 1967 - Space.com

Sensei, astronomer, photographer and more, Michael Capurso was a man of many talents, gifts and pursuits.

A memorial service is scheduled next weekend for the popular Ridgewood native, who was killed in a crash last week in Pennsylvania.

Capurso, 26, was behind the wheel of a Subaru SUV that slid off the road into a tree and burst into flames near his Shohola, PA home around 11 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, friends said.

Capurso had taught class that night at the Ridgewood Karate Academy, where he was a head instructor, friends said.

"Michael was an incredible teacher and mentor to hundreds of kids. Always patient and kind, and oh, so funny," one mom wrote. "Such a tremendous loss for the community."

Capurso studied physics and astronomy at SUNY New Paltz, with plans to graduate next May, after attending Bergen Community College.

He was an avid astro-photographer who published many of his images on social media with great delight -- among them, the photo above.

Capurso had also been an Eagle Scout, an assistant Scoutmaster and an active member of Troop 5 in Ridgewood with his family. He planned and attended overnights, helped at meetings, chaperoned at summer camp, and received Eagle Scout Mentor Pins from younger scouts, according to the troop.

Scout leaders said Capurso "exemplified what it is to be an Eagle Scout. We miss him."

He also was actively involved in the North Jersey Mineralogical Society.

Capurso joined RKA when he was six years and became part of the leadership team when he was only 13. Two years later, he'd earned his blackbelt alongside his younger brother, John.

He was promoted to sensei by the time he was 16 and studied for several years while training children, teens and adults.

A memorial service for Capurso is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20 at First Presbyterian Church, 722 East Ridgewood Ave. in Ridgewood.His family asks that charitable donations be made in his name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

DONATE HERE: Give Hope to Kids With Cancer

You can find some of Capurso's captivating photos at these links:

instagram.com/capurso_photography/astrobin.com/users/Michaelc95/

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Popular NJ Native Who Taught Karate, Studied Astronomy Dies In PA Crash - Northern Highlands Daily Voice

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University (WVU) invites applications for a Teaching Assistant Professor position starting August 1st, 2022. This is a full-time, nine-month, non-tenure track position with full benefits. Teaching Assistant Professor appointments have renewable terms of up to three years, with no limit on the number of terms. This position will be accompanied by an annual summer appointment for instructional laboratory management (required) and additional summer teaching (if desired). Teaching Assistant Professors are eligible for promotion, e.g., to Teaching Associate Professor and Teaching Full Professor; however, promotion to senior ranks is not a requirement for institutional commitment and career stability.

The successful candidate will contribute to our teaching mission by providing exemplary instruction of physics and astronomy classes at all levels, overseeing the management and curation of the introductory laboratories and demonstration collection, and overseeing the training and oversight of all graduate teaching assistants. Responsibilities include but are not limited to: organization and management of all introductory physics and astronomy teaching laboratories; management of the graduate teaching assistants; management, instruction, and development of a teaching assistant training program; teaching primarily introductory physics courses in a large lecture format as well as opportunities to teach other astronomy and physics courses; development of laboratory experiments for introductory physics and astronomy classes; development of lecture demonstrations and management of the lecture demonstration collection; collaboration with Physics Education Research faculty at WVU; and engagement with the regional and national physics education communities.

The successful applicant must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in astronomy, physics, physics education research, or a closely related field by time of appointment; excellent written and oral communication/teaching skills; the ability to teach effectively in a large lecture format; the ability to manage personnel; and the ability to maintain laboratory and demonstration equipment.The teaching load is 2 courses per semester.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy consists of 25 tenured and tenure-track faculty, one teaching associate professor, one teaching full professor, 16 research faculty and postdoctoral researchers, 90 Ph.D. graduate students, and 70 undergraduate physics majors. The main research areas are astrophysics, biophysics, condensed matter physics, physics education, and plasma physics.

WVU is an R1 research land grant university located within 90 minutes of Pittsburgh and 3.5 hours from the Washington/Baltimore area. Morgantown has been recognized as one of the most livable small cities in the U.S. There are extensive recreational opportunities, excellent public schools, and a supportive University environment in which to develop a visible and productive career. The WVU Dual Career Program is available to assist candidates with suitable employment opportunities for spouses or partners.

To apply, please visit https://careers.wvu.edu Applicants should upload a cover letter, statement of teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, and contact information for three references as part of the application process. The cover letter should address the applicant's qualifications for each aspect of the responsibilities listed above. The screening process will begin January 14, 2022 and continue until the position is filled. For more information, please visit our website (http://physics.wvu.edu), or contact the chair of the search committee, Prof. John Stewart by email at jcstewart1@mail.wvu.edu.

WVU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity. The university values diversity among its faculty, staff, and students, and invites applications from all qualified individuals, including minorities, females, individuals with disabilities, and veterans.

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Teaching Assistant Professor in Morgantown, WV for West Virginia University Department of Physics and Astronomy - Physics

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Eclipse of moon expected early Friday morning | Astronomy | dicksonpost.com - Dickson Post

Artists conception of the central portion of the Next Generation Very Large Array. Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro2020) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has published its report and the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) received high priority for new ground-based observatories to be constructed during the coming decade. The report, in which ngVLA shared second ranking among ground-based projects, was the culmination of a lengthy process aimed at developing a comprehensive research strategy and vision for a decade of transformative science at the frontiers of astronomy and astrophysics.

The ngVLA is a system of 263 dish antennas spread across the entire extent of North America and concentrated in the U.S. Southwest that will provide dramatic new scientific capabilities to the worlds astronomers. The Astro2020 report led the ground-based facility list with the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Project (US-ELT), a plan for two large optical telescopes the Thirty Meter Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope, both under different stages of construction. After US-ELT, equal priority was given for development and construction for the ngVLA and the Cosmic Microwave Background Stage-4 experiment (CMB-S4).

Being ranked as an important new initiative indicates that our colleagues from all specialties within astronomy and astrophysics have recognized that they need the ngVLA to meet the leading research challenges of the coming decades. We designed the ngVLA based on extensive advice from the research community and know it will be in high demand by scientists from around the world, said NRAO Director Tony Beasley.

With the publication of the Astro2020 report, the ngVLA next will require approval by the National Science Foundations National Science Board and funding by Congress. Construction could begin by 2026 with early scientific observations starting in 2029 and full scientific operations by 2035.

The high scientific priority given to the ngVLA reflects the breadth and depth of the science that it makes possible, from the formation of exoplanets, to testing relativity using pulsars and black holes, to the study of some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe. This high ranking is a strong endorsement, and it opens the door to the U.S. continuing its leadership in radio astronomy and thus astrophysics as a whole for decades to come, said Alberto Bolatto, co-chair of the ngVLA Science Advisory Council and a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Artists conception of the central portion of the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) on the Plains of San Agustin in west-central New Mexico. Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

This Astro2020 outcome is a direct result of the close collaboration between NRAO and the greater astronomical community in developing both the broad, transformative science case and technical design of the ngVLA over the last five-plus years, said Eric Murphy, NRAOs Project Scientist for ngVLA. All of the communitys hard work has clearly paid off and we now look forward to continuing this collaboration as we finalize the design and move toward achieving first light with the ngVLA, Murphy added.

The ngVLA is designed to have sensitivity to detect faint objects and resolving power ability to see fine detail more than 10 times greater than the current VLA. It can address fundamental questions in all major areas of astrophysics. The ngVLAs capabilities will complement those of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and other planned instruments such as the lower-frequency Square Kilometer Array. It also will complement the capabilities of the US-ELT optical telescopes and the orbiting James Webb Space Telescope, which will operate at infrared wavelengths and is scheduled for launch next month.

The ngVLA is a resource for all astronomers, regardless of their institution or background. It will be accessible to all segments of the research community. Anyone will be able to submit an observing proposal to take advantage of the ngVLAs advanced capabilities for frontier science.

The Astro 2020 report said, The ngVLA facility would be absolutely unique worldwide in both sensitivity and frequency coverage, and concludes that It is of essential importance to astronomy that the VLA and Very Long Baseline Array be replaced by an observatory that can achieve roughly an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to these facilities, with the ability to image radio sources on scales of arcminutes to fractions of a milliarcsecond.

We congratulate the US-ELT and CMB-S4 teams for their strong proposals, and look forward to working alongside them, the research community and the National Science Foundation to provide astronomers with the advanced, multiwavelength suite of research tools needed to meet the challenges of 21st-Century astrophysics, as outlined in the Astro2020 report, Beasley said. We appreciate the tremendous amount of work that went into producing the Astro2020 report, including many members of the scientific community and particularly the tireless efforts of the chairs and the steering committees, he added.

The ngVLA will have a dense core of antennas and a signal processing center at the current site of the VLA on the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico. The system will include other antennas located throughout New Mexico and in west Texas, eastern Arizona, and northern Mexico. More far-flung antennas will be located in clusters in Hawaii, Washington, California, Iowa, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico (at Arecibo Observatory), the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. Operations will be conducted at the VLA site and in nearby Socorro, New Mexico, with additional science operations in a metropolitan area to be determined.

The NRAO has received $23 million in funding from the National Science Foundation for design and development work on the ngVLAs antennas, and in May, NRAO officials signed an agreement with the German firm mtex antenna technology GmbH to develop a production-ready design and produce a prototype ngVLA antenna.

Adam Cohen, president of Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), which operates the NRAO, said, We are excited by this strong endorsement of ngVLA by the research community and look forward to continuing AUIs nearly seven-decade record of developing and providing some of the worlds finest telescopes for the advancement of astronomy. We greatly appreciate the National Science Foundations support for the initial stages of the ngVLA and are eager to work with them to make this outstanding facility a reality.

Earlier this year, the Canadian Astronomy Long Range Plan 2020-2030, a report on priorities and recommendations for Canadian astronomy over the next decade, recommended that Canada support the ngVLA. That panel recommended that Canada provide $130 million toward ngVLA construction and $6 million per year for operating the facility. A plan for Japanese contribution to the ngVLA is one of the major proposals under consideration by that nations scientific community to become part of the Master Plan 2023 of the Science Council of Japan.

The ngVLAs design is the result of extensive collaboration with researchers across the landscape of astrophysics. Through a series of workshops and science meetings beginning in 2015, NRAO worked with numerous scientists and engineers to develop a design that will support a wide breadth of scientific investigations over the lifetime of the facility. Participants from around the world contributed suggestions and expertise that helped guide the design.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

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10-Year Astronomy Plan Calls For Massive New Observatory To Study Exoplanets and Black Holes - SciTechDaily

[This post originally appeared as part of Recommendation Machine, IndieWires daily TV picks feature.]

Where to Watch Astronomy Club: Netflix

Watching Astronomy Club is a little like getting a sketch comedy syllabus. In the best possible way, a group of eight comedians manages to tick the boxes of everything you might expect from the show. Over six Netflix episodes, they fill out a collection of original songs, impressions, fake trailers, celebrity cameos, and even an absurdist spin on a holiday treat.

What ends up making these episodes really work, though, is the reality show framework that these are all built around. Yes, everyone is playing themselves. But even getting to know the scripted versions of Shawtane Bowen, Jonathan Braylock, Ray Cordova, Caroline Martin, Jerah Milligan, Monique Moses, Keisha Zollar, and James III help make the sketches around them a little bit sharper. Its a shortcut to knowing when everyone is playing against type or drafting off their own insecurities or using everyone elses assumptions to their own advantage. If the stuff surrounding it wasnt so thoroughly entertaining, it would be enough to have that crowded house be its own show.

But another Astronomy Club strength is that its balanced. Theres a feeling that all of this writing is coming from a group with a time-tested comfort, all without having to be restricted to one particular lane. The fake game show What You Shoulda (hosted with perfect smiling exasperation by Martin) has a different feel than something like a sketch built around Braylocks eerily scrunched Resting Creep Face. That all coexists alongside the running joke through the second episode that gives the whole group a chance to jump in on the Ice Cube gag of their choosing. (Milligan and James IIIs dueling Cedric the Entertainers are definitely an added bonus.)

Theres also a strength in how the group can go an extra step. Whether its their take on LARPing, bra sizes, famous substitute English teachers, or roles for Black actors, they zero in on one of the most satisfying things that sketch comedy can do: surprise you with a setup and let you live inside it before pointing you in a completely different direction, all in just a handful of minutes. (M Shelly Conners piece for the AV Club outlines the way that Astronomy Club, like other Black-led sketch comedy shows before it, uses that last inversion as a way of challenging both stereotypes and expectations.)

Even the smallest-scale sketches can zoom out at any time, using a talented team of eight people to help make an idea go bigger. The Shade Off that made it to the Netflix show draws from a pair of spiritual predecessors that the group made as part of a digital series for Comedy Central. Each of them benefits from being able to have multiple people who can throw curveballs into whats happening, sometimes with only a word or two or even a simple glance. With the group writing and performing their own material, Astronomy Club plays to members individual strengths and avoids having to tackle a simple premise in only one way.

That they never had the chance to build on this solid foundation remains one of the more baffling recent Netflix programming choices. (Last summer, Zollar, Braylock, and Moses spoke about the platforms decision not to renew the show.) Even for a show that arrived fully ready to flip the sketch show playbook, its hard not to feel like they were all ready for so much more.

Pair It With: James III, Braylock, and Milligan host the podcast Black Men Cant Jump in Hollywood, which looks at individual films with an eye toward how they shifted on-screen representation and opportunities for Black creators. Along with the occasional guest, these three bring the same easy chemistry they have in front of the camera while also talking honestly about their own industry experiences. Awards time is always a good time to tune into BMCJIH, so as fall films start to make their way to audiences, last years episodes on Soul and One Night in Miami are good examples of how these discussions can be funny and frank at the same time.

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Astronomy Club Is Still an Essential Part of the Netflix Sketch Comedy Lineup - IndieWire

Feature Hundreds of scientists around the world have been quietly volunteering their time to prevent low Earth orbit satellites from destroying astronomy.

Space is getting more and more crowded. As technology has advanced, lobbing things into space has become cheaper and more accessible for commercial entities. Private companies are elbowing in and flinging their own satellites into low Earth orbit, typically promising to deliver faster and faster wireless broadband internet from their constellations.

When SpaceX began sending its Starlink birds up in 2018, the astronomy community realized the flying blocks of metal brightened up the night sky and threatened to drown out the glow of distant stars and galaxies. Constellations of Starlink satellites whizzing in front of telescopes left dazzling streaks in their wake, making it difficult for astronomers to observe the cosmos.

The problem is only getting worse. SpaceX now has 1,600-plus internet-relaying satellites in the sky, while similar programs from the likes of Amazon, OneWeb, and Boeing are emerging.

SpaceX has plans to launch 42,000 satellites; Amazon has asked for permission to lob 7,774.

Bright satellite streaks ruining a view of Perseid meteor shower in 2018 (click to enlarge). Image source: Eckhard Slawik

"We are absolutely losing some science," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, tells The Register. "How much science we lose depends on how many satellites there end up being. You occasionally lose data. At the moment it's one in every ten images."

Telescopes can try waiting for a fleet of satellites to pass before they snap their images, though if astronomers are trying to track moving objects, such as near-Earth asteroids or comets, for example, it can be impossible to avoid the blight.

"As we raise the number of satellites, there starts to be multiple streaks in images you take. That's no longer irritating, you really are losing science. Ten years from now, there may be so many that we can't deal with it," he added.

McDowell co-chaired the Algorithms Group for SATCON2, a workshop hosted by the American Astronomical Society, and warned that scientists need to figure out how to mitigate the issue now when satellite numbers are still low before it's too late to catch up. One possible solution they're starting to explore is machine learning. It's possible AI software can be trained to automatically mask some of the bright satellite streaks in astronomical images.

One of the recommendations in the workshop's giant report [PDF] involves assembling a team of astronomers and computer scientists to develop a range of open-source tools for future researchers to use. In order to build the algorithms, they need to gather a range of datasets made up of images snapped from various telescopes. The shots need to show the same patch of sky with and without satellite trails. Computer-vision algorithms can then be taught to detect the annoying streaks and adjust the pixels to cover them up.

Leaders of the workshop are trying to form collaborations between observatories and secure research funding to seriously develop a central hub for these future tools. At the moment, astronomers interested on working on the problem do it in their spare time or are scatted across various academic projects.

Hossen Teimoorinia, a researcher at the University of Victoria, Canada, has been experimenting with different techniques for a while. "If you want to remove satellite traces to find moving objects you need to prepare a very good dataset," he tells El Reg.

Not only do you have to collect images from observatories and institutions, they need to show exactly the same region of space with and without satellite interference and have to be pre-processed to make sure they're the same size and resolution, and so on. The other possibility is to add fake, artificial trails in clean images of the night sky to increase the amount of training examples.

"It's a little bit time consuming. But hopefully we will be able to train one main model and use transfer learning so it can be fine-tuned to handle different images taken from different telescopes," Teimoorinia says.

It'll be tricky, however, to develop a single model that is robust enough to handle the various properties of different telescopes. They have different resolutions, noise characteristics, exposure times, and operate across different wavelengths. "We may have to build algorithms that work for specific telescopes, it's complicated," McDowell says.

Ideally, these tools will, one day, be packaged as an easy-to-use Python library and astronomers will be able to apply them to their own images.

AI cannot do magic, however, Teimoorinia warns. Some science will still be lost in the process. Even if machine learning can erase the ugly satellite streaks so astronomers can monitor asteroids and comets, any stars or galaxies obstructed by the glinting trails will be removed, too. While you can track asteroids and comets frame by frame as they move across the sky, stars and galaxies tend to remain hidden behind a satellite's trail and will be obliterated during the cleanup.

Don't forget that these constellations of metallic birds reflect sunlight, and their radio signals can interfere with readings, making it potentially difficult for astronomers to accurately record light levels to estimate the distances or temperatures of faraway stars or to discover new galaxies.

Sometimes the opposite can happen, where something glittering in the sky doesn't just make it tough for astronomers to observe objects, it can make them see things that don't even exist.

A flash from the farthest galaxy discovered in the observable universe, GN-z11, generated excitement in the research community. People believed they had spotted the most distant gamma-ray flash ever from an exploding massive dead star or a black hole. But now some reckon it was just the reflection from a fragment of a broken-up spent Russian rocket that happened to be in view at the wrong time as astronomers observed GN-z11.

Similar mistakes could be made in the future with broadband satellites, McDowell says. "A lot of the time the effect of a satellite is really obvious, other times it's more subtle. If the light from a satellite is sent down a fiber for spectroscopy, it can contaminate the spectrum with reflected sunlight from the satellite. It could screw up data without you trying to spot it. Ordinary galaxies suddenly look really interesting, the bright lights make it look like something weird is going on there."

It's clear machine-learning-driven image processing simply won't be a panacea. The blight may well need a more drastic measure: limiting the number of low Earth satellites in space altogether. How many is too many? What is the maximum number of satellites that can be in space at any given time to make sure space is still observable?

"That's a wild guess at the moment," Richard Green, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory in the US, tells The Register.

Green believes the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 to ensure "outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States" and that "States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies," could be used to regulate global satellite launches in low Earth orbit.

America isn't the only country sending devices into space to provide broadband services. Even if it does try to control the number of satellites going up, it can't solve the problem on its own. "The UK and Canada are doing it too. China as well, although we know less about what's going on there," Green says.

It requires the cooperation of countries all around the world and there has yet to be an all-inclusive international discussion on the matter even though the International Astronomical Union is trying to appeal to the UN's Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. "We need to seriously implement new policies or it'll become a free-for-all, where space will be taken by first come, first served," he adds.

Space is for everyone and the discoveries that have been made affect us all, McDowell concludes. "The fundamental things we've learned about ourselves, like the fact that we're all made out of star dust, for example, are immediately relevant. And who knows what we're going to discover or not discover in the next century because of satellites?"

The rest is here:

AI algorithms can help erase bright streaks of internet satellites but they cannot save astronomy - The Register

You are invited to our next Physics and Astronomy Colloquia event taking place on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, from 12:10 - 1 PM in CNS 206/208. At this seminar, we will be joined by Megan Smith from Hamilton College.

Presenter: Megan Smith from Hamilton College

Title: The Effect of the Magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Thin Black Hole Accretion Disks

Abstract: One of the big questions in our understanding of black hole-accretion disks systems is how matter from the disk falls onto the black hole, since angular momentum conservation should keep that matter in orbit. Due to observations of intense radiation around black holes caused by infalling matter, we know accretion happens, so there must be turbulence leading to angular momentum transport. In accretion disks with large-scale ordered magnetic fields, one possible source of this turbulence is the magnetic RayleighTaylor (mRT) instability. The effects of this instability are frequently seen in the thin magnetically dominated accretion disk simulation I study and I will share how they affect the accretion rate of the system and the relevance of the mRT instability to angular momentum transport.

Read the original here:

Physics and Astronomy Colloquia Event - Ithaca College

Professor Fred Skiff; University of Iowa

Abstract: Hot plasmas have a large number of degrees of freedom. Generally in physics, a fundamental way to explore the degrees of freedom is through scattering. In plasma physics it is traditional to describe waves using fluid theory where the plasma degrees of freedom consist of a few collective modes with discrete dispersion relations w(k). However, experiments on wave scattering, for example on the ion acoustic wave, produce inconsistent results in the fluid model.Theoretically, even with the simplifications of a 1-D, low-frequency, electrostatic model where the electrons are treated as a neutralizing fluid, Vlasov-ion plasma actually supports an uncountable infinity ofmodes: the Case-Van-Kampen continuum. In weakly-collisional plasma, I am not sure what the degrees of freedom are theoretically. In this talk I will describe my efforts to develop a scattering theory for collective excitations in hot (Vlasov) and weakly-collisional plasma.It is a work in progress.

Originally posted here:

Math Physics Seminar - Professor Fred Skiff | Physics and Astronomy | The University of Iowa - Iowa Now

The field of extrasolar planet research has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past fifteen years. To date, astronomers have relied on space-based and ground-based telescopes to confirm the existence of 4,566 exoplanets in 3,385 systems, with another 7,913 candidates awaiting confirmation. More importantly, in the past few years, the focus of exoplanet studies has slowly shifted from the process of discovery towards characterization.

In particular, astronomers are making great strides when it comes to the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. Using the Gemini South Telescope (GST) in Chile, an international team led by Arizona State University (ASU) was able to characterize the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter located 340 light-years away. This makes them the first team to directly measure the chemical composition of a distant exoplanets atmosphere, a significant milestone in the hunt for habitable planets beyond our Solar System.

The teams study, which recently appeared in the scientific journal Nature, was led by Assistant Professor Michael Line of ASUs School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE). He was joined by fellow SESE researchers and members of the Virtual Planetary Laboratory Team (part of NASAs Astrobiology Institute), the Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability (University of Warwick), and multiple universities worldwide.

For this study, Line and his team focused on WASP-77A b, a gas giant with a mass of 2.29 Jupiters that orbits very close to its Sun-like star (G-type). With an average distance of 0.024 AU, this hot Jupiter takes only 1.4 days to complete a single orbit of its star and experiences temperatures of upwards of 1093C (2,000F). The planet was spotted for the first time in 2012 by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) campaign using the Transit Method (aka. Transit Photometry).

This method consists of monitoring stars for periodic dips in luminosity, which are measured and timed to determine the size and orbital period of any planets orbiting the star. Sometimes, astronomers can observe light passing through the atmosphere of the transiting exoplanet, which allows them to obtain spectra and determine what chemicals are present in the planets atmosphere. This time, Prof. Line and his colleagues obtained spectra directly from WASP-77A b as it orbited its host star.

For the sake of their study, Line and his team hoped to obtain measurements on the atmospheric carbon and oxygen in WASP-77A bs atmosphere. The presence of these elements relative to hydrogen in hot Jupiters (relative to their host stars) is something astronomers are seeking, as it will provide insight into this strange class of exoplanet. In particular, astronomers hope to learn more about their formation and subsequent migration. As Prof. Line explained in a recent ASU News release:

Because of their sizes and temperatures, hot Jupiters are excellent laboratories for measuring atmospheric gases and testing our planet-formation theories. We needed to try something different to address our questions. And our analysis of the capabilities of Gemini South indicated that we could obtain ultra-precise atmospheric measurements.

In the past, Line and his team have been extensively involved in measuring the atmospheric compositions of exoplanets with the Hubble Space Telescope. Unfortunately, Hubbles instruments can only measure the presence of water (inferred from the presence of oxygen) in a planets atmosphere. Unfortunately, they cannot accurately measure the amounts of carbon compounds (such as carbon monoxide).

This time, Line and his colleagues turned to the 8.1-meter telescope at the Gemini South Observatory, which is operated by the National Science Foundations National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). Using the telescopes Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer (IGRINS), they were able to observe WASP-77A b directly and measure its near-infrared thermal glow.

From this, they were able to determine the presence and relative amounts of water vapor and carbon monoxide in the planets atmosphere. Said Line:

Trying to figure out the composition of planetary atmospheres is like trying to solve a crime with fingerprints. A smudged fingerprint doesnt really narrow it down too much, but a very nice, clean fingerprint provides a unique identifier to who committed the crime.

Whereas the Hubble Space Telescope was able to provide the team with one or two fuzzy fingerprints in the past, the IGRINS instrument on the Gemini South telescope provided the team with a full set of clear chemical signatures. From this, they were able to constrain the relative amounts of oxygen and carbon in the exoplanets atmosphere and its host star, all of which were in line with their expectations.

These results are not only a major technical achievement but also demonstrate how astronomers will be able to obtain ultra-precise measurements on the presence and abundances of various gases in exoplanet atmospheres. This is the key to exoplanet characterization, which allows astronomers to determine whether or not a planet can support life (as we know it). In essence, this study was a pathfinder demonstration that shows what will be possible in the coming years.

By the end of the decade, astronomers will have access to next-generation telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST). In addition, several ground-based observatories will come online in the near future, including the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), both of which are currently under construction in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Said Line:

We are now at the point where we can obtain comparable gas abundance precisions to those planets in our own solar system. Measuring the abundances of carbon and oxygen (and other elements) in the atmospheres of a larger sample of exoplanets provides much needed context for understanding the origins and evolution of our own gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn.

If we can do this with todays technology, think about what we will be able to do with the up-and-coming telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope. It is a real possibility that we can use this same method by the end of this decade to sniff out potential signatures of life, which also contain carbon and oxygen, on rocky Earth-like planets beyond our own solar system.

Looking ahead, Line and the team plan to conduct these same types of measurements on many more exoplanets, eventually building up a sample of at least 15 atmospheric characterizations.They also anticipate many more exciting finds once next-generation telescopes become available. With their particular combination of spectrometers, coronographs, and/or adaptive optics, these observatories will conduct Direct Imaging studies that allow for exoplanet characterization like never before!

Further Reading: ASU, Nature

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Astronomers Measure the Atmosphere on a Planet Hundreds of Light-Years Away - Universe Today