fandomhigh | Observational Astronomy -- June 28

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Observational Astronomy -- June 28

Week 6 - June 28 - The Summer Triangle: Lyra, Cygnus, Aqulia

[Class Roster ]

Star maps: East | West | North | South | Overhead

There were some extra students for tonight's class, and when everyone gathered, Ellie reminded them. "We're being joined tonight by Veronica Mars and her photography class," she said. "They're going to be learning about night photography." Then she began the night's lecture:

"Three brilliant stars form the Summer Triangle, making it our best heavenly landmark in the summer night sky." She traced out the distinctive triangle with her laser pointed. "Vega, high above and its western point, appears the brightest of the three." Ellie's voice was especially wistful when talking about Vega. "Deneb, also high above and to the east of Vega, appears the dimmest. Altair shines below in the south, forming the most distant point of this great triad.

"These three stunning stars are an unofficial star group, or asterism, that link three constellations: Lyra, Cygnus the Swan, and Aquila the Eagle.

"You can't help but notice a really bright star that's almost straight up. That star is the renowned Vega. Vega is a zero magnitude star, about the same apparent brightness as Arcturus, and is the fifth brightest start in the sky. It is actually 25 light years away, nearly twice as far as Altair, three times the mass of the sun, and about 50 times as bright as the sun. Imagine having 50 suns in our sky. If Vega was our sun we'd be cooked.

"Vega is part of the constellation of Lyra the Lyre. It is easily recognizable as a parallelogram of four stars right next to the very bright Vega. This constellation represents a lyre, or harp, with Vega at the top of the lyre as one of the handles. The other handle must have broken off. The lyre belongs to Orpheus, and was given to him by his father, Apollo.

"M57, also known as the Ring Nebula, is one of the finest planetary nebula in the skies. It's also known as 'The Doughnut Nebula' in Japan. The central star, now a white dwarf, blew off a shell of gas as it died, creating the ring. It is about 2100 light years away, and while the naked eye cannot see the colors of the ring, processed images show the nebula has a bluish interior, yellow to white in the ring itself, and reddish colors in outer edge.

"The next constellation we reach is Cygnus the Swan. This constellation is also known as the Northern Cross and at Christmas time, in the evening, it has rotated across the sky so it is standing on its base on the northwestern horizon, with the bright star Vega next to it. Very Christmas-y.

"Deneb is the star at the tail of the Swan. Notice that it is about as bright as Altair, which is 16 light years away -- so how far would you guess Deneb is? As it happens... Deneb is 2600 light years away - about 150 times farther! Deneb is actually 20,000 times brighter than Altair and 200,000 times brighter than our sun. If Deneb were as close as Altair, it would be visible in broad daylight and would cast a shadow at night. This star is one of the greatest super-giant stars known.

"Albireo, the star at the head of the swan, is actually a beautiful double star, a yellow giant and a blue main-sequence star. You can just split this star with good binoculars held steady, and it looks better in a telescope.

"Then there's we come to the constellation of Aquila the Eagle. The bright star is Altair, and the two stars on either side of Altair are called the Pilot Stars. Altair is 16 light years away. It's about half again as big as our sun and nine times as bright. That shows how sensitive stars are to mass -- just a little more mass causes the star to burn much brighter.

"If you look with the binoculars you can find the two stars of Aquila's tail, then slide west (to the right) until they are at the far left of the field of view. To the far right of your field of view you can now see a fuzzy spot with a star at the center - you have found the Wild Duck Cluster. In a telescope this looks like a dense cluster of tiny stars broken into groups - the central group is V-shaped and looked to early observers like a flight of wild ducks - hence the name.

"Any questions?"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

You know what to do.

Hail to Vega!

If she stops staring at Vega long enough to listen.

The end.

Gwynn signed in.

Gwynn was staring at the star in rapt fascination. She didn't know there were so many names.

Tempe signed in.

As usual, Tempe found a spot on the grass to lie down and stare up at the stars.

She looked at what Ellie had said was the Wild Duck Cluster and wished she had a telescope so she could see if it really did look like a flight of ducks.

She then looked up at the Summer Triangle. She smiled. Finally, a constellation that actually looked like its name.

Lana signed in.

Stark signed in.

Stark sat down and looked up. He was amused that the one nebula was called Doughnut, but mostly he just liked looking up and seeing stars.

"Why are those two in the eagle called Pilot stars," Stark asked curiously. "And why is Vega renowned?"

Hermione signs in.

Hermione is looking down, writing notes on the lecture, just as often- and sometimes simultaneously- as she looks back up at the stars.

Marie signs in

"Hi," Marie says, taking a seat near Hermione. "I haven't seen you around lately. How are you?"

"I've been all right," Hermione answers. "I'm thinking about a project."

"What kind of project?" Marie asks.

"A knitting drive for house elves in order to free them," she says. "I may have to do some research first, though, before I can get started in earnest."

"A knitting drive for what?" Marie gives her a puzzled look.

"House elves," Hermione begins, more than happy to explain it to someone else. "I haven't seen them here, but they work in my old school and in many wizarding houses. They're creatures that are enslaved in order to do all the work for no pay or time off. Once they're given clothes, they're free."

"Oh," Marie still doesn't really get it. "So you want to knit them clothes?"

Rory signed in.

"Yes. And send them to Hogwarts, have my friends there give them to the elves and let them go about their normal lives. Which is where the research comes in, as Peter suggested that letting them have options for other things to do might be a good idea."

"What kind of skills do the have?" Marie asks. Hey, she's never met any elves.

"Well, they're only really used to servitude. Cooking, cleaning, washing... Things along those lines. But with some training, I'm sure they're capable of much more."

"Or maybe they could get jobs in the hospitality industry," Marie suggests. "Do the same work but get paid for it."

Hermione nods emphatically. "Possibly. I would much rather they could do something else, but if that's what they're used to, they can branch out from there. They deserve as much of a choice in the matter as any other being."

"I don't disagree," Marie says. "I wouldn't like being told I had to do something and have no choice in the matter."

Rory peered quietly up at the sky, scribbling things in her neat shorthand in a notebook.

Occasionally, she did glance towards an entirely different section of the sky towards a tiny, fuzzy star and smiled before looking back at the triangle.

"I don't think anyone would. Which is exactly why they should have the same rights we do," she says, maybe a little triumphantly.

"Well, if I can help, let me know," Marie tells her. "I'm not the best, but my grandma taught me how to knit."

"That would be wonderful, thank you," she says happily. "I will definitely let you know when I get things started."

"It sounds like a worthwhile pursuit," Marie says.

Sam signed in.

Sam listened to the lecture and looked obediently at the stars, but her mind and heart weren't in it today.

Molly signed in.

Kaylee signed in.

Kaylee, as usual, looked up at the stars in awe while following along with the lecture.

John signs in.

John listens all the while imagining what it would be like to actually go up there in the sky and to the stars.

Molly tried to pay attention to the lecture, but she kept jumping at every stray noise. After the lecture, instead of hanging around like usual to continue star gazing, she quietly got up and headed back to the dorms.

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Observational Astronomy -- June 28

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