The Constellation Auriga Photographed with an iPhone 7 – Jan 2018

The Constellation Auriga Photographed with an iPhone 7 – Jan 2018

Auriga – The Charioteer

I took a few photos of the constellation Auriga and its neighboring stars recently, with my iPhone 7.  Below is one of those, that has been pushed a bit in the GIMP image program, and labelled.

Auriga is actually pretty easy to see, on a reasonably dark night, even in the light polluted city, on a late fall or winter evening.  Basically, once you have found Orion, it is straight up from there.  It will therefore tend to be quite high in the sky, almost straight above at times.  You really have to crane your neck at those times, and it can be awkward for telescope use, as the tube is nearly vertical. If you are fairly far south (south of 34 degrees), some of the stars will be below the horizon.  So, Auriga might be somewhat overlooked because of those reasons.

It is a sort of distorted pentagon shape (like the home plate on a baseball diamond), or something like a crown, as indicated in the Sky and Telescope drawing, as well as a crop from my photo, with constellation lines added.  The mythical figure that is associated with Auriga in Greek mythology, is supposed to have invented the 4-horse chariot. So I suppose one could think of it in those terms too, with a little imagination.  In that case, Beta would be the driver, and Theta, Cappella, Beta Tauri, and Lambda would be the horses (as seen from above).

 

Below is a close-up and labelled view of the stars of Auriga that came through my iPhone photo, with an accompanying diagram.  Here are some the main stars of Auriga that were captured by the iPhone camera:

• ·         Alpha Auriga or Cappella: This is the sixth brightest star in the sky (magnitude=.008), and therefore visible even in very light polluted skies.  It is close to Earth, as these things go, at 43 light years or about 13 parsecs – that’s why it is so bright.  It is actually a close binary star, and about 2.5 times more massive than our sun.  It is a G-class star

• ·         Beta Auriga or Menkalinan: This is another bright star, at magnitude 1.9.  It is about 81 light years away, and is also binary (the majority of stars are).  It’s also about 2.4 times more massive than the sun.  It is an A-class star.

• ·         Al Nath or Gamma Auriga (aka Beta Tauri):  Technically, this star is part of Taurus, but it is “shared” with Auriga, and is one of the brighter stars of the “home plate” asterism.  It is about130 light years away, a B-class star, so pretty big, with a mass 5 times our sun.

• ·         Theta Auriga: This is an A-class star, with a magnitude of about 2.6, and is about 166 light years from Earth.  It is about 3.4 times the mass of the sun, and is also a binary.

• ·         Iota Auriga: It is K-class star, about 494 light years away, with a magnitude of about 2.7.  It’s big, with a mass about 7 times that of the sun, and a very large radius, over 125 times that of the sun.  It is thus very luminous.  It may have some brown dwarf companions.

• ·         The Kids, Eplsilon, Eta and Zeta.  This is a group of stars, about magnitude 3 or dimmer, not far from Capella in the sky.  In mythology, these are baby goats, not human children.

·         The iPhone also captured some dimmer (magnitude 4 or less) stars. You can compare and contrast with the Sky and Telescope picture to look for them.  It can be hard to tell, though, if the really dim points are stars that were captured by the iPhone, or optical artifacts of the camera (e.g. hot pixels, etc).

Auriga is also noted for having a number of Messier objects, M36, M37, and M38.  These are open clusters, containing hundreds of gravitationally bound stars, which are pretty through a good telescope, though an iPhone doesn’t pick them up.  I have located them with a 130 mm Newtonian – they are well worth seeing, if you have the time and equipment.  There are also a number of other open clusters.

Several planets have been detected around a number of stars in Auriga, via radial velocity methods.  Most have been large, Jupiter sized planets, but some smaller ones have been detected as well.  Star Trek set one memorable episode on a planet in the Capella system, where McCoy got to use the immortal line “I’m a doctor, not an escalator!”.  

Astrophotography with an iPhone

So, why blog about astrophotography with an iPhone when there are so many great cameras and telescopes out there, suitable for amazing amateur photographs?  Several reasons, actually:

• ·         It is easy to take pictures with an iPhone. That means it is quick and you don’t have to freeze in the cold, especially in my part of the world.

• ·         It is fascinating to see just what a “simple” camera like an iPhone (or iPad) can do, these days, especially with a bit of post processing of the images.

• ·         The iPhone sees pretty much what the human eye sees in the light polluted city, so it works well as an educational tool.  Long exposure astrophotography is great, but the images don’t look much like the actual sky does, for a typical viewer.

• ·         So, it is  a nice tool for introducing people to the brightest stars in the sky.  And, given how ignorant most modern people are of the sky, that seems like a good thing to do.

• ·         It is good practice with Gimp or Photoshop.

·         It makes for a relatively easy blog, and that is a lead-in to selling books, as you can see below.  Though, as any blogger will tell you, the conversion rate from blog reader to book purchaser is exceedingly low.  Nonetheless, we live in hope.

Sources

Auriga photo: AlltheSky.com, Author:Till Credner, via Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auriga_(constellation)

The Cambridge Guide to Stars and Planets

Google Images

  

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Now that you have read some real science (astronomy and astrophysics), you should read some science fiction.  Since the blog mentioned Star Trek, here’s one with some Star Trek references (implied).

“The Zoo Hypothesis”, an Alien Invasion Story (Free Jan 24 to Jan 28, 2018 on Amazon ($ 0.99 at other times)

Here’s a story giving a possible scenario for the so-called Zoo Hypothesis, known in Star Trek lore as the Prime Directive.  It’s an explanation sometimes given to account for a mystery in the Search for Intelligent Life, known as The Great Silence, or Fermi’s Paradox.

Basically, Enrico Fermi argued (quite convincingly, to many observers), that there had been ample time for an alien intelligence to colonize the galaxy since its formation, so where are they?  The Zoo Hypotheses says that they are out there, but have cordoned off the Earth from contact, until we are sufficiently evolved or culturally advanced to handle the impact of alien contact.

This story takes a humorous tongue in cheek approach to that explanation.  It also features dogs and sly references to Star Trek.  Talk about man’s Best Friend.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD

Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076RR1PGD

Should We Collect Comet Dirt or Fly the Friendly Skies of Titan?

Collect Comet Dirt or Fly the Friendly Skies of Titan?

Should we return to the comet visited earlier by NASA/ESA (comet 67-P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), to collect some material and fly it back to Earth for study, or land drones on Saturn’s moon Titan to study that icy world in more depth?  Those appear to be the deep solar system projects (New Horizons) currently most likely to be given the green light by NASA, according to a number of news sources.  Since I have previously blogged about the Rosetta mission to a comet, and about some possibilities for a Titan mission, this seems like a nice opportunity to revisit and elaborate upon those subjects.

The Rosetta mission to a comet:

Three related blogs, based on a talk given at the University of Alberta, by a Rosetta mission scientist, and some related papers.  Naturally, I encourage you to read those blogs for some detailed background.

http://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-esa-rosetta-mission-to-comet-part-1.html

http://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-esa-rosetta-mission-to-comet-talk.html

http://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.ca/2017/04/the-esa-rosetta-mission-to-comet-where.html

Titan and Its Seas of Tranquility 

A blog about Saturn’s moon Titan, particularly related to findings about likely wave action on its liquid hydrocarbon seas.

http://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.ca/2017/09/saturns-moon-titan-and-its-seas-of.html

 

 The Two Finalist Missions

NASA chose these two missions from a dozen concepts that had been submitted.  They will now receive funding (some $4 million each) for more detailed planning and analysis.  The final decision is to be made in mid-2019, with a proposed launch date of 2025.  So, if you are thinking of an running an office pool on this, it will take a while to win the bet.

  

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/20/nuclear-powered-titan-drone-comet-sampler-picked-as-finalists-for-new-nasa-mission/

1) Dragonfly to Titan

The proposed mission to Titan has been named The Dragonfly Mission.  The idea is to land a drone on Titan, which could fly to different spots, and thereby return data from more than one location on the moon.

The mission would take quite a while to make the journey to Titan, arriving in 2041.  It would then release the Dragonfly lander (or flyer/hopper), which would make a series of hops over a two year span, surveying dunes, rivers and lakes. Naturally, it would be especially focussed on the sorts of molecules that are the building blocks of carbon based life, here on Earth.

We know that Titan has these geographical features, based on findings from the earlier Cassini-Huygens mission.  In fact, we now know that Titan has a hydrological cycle, much like the Earth’s water cycle, with methane/ethane replacing water.  That mission mapped Titan from orbit, and dropped a lander, which returned pictures and other data from the surface, for a short time.  Unfortunately, the Huygens lander could only transmit for a few hours, before it succumbed to the incredibly cold conditions on Titan. 

 

The Dragonfly probe will last a lot longer, as it has a radioactive energy source that will keep it going for years.  Many of the other deep space probes have also contained such a power source, so this isn’t fundamentally new. This power source will supply cameras, spectrometers, various other sensors, as well as a drill to analyse sub-surface samples.

Of course, flying a drone on another world is fundamentally new, and will no doubt be rather challenging.  However, Titan has a thick atmosphere (4 times denser than Earth’s) and low gravity (one-seventh that of Earth), and both of those factors should enhance the prospects for flight.  Since Titan’s seas were found to be tranquil, the atmosphere ought to be reasonably tranquil as well (limited wave action on the seas implies limited winds).  Nonetheless, it does seem to be a rather ambitious plan.

2) CAESAR to Comet 67-P

The other mission being considered involves a return to Comet 67-P, the comet visited by Rosetta in 2016.  This would involve not only a landing, but a return of a sample from the comet.  It would launch in the mid 2020s, and eventually bring back a small sample, in the range of a few hundred grams. This would involve capturing volatiles (off-gassing) and non-volatiles (comet nucleus material).  These could then be analysed in great detail in labs back on Earth.

This seems like a lot of trouble to go to, to retrieve a handful of comet dirt.  But this dirt would be special – material essentially dating from the formation of the solar system, that would help us to understand the building blocks that eventually formed planets, including Earth.

The big advantage of going to Comet 67-P again, is that we have already been there once.  That means that we have detailed knowledge of its shape and have good maps of the surface.  Plus, we know that Rosetta’s Philae lander got down safely and transmitted data for a period of time, even if it had some bad luck that reduced its useful lifespan.  Knowing that a mission has been accomplished once, even if not 100% successfully, tends to help out mission planning psychologically, as well as physically.  Just think of how the Dieppe raid in 1942 aided the planning for D-Day in 1944 (or so they say).

The Likely Winner?

Assuming that one of these missions really does go ahead (never a sure thing in space science), which one is more likely to get the go-ahead?

From a purely technical and administrative point of view, the comet mission seems to be more achievable, so that could account for a lot, when the final decision is made.  There is a tendency to bet the higher odds horse, when big money is on the line (a billion dollars or more).  Plus, it would be the first significant sample return mission since the moon landings over 50 years ago.  So, that would be a point in its favor, from both a scientific and P.R. point of view.

But from a wider scientific and shall we say romantic point of view, I think the Titan Dragonfly plan is the winner.  After all, Titan is an actual big moon with oceans and rivers, orbiting the mysterious and beautiful planet Saturn.  That’s a pretty tough image to beat.  And, as always, there is some small dim hope of life, or something like it, existing there, since it has hydrocarbons and weather, like the Earth. “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it.”   And drones hopping around an alien moon – what’s not to like about that?  Maybe Amazon will kick in some money for advertising rights on the drone.

My science fiction/romance writer wife is all for Titan.  As she says, you could write plenty of stories about that, whereas the comet mission seems more limiting from a literary point of view.  That may seem scientifically irrelevant, but it is the sort of imaginative consideration that the public cares about, and that is of critical importance.

My astrophysics PhD/data scientist son also agrees with the Titan mission.  Basically, it just seems like the step that has greater scientific potential, given its larger scale and more ambitious scope.

I tend to agree with both wife and son, for the reasons given and more.  Titan just sounds like a greater adventure, and that’s what the human race needs.

A Walk on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail

Speaking of adventure, perhaps you would like to read about some adventure spots on our own green and blue planet.  If so, you might consider “A Walk on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail”, a beautiful hike on the western shore of British Columbia, Canada.

The Juan De Fuca Marine is considered by many to be one of Canada’s finest hiking trails. It hugs the south-western shore of Vancouver Island, between Jordan River and Port Renfrew for a distance of about 48 kilometres. Like its (perhaps) more famous neighbouring hiking trail just to the north, The West Coast Trail, it features both beach and forest hiking along a rugged coastline. The hiking is a nice test of one’s fitness, the views are spectacular, the wildlife (marine and forest) is plentiful and the people are friendly. What more could one ask for?

What follows is a journal of a five day trip, taken in early September of 2002. It is about 13,000 words in length (60 to 90 minutes reading), and contains numerous photographs of the trail. There are also sections containing a brief history of the trail, geology, flora and fauna, and associated information.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013VKEXV2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013VKEXV2

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B013VKEXV2