Australian Sky & Telescope - October 2017O2D

DUSTY TARGETS Track the FAKE PHOTOS Seeing isnt always EYEPIECES Choosing the
phantoms of the deep sky P58 believing in the digital age P64 best ones for planets P62
DARK MATTER
Are we looking in the
wrong places? P24
SCRAP SCOPE
The biggest-ever
refractors sad story P34
THE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE OF ASTRONOMY
The
death
star
enigma
Unlocking the secrets
of neutron stars P18
TEST REPORT P68

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October 2017 ISSUE 104, VOL. 13 NO. 7
Contents
P.34 A successful failure
REGULARS
5 Spectrum
8 News Notes
12 Discoveries
40 Cosmic Relief
61 AS&T bookshop
FEATURES
18 The inside story of
neutron stars
Astronomers are using X-rays,
gravity and clever calculations to
discover what lies within the cores of
collapsed stars.
By Feryal zel
24 In the dark about dark matter

Astronomers favourite candidate
for the universes invisible matter is
OBSERVING & EXPLORING
running out of places to hide. Maybe
we should be looking for something 42 Binocular highlight
completely different. Gazing at Messiers second fuzzball.
By Leonidas Moustakas By Jonathan Nally
34 The Great Paris Telescope 44 Under the stars The dark matter mystery
P.24
It was the largest refractor ever built, Enjoying the stellar splendour. deepens
with a 1.2m lens. It worked. Then it By Fred Schaaf
was sold as scrap.
46 Sun, Moon and planets 52 Variable stars
By Jeff Hecht
Superior planets depart the scene. Catch R Horologiis maximum light.
64 Ethics in astrophotography By Jonathan Nally By Alan Plummer
When is an astrophoto real or fake?
47 Meteors 53 Going deep
Seeing isnt always believing in the
All eyes on Orion. Small globular, tiny galaxies.
digital age.
By Con Stoitsis By Ken Hewitt-White
By Jerry Lodriguss
48 Comets 56 Spotting Pluto in 2017
62 Taking a look at planetary
A most unusual comet. Taking a look at the dwarf world.
observing
By David Seargent By Alan MacRobert
We show you which eyepieces you
should you use to get the best views 50 Double star notes 58 Phantoms of the deep sky
of Solar System objects. Dipping back into Aquarius. Hunting molecular cloud monsters.
By Thomas A. Dobbins By Ross Gould By Richard Jakiel
4 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

by Jonathan Nally SPECTRUM
Joining an even
bigger league
SHORTLY before this issue went to press, the exciting announcement was
made that Australia has entered into a 10-year strategic partnership with
the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO operates the Southern
Hemispheres largest observatory complexes, in Chile, which host incredible
facilities such as the Very Large Telescope, and the forthcoming Extremely
Large Telescope. This is fantastic news for Australias astronomers, who
will now have guaranteed access to many of the most powerful telescopes
and instruments in the world. The agreement will see Australia making a
nancial contribution to ESO for 10 years similar to arrangements that
Testing iOptrons have been in place with other overseas facilities with a view to becoming
P.68
AZ Mount Pro a formal member at the end of that period. Well have more on this
development and what it will mean for Australia, in our next issue.
But contrast that with the fact that Australia still does not have a space
THE ASTRONOMY SCENE agency to nurture and direct research and development in space-related
activities. The federal government has now announced an enquiry into
14 Astrophotography whether we should have such an agency, and lets hope the outcome is
Check out the winning entries in
positive this time for this must be the seventh or eighth such enquiry
the Astronomical Society of NSWs
photo competition. to be held on this topic over the past 30-or-so years. So keep your ngers
crossed, but dont hold your breath.
68 Test report
We put iOptrons AZ Mount Pro Jonathan Nally, Editor
through its paces. editor@skyandtelescope.com.au
By Richard Tresch Fienberg
72 Astronomers workbench
How one amateur built a simple yet
functional observing stool. THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ASTRONOMY
By Jerry Oltion Australian Sky & Telescope is on Facebook. Complementing our website,
Facebook helps keep you alerted to astronomy news and information about
74 NightLife and Astro Calendar Australian Sky & Telescope.
76 Gallery Printed by Webstar

EDITORIAL
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NEWS NOTES
Kepler team releases nal catalogue

THATS A WRAP for the Kepler space telescopes primary Fulton says the split comes down to whether a planet has the
mission. Astronomers have released the eighth and nal two lightest elements. A very small amount of light hydrogen
mission catalogue, with data gathered from the spacecrafts and helium gases goes a long way to inate the size of planets,
rst four years of life. The nal analysis adds 219 new he says. Adding a tiny amount of hydrogen to one of these
planet candidates to the missions total of 4,034; of these, rocky planets, say about 2% by mass, would cause the planet to
astronomers have conrmed that 2,335 are bona de jump the gap and move into the group of larger planets.
exoplanets. By implication, astronomers searching for habitable worlds
Among the new candidates, 10 are near Earth-size and can probably discount any exoplanet that is more than twice
orbit in their stars habitable zone. This brings the total for as wide as Earth.
near-Earth-size, habitable-zone candidates to roughly 50, The release of the nal catalogue marks the end of an era.
more than 30 of which astronomers have veried are real. But its also a new beginning for scientists eager to mine the
To produce the nal catalogue, Susan Thompson (SETI full Kepler data set to understand exoplanet populations.
Institute) and colleagues reprocessed the entire set of data SHANNON HALL
BROWN DWA RFS: BILL SA X TON / NR AO / AUI / NSF; E XOPL A NE TS: LE A H TISCIONE / S&T, SOURCE:
from Keplers primary mission, introducing their own false
signals into the data set to determine which types of planets
had been overcounted and which were undercounted.
N ASA / A MES RESE A RCH CEN TER / CA LTECH / UNIV ERSIT Y OF H AWAII / B. J. FULTON
The reason why Im so excited about [Thompsons]
results is that this catalogue because it was done in such
a sophisticated, methodical way really enables studies
of habitable-zone-planet occurrence for Sun-like stars in a
way previous catalogues did not, says Courtney Dressing
(Caltech). Its laying fundamental groundwork.
Taking advantage of the latest data set, Benjamin Fulton
(University of Hawaii, Manoa) and colleagues investigated
worlds that form with diameters between those of Earth and
Neptune. They sought a dividing line between planets that
are super-Earths rocky worlds a little larger than Earth
or gaseous mini-Neptunes.
Fultons team found that few planets form with sizes
between 1.75 and 2 times Earths diameter (see plot at right).
The team interprets this gap as a split: Any planet smaller than S Most planets discovered by Kepler so far come in two size classes:
the rocky Earth-size and super-Earth-size (similar to Kepler-452b), and the
1.75 Earth diameters is likely a super-Earth, while planets
mini-Neptune-size (similar to Kepler-22b). This diagram shows the number
larger than 2 Earth diameters are likely mini-Neptunes. of planets per 100 stars as a function of planet size relative to Earth.
Brown dwarfs mimic BRIDGING THE GAP between the a planetary-mass object in the star-
stellar siblings largest planets and the smallest stars, forming region OST44. It isnt a brown
brown dwarfs dont fuse hydrogen in dwarf exactly with a mass 12 times
their cores. But two studies suggest that Jupiters, it lies right on the planet-brown
they are more like stars than planets, dwarf boundary. Yet the 2 million-year-
displaying polar jets and accretion disks old object is growing from an accretion
like those seen around forming stars. disk, as stars do.
Basmah Riaz (Max Planck Institute Bayos team used the Atacama Large
for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany) Millimetre/submillimetre Array to
and colleagues studied a brown dwarf examine OST44s disk, nding that its
in the Sigma Orionis star cluster. The dust matches whats expected based
brown dwarf is powering a jet of material on disks around other stars and more
0.7 light-year long. Its the largest jet ever massive brown dwarfs. The question
observed coming from a brown dwarf. remains, though, how such a low-mass
Artists concept of jets powered Amelia Bayo (University of object manages to form like a star.
by still-forming brown dwarf Valparaso, Chile) led another study of JOHN BOCHANSKI

Observers track New Horizons next target
DURING JUNE AND JULY, two dozen teams of observers
June 3, July 10
in South America and South Africa learned crucial new 2017
details about distant 2014 MU69, the Kuiper Belt object that
New Horizons will y past on January 1, 2019. Knowing its
diameter would be a huge help in planning the yby.
Based solely on its apparent brightness in Hubble Space
Telescope images, where it appears exceedingly faint at 27th
magnitude, astronomers guessed that this object is between
25 and 45 km across. But the exact size depends on the
reectivity of its surface and thats still unknown. The
object orbits some 6 billion km (43.3 astronomical units) July 17
from the Sun, a third farther out than Pluto is. This object
S During mid-2017, the small
has so far proven to be impossible to detect from the ground,
Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69
laments Marc Buie (Southwest Research Institute). briefly hid three faint stars as
To learn more and guess less, Buie and the New Horizons seen from Earth. Here are the
team have turned to an observing technique that can be even predicted tracks, each only
more powerful than Hubble stellar occultations. It turns about 50 km wide, from which
those disappearances would
out that 2014MU69, currently drifting among the rich star
have been visible.
elds of Sagittarius about 5 northeast of the Teapot, passed
directly in front of three stars this year, on June 3, July 10
and July 17. Unfortunately, those stars are themselves faint,
and travelling to the predicted occultation tracks presented
plenty of challenges.
In South America, the predicted track for the June 3 event
Be a part of something
came very near Santiago, Chile, missing all the world-class
observatories perched in the Andes farther north. In South
BIG
Africa, the track skirted very close to the South African
Astronomical Observatory site in Sutherland. So the New
Horizons team funded a massive occultation campaign. Led 9 Join a global astronomy
by Buie, the effort dispatched 22 two-person mobile observing community
teams to Argentina and South Africa. Each team observed 9 Receive our bi-monthly
through a Sky-Watcher 40-cm truss-tube Dobsonian reector Journal & annual Handbook,
delivered digitally
paired with a QHY174M-GPS CCD camera.
Buie deployed his teams in Argentina 10 to 25 km apart
for very little 9 Watch videos of talks
to create a fence of observers perpendicular to the path. by leading experts online
Across the Atlantic, Anne Verbiscer (University of Virginia) The British Astronomical 9 Access tutorials
Association has been a
coordinated the teams in South Africa. driving force in amateur 9 Get help and advice
June 3s effort couldnt have gone better. Buie says that astronomy for over to develop your skills
every team collected usable data, though some might have 125 years and is today 9 Collaborate with the pros
been partially affected by clouds. That is quite remarkable, recognised as one of
the worlds leading 9 Make a real scientic
he says, and it took some heroics on the part of the South amateur groups contribution!
African teams to avoid bad weather. However, none of the
We are now offering
observing teams recorded an occultation. This suggests that digital membership with
2014 MU69 is more reective and thus smaller than had been all the other benefits of JOINING THE BAA IS NOW
assumed or perhaps its a binary object. a traditional subscription
The effort fared better during the occultation on July at a greatly reduced cost MORE AFFORDABLE THAN EVER!
17, which 24 teams tracked from locations in Argentinas
Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces. According to Buie, ve British Astronomical Association
teams recorded brief coverups of the dim star. Once fully Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
analysed, these data should yield a much-improved diameter
for 2014 MU69.
J. KELLY BEATTY
Visit our website https://britastro.org/digital and join today!
www.skyandtelescope.com.au 9
NEWS NOTES
China launches X-ray observatory

CHINA HAS ENTERED the X-ray astronomy game with the volts (keV). (For comparison, Chandra covers 0.1 to 10 keV.)
launch of its Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). The high-energy detector is the main science instrument and
MISSIONS: INSTITUTE OF HIGH ENERGY PH YSICS (CHINESE ACA DEMY OF SCIENCES)

Renamed Huiyan (Chinese for insight) after launch, this is has the greatest sensitivity. Another instrument, designed
the countrys second astronomical satellite. (Chinas Dark to help calibrate the high-energy detector, can also detect
Matter Particle Explorer launched in December 2015.) gamma rays between 300 keV and 3,000 keV in energy.
HXMT joins a cohort of X-ray observatories circling Earth, Rather than using complex, nested mirrors to focus a
including NASAs Chandra and NuSTAR and the European sources X-rays, HXMT employs an innovative technique,
Space Agencys XMM-Newton. The new observatory will ltering out all X-rays except those that are coming in parallel
study known X-ray sources, hunt for to a specied direction. Thanks to this
new ones, and map the cosmic X-ray method, the telescope doesnt have to
background. The mission could also narrow its eld of view, making it an
work with Chinas new FAST radio ideal instrument for large sky surveys.
observatory to study the properties of The trade-off is in sensitivity: The new
millisecond pulsars, in hopes of using observatory is more sensitive than ESAs
these sources as navigational beacons Integral spacecraft at the same energies
for deep space missions. but generally has poorer sensitivity than
HXMT has three detectors, together NuSTAR, putting it on par with the now-
spanning an incredible range of energy retired Rossi Timing X-ray Explorer.
HXMT undergoes testing.
coverage, from 1 to 250 kiloelectron DAVID DICKINSON
Supermassive black holes in close dance
BL ACK HOLES: JOSH VA LENZUEL A / UNIV. OF NE W ME XICO;

MOST LARGE GALAXIES host down precise orbital parameters.) slingshotted away all the surrounding stars
central black holes, and those galaxies But black hole mergers arent and other material, yet the gravitational
frequently collide, so supermassive duos guaranteed. Just as Earth has circled waves they emit wont be strong enough to
should abound in the universe. Yet, the Sun for about 4.5 billion years, two change their orbits.
Even so, Taylor speculates, the pair in
G A L A XIES: STEPH A NIE JUNE AU E T A L.

despite observing thousands of galaxies, black holes will continue to orbit unless
astronomers have only found one something siphons away their angular 0402+379 will probably merge if enough
close pair of supermassive black holes, momentum. Initially, gravitational material continues to fall into the centre.
separated by 24 light-years in elliptical interactions between the black holes Although well never see it happen, this
galaxy 0402+379. Now, a team has and surrounding material do the trick; pair nevertheless presents a tantalising
measured the plane-of-sky motions of eventually, when the black holes are target for understanding how black hole
this pair for the rst time, making it the within spitting distance, theyll emit mergers work.
rst visual black hole binary. gravitational waves that drive their MONICA YOUNG
Karishma Bansal and Gregory Taylor inward spiral. But in between theres
(both at University of New Mexico) a nal parsec problem: When the
and colleagues used radio observations black holes are a few light-years apart, Mass makes the star
spanning 12 years to create sharp simulations show that theyll already have Trent Dupuy (University of Texas, Austin)
and Michael Liu (University of Hawaii)
images of the galaxys core at multiple
defined stardom in a study appearing
frequencies.
in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement
The set of images shows the motion Series. The team used the Hubble Space
across the sky of two bright spots of Telescope, Keck Observatory and Canada-
radio emission coming from each France-Hawaii Telescope to monitor 31
black holes jets. Bansal and colleagues binary systems, consisting of brown dwarfs
measured the black holes relative motion and low-mass stars, for almost a decade.
The period and size of each pairs orbit
to be 1,500 km/s, or 0.5% the speed of
determines each objects mass. Based on
light. The duo will take some 30,000
their sample, Dupuy and Liu confirmed
years to complete a single orbit and, the that an object must have at least 70 times
authors suggest, millions of years to Jupiters mass to ignite fusion; anything
merge. (The team plans additional radio S This artists concept shows two black holes less is fated to brown dwarf status.
observations in 2019 or later to pin at the centre of a nearby galaxy. SUMMER ASH

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DISCOVERIES by David Ellyard
Finding the rst exoplanets

If planets are needed as places for life to evolve, then our galaxy could be teeming with aliens.
ON ALL OCTOBER 6, 1995, we all Dimidium, which comes from the Latin S An artists impression of Dimidium, the first
came a step closer to answering the big for half, referring to the planets mass, exoplanet detected orbiting a main sequence
star, 51 Pegasi.
question are we alone in the universe? thought to be half of that of our Jupiter.
Based on our own limited experience, we That seemed hard to reconcile with
have assumed that aliens, if they exist another number, the mere four days glare of its host star, and found a light
and if they share any similarities with that Dimidium took to orbit 51 Pegasi. signature indicating traces of water in
us, will not have come into existence That meant it was much closer to its atmosphere. They are now looking at
drifting in empty space. They will have its star, only 7 million km, than our detecting infrared radiation (heat), and
made a start to their existence living Mercury is to the Sun. Theories of planet even imaging the surface.
on the surface of a planet, a place formation at the time could not explain Such ndings have multiplied
with a source of energy and access to the presence of so large a planet so close mightily in the two decades since. New
the chemical compounds they need to a star, though since then we have methods of discovery have been put into
to evolve. But we knew of no planets found a number of such hot Jupiters play, including technology for detecting
around any stars other than our Sun. circling other stars. Now astronomers the very slight dimming of the light of
We could theorise that planets might be are looking at the possibility that such the star as a planet passes in front of it
quite common, given our understanding planets form well away from their star, as viewed from Earth. This technology
of how stars form from clouds of gas and as happened in our Solar System, but was used on the Kepler spacecraft,
dust, but we had no evidence of any. migrate inwards over time. launched specically to be an exoplanet
An announcement in the journal 51 Pegasi b is so close to its star planet hunter. By monitoring the stars
Nature changed all that. Two researchers that it must be gravitationally locked, in a very small area of the sky, Kepler
from the University of Geneva, Michel always keeping the same face to the has detected thousands of candidates
Mayor and Didier Queloz, reported star, as our Moon does to the Earth. for exoplanet status. Indeed it appears
detecting a planet orbiting 51 Pegasi, a That, plus its proximity to its star, would that, on average, every star has a planet.
star much like our own in terms of size lift the temperature on its inward- Some have none, at least none detected,
and temperature, and situated in the facing surface to around 1000C, more while others have three or four or more.
direction of the constellation Pegasus, than twice the surface temperature of This suggests that there are as many
the Winged Horse. Carefully monitoring Mercury and totally inhospitable. All planets in our galaxy as there are stars.
very subtle shifts in the spectral lines of that heat is expected to puff up the gases Even if only a small proportion of ESO/ M. KOR NMESSER / NICK RISING ER (SK YSURV E Y.ORG)
hydrogen and other elements, they had which clothe it so that it is larger than those planets are Earth-like, and a small
detected the stars backward and forward Jupiter, though only half its mass. number of those are habitable, there
movement along the line of sight as it This rst exoplanet orbiting a main would still be many millions of planets
responded to the gravitational pull of an sequence star (a separate one orbiting on which life in some form could exist.
unseen orbiting companion. a pulsar had been found a few years And even if only a very small proportion
The exoplanet, as we call them earlier) has been much studied since. of those have seen life advance to the
now, was named 51 Pegasi b. Someone As technology has improved, more complexity that we have on Earth, the
suggested a more interesting title, detailed examination has become numbers suggest that it is most unlikely
Bellerophon, after the ancient Greek possible. Researchers have claimed to that we are alone, though intelligent life
hero who tried to ride the winged horse have detected visible light from the elsewhere may have already come and
to Olympus. But it was later renamed exoplanet itself, normally lost in the gone, or be yet to emerge.

PHOTO COMPETITION
Southern skyscapes
Aussie astronomers push astrophotography boundaries to the limit.
THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY skies of the Societys rural property,

of NSWs annual Astro Imaging Wiruna. Congratulations to all the
Competition is conducted every year in winning and placing photographers!
conjunction with the Societys popular
South Pacic Star Party (see asnsw.com
for details). Australian Sky & Telescope X
is proud to be a supporter of the Star PHOTOGRAPHER: Brad Le Brocque
Party, and proud also to publish the CATEGORY: Open COMPETITION PLACING: 2nd
SUBJECT: Antares, Saturn and the Lagoon Nebula
winning photos in the Deep Sky and DETAILS: 90-mm Pentax 6x7 large-format lens on a modded
Open categories for 2017. Many of these Pentax K-5 body; ve panels stitched in Photoshop CC, each
photos were taken under the ultra-dark panel being 8 frames at 3 minutes exposure, ISO 400 f/5.6.
T
PHOTOGRAPHER: Mel Davis
CATEGORY: Open
COMPETITION PLACING: 1st
SUBJECT: Milky Way over the Atacama Desert
DETAILS: Samyang 12-mm lens at f/3.5, Fujilm
X-E1 mirrorless camera on an AstroTrac TT320X-AG;
thirty, 30-second exposures at ISO1600, stacked in
Registax; foreground exposure 20 seconds at f/3.5.

X
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Richard Jaworski
CATEGORY: Open
COMPETITION PLACING: 3rd
SUBJECT: Mars and its moons
DETAILS: 302-mm Newtonian
with a 3x Barlow lens and
ZWO ASI120MC camera.
A series of videos was
taken and then processed
in AutoStakkert!. Final
processing was done in
Photoshop CS5.
PHOTO COMPETITION
S
PHOTOGRAPHER: Dean Carr
CATEGORY: Deep sky
COMPETITION PLACING: 1st
SUBJECT: Statue of Liberty Nebula
DETAILS: QSI 683 WSG-8 camera, Astronomik
S II, H-alpha & O III lters, Orion EON
130-mm refractor, SkyWatcher EQ8 mount.
Total exposure, 13 hours. Processed with
PixInsight.
W
PHOTOGRAPHER: Mike Sidonio
CATEGORY: Deep sky
COMPETITION PLACING: 2nd
SUBJECT: Interacting galaxies in Virgo
DETAILS: 30-cm f/3.8 corrected Newtonian
on a Takahashi NJP German equatorial
mount, Starlight Xpress SXVR-H694 camera,
Astronomik Deep-Sky LRGB lters; total
exposure of 10.25 hours.

S
PHOTOGRAPHER: Ted Dobosz
CATEGORY: Deep sky
COMPETITION PLACING: Equal 3rd
SUBJECT: Statue of Liberty Nebula
DETAILS: GSO RC10 telescope on a Losmandy
G11 mount, SBIG STL-6303 camera, 7nm
H-alpha lter; six 1-hour sub exposures.
X
PHOTOGRAPHER: Geoff Smith
CATEGORY: Deep sky
COMPETITION PLACING: Equal 3rd
SUBJECT: M42, the Great Orion Nebula
DETAILS: 31.7-cm PlaneWave CDK telescope,
multiple exposures over separate years using
FLI PL16803 and QSI 540wsg cameras; total
exposure of 5.2 hours. Processed with PixInsight.
STRANGE PHYSICS by Feryal zel
It
is a rare opportunity when we can use astronomical
observations to push the frontiers of physics in a way
that is not possible in any laboratory on Earth. Yet
neutron stars the dead, dense remnants of massive stars
provide us with just that opportunity.
Crushed under the inward pull of gravity once a massive
stars fuel is exhausted, the stellar core that becomes a
neutron star reaches matter densities that are not naturally
encountered anywhere else in the universe. (Black holes dont
count: Although they may have innite energy densities,
they hide behind horizons and are inaccessible.) In fact,
the matter that makes up neutron stars has fundamentally
changed character, taking us into regimes that are still poorly
understood in physics. As a result, a lot of recent efforts have
focused on probing these stars interiors with astronomical
observations.
Astronomers
To be sure, there are some aspects of that unusual
matter that we can condently predict, based on theoretical
calculations and laboratory experiments. For example,
are using X-rays,
during the implosion of the star, the electrons that normally
surround the nucleus of an atom in the core get pushed
into the atomic nuclei. There, they combine with the
gravity & clever
protons through weak interactions, one of the four types
of interactions that take place between particles in the
universe. (The other three are strong, gravitational and
electromagnetic.) That combination produces a neutron
calculations to
thus giving this new star its name as well as nearly
massless, ghostly particles called neutrinos that rapidly
escape from the star, carrying with them a large amount of
discover what lies
energy. The rst observational conrmation of this process
happened with Supernova 1987A, observed in 1987 in the
Large Magellanic Cloud, when two neutrino observatories
within the cores
detected a burst of particles around the same time as the
supernovas visible light appeared in the sky.
Scientists cant create such neutron-rich matter. Simply
smashing nuclei together and squeezing them to high
of collapsed
densities in heavy ion colliders, such as the RHIC experiment
in Brookhaven National Laboratory, doesnt work. First, stars.
STELLAR CORPSES The leftover, compressed cores of stars
gone supernova, neutron stars often have extreme magnetic
elds, some of which give rise to ares and jets. They have
surface temperatures on the order of 1 million Celsius.
ESO / L. Calada
STRANGE PHYSICS
Thin atmosphere: Outer crust: ions, electrons collisions in accelerators create very hot matter, which
H, He . . . Inner crust: ion lattice soaked behaves differently than the cold matter inside a neutron star.
in superfluid neutrons (Its cold not because the temperature is low, but because the
Outer core: superfluid neutrons, thermal energy is so small compared to the energies of other
superconducting protons, internal interactions that its unimportant.) Second, the weak
electrons, muons
interaction acts over a relatively long time scale, much longer
Inner core: unknown than the time that particles have to interact with one another
Densities: when crushed against each other in a collider. Imagine that
~21015 g cm 3 a plane were ying nearby, in the opposite direction to yours.
You might have time to catch a glimpse of a passenger on
~2 nuclear density that ight, but you certainly wouldnt have time for a hearty
21014 g cm 3 handshake even if it were physically possible.
~nuclear density
Still, if the creation of neutrons during the implosion were
41011 g cm 3
all that could happen to the cores atomic nuclei, astronomers
neutron drip
would by now consider the question of what lies inside a
diagram not to scale
neutron star a solved problem. But transforming run-of-
WHAT LIES WITHIN Heres one idea of what a neutron stars interior the-mill atoms into a super-dense soup of (almost) entirely
might look like. The neutron drip boundary is the density at which no neutrons turns out to be only the start of the particles journey.
more neutrons can be added to nuclei; the few nuclei that exist at the
neutron drip density have 20 to 40 times more neutrons than protons
The fate of collapsing matter
and sit in a vast sea of free neutrons. Inside that boundary the density
skyrockets, surpassing the maximum packing ability of neutrons and
As neutrons become squeezed further together in neutron star
potentially creating exotic matter phases. The predicted density in the cores, they reach densities that are difcult to fathom. While
core is 100 trillion times greater than lead at room temperature. the stars crust may look more or less like normal matter, the
IN TERIOR: B. LINK (M ON TA N A STATE UNIV.) / N ASA; COLL A PSING M AT TER: CO MPOSITION: G REGG DINDER M A N / S&T, BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE: OIST
When atoms gets squashed
Nuclei dissolve
into quark soup
Star collapses,
most electrons
and protons
merge to
create neutrons
Quarks regroup to
form hyperons
Normal nuclei and atomic structure Leaves about 1 proton Particles form a
(classical view) for every 10 neutrons Bose-Einstein condensate
?
in stellar core
Density increases by 100 trillion times
FATE OF COLLAPSING MATTER When a star collapses to form a neutron star, the atoms in the core (left) are crunched together, with the
majority of the electrons and protons combining to form neutrons. Protons and neutrons are each made of three subatomic particles called quarks
(center). But under such incredible densities, these nuclei might transform further (right): The protons and neutrons could dissolve into a quark
soup; the quarks could change and regroup to form particles called hyperons, which contain at least one strange quark; the nuclei could unite in a
single quantum state, called a Bose-Einstein condensate; or something else that we havent imagined could be produced.

AROUND THE BEND
Because theyre so Larger neutron star
compact, neutron stars
distort the spacetime
around them (possible
paths in dark blue).
Outgoing starlight is To Earth
redirected accordingly.
A telescope would
normally only NUCLEAR PASTA
detect light from the as seen from Earth At the bottom of a
hemisphere of a star neutron stars inner
thats facing it. But crust, the density is
the more compact the so high that nuclei
star, the farther around Smaller neutron star may transform into
the star the telescope
extended tubes
sees. Shown are the
(dubbed spaghetti),
paths (light blue) of
light emitted by two sheets (lasagna), and
To Earth other strange phases
neutron stars of the
same mass (1.6 Suns) of matter. These are
but different sizes: The called nuclear pasta.
larger star has a radius The pasta layer would
of 14 km, the smaller as seen from Earth have both solid and
one of 8 km. liquid properties, akin
to liquid crystals.
core can reach densities that are a hundred trillion(!) times an unconned state. Therefore, predicting and testing the
higher than the densest natural elements on Earth. behaviour of quark matter becomes very difcult.
Under those conditions, neutrons not only start But if one could see into the cores of neutron stars and
vehemently repelling one another but also interacting prove that they contain quark matter, it would constitute
in new ways. This is because neutrons are examples of a major advance in our understanding of these smallest
particles called fermions, which require increasingly higher constituents of matter.
G R EGG DIND ER M A N / S&T, SOURCE: FERYA L ZEL; SPAG HE T TI: M. E. CA PL A N & C. J. HOROWIT Z / A R XIV:16 0 6.036 46 (2016)
energy to be conned closer and closer together. To counter

this rising energy, neutrons may nd it energetically Probing the invisible
favourable basically, less hassle to dissolve into their How would astronomers go about probing the deep interiors
even smaller constituents, called quarks, creating a quark of not only the densest but also the smallest stellar objects
soup. Alternatively, they may form different combinations in the universe? At roughly 20 km across, neutron stars
of quarks than those that normally make up a neutron or are smaller than some of the Solar Systems asteroids. Yet
proton. Such hyper-nuclei, called hyperons, can be created they pack into that tiny volume up to two times the mass of
in laboratories but survive only for a short time. In neutron the Sun. And unlike asteroids, they are hundreds to many
stars, they might be stable. thousands of light-years away.
Yet another possibility is that fermions pair up with It turns out that measuring the exact sizes of neutron
one another to form a type of particle called a boson. These stars, which can be done from a distance, provides the best
particles, which behave differently from fermions, can possible tool for getting a complete picture of their interiors.
transition into an unusual superuid state of matter (the Our calculations tell us that, if only neutrons remain in
same state that is observed in low-temperature helium uids, the interior, the pressure building up from the repulsive
superconductors, and some other metals, called a Bose- interactions will support a star of a particular size. If any
Einstein condensate). This state will have strange properties, constituents other than neutrons form, their interactions
such as owing without friction. If this indeed occurs inside would cause a different amount of repulsion, creating a
the core and we have good reason to think that it does it star of a different size. Thus, astronomers can discover the
will relieve some of the pressure built up by the high densities possibilities in the realm of physics simply by measuring
that matter experiences there. exact diameters of these stars.
But which of these possibilities actually take place in a Astronomers are used to measuring the sizes of far-
neutron stars interior? One of the things that complicate away objects by collecting and analysing the light they
this puzzle is that, while weve observed hyperons and many emit. Indeed, nearly all our knowledge about the sizes of
types of bosons as standalone particles in laboratories, a normal stars comes from measuring both the total light
quark has never been observed by itself, in what is called emitted by the star, referred to as its luminosity, as well as
STRANGE PHYSICS
Neutron star
of neutron stars are exciting in their own right, observable
3 as the beautiful radio and gamma-ray pulsars that spin like
To Earth lighthouses with exquisite regularity. However, it is difcult
to see down to the stars surface without being overwhelmed
by the beamed light emitted by this cloud. When looking for
Brightness
2
Invisible part Neutron star the light emitted from the surface of the neutron star itself,
of surfaces with we focus instead on those stars that have very weak magnetic
quark core
1
elds, which allows the surfaces X-ray glow to shine through.
To Earth Some of these stars are not pulsars at all, while others have
Light from very weak pulsar emission.
farside hotspot The second difculty encountered in measuring sizes comes
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 from the extremely strong gravitational elds neutron stars
Rotational phase
possess. Thanks to the vast amount of matter packed into
HOTSPOT PULSES A pulsars strong magnetic field creates a pair of such a small volume, a neutron star strongly bends spacetime
hotspots on the stars surface, one at each magnetic pole. Light from each around itself, and the path of the light that the star emits
hotspot spins in and out of view, creating peaks and dips in the stars light becomes signicantly distorted. Indeed, the gravitational eld is
curve. But if its interior contained quark matter instead of pure neutrons,
so strong that a neutron star hovers just this side of catastrophe
the neutron star would be compact enough that light from the farside
hotspot would be gravitationally bent around to the front, contributing
any denser, and it would collapse into a black hole.
to the nearside hotspots glow and diminishing the overall change in What this means for measuring the size of a neutron star
brightness as the star rotates. is that an extra step is required to map the observed light
through its distorted path back to its origin. This procedure
the breakdown of that emission into different wavelengths allows us to accurately account for every piece of the
of light, known as its spectrum. The spectrum of the star surface that contributes to the observed light and obtain a
allows us to determine its temperature; the hotter the star, measurement of the entire surface area.
the higher the energy of the light that it emits. Its this The results we have obtained to date with this method
temperature that regulates exactly the amount of radiation have been pretty striking: Neutron stars turn out to be
that emerges from each patch of the surface, allowing us to smaller than what we would predict if they were made up
determine the stars intrinsic brightness. Comparing that to only of neutrons. More precisely, if none of the possible
the total observed luminosity gives us an exact measurement interactions that give rise to new particles or unconned
of the stars surface area. quarks takes place in their cores, we would expect neutron
For neutron stars, the approach we take isnt too different. stars to be 2526 km across. The measurements point to
So far, much of the information weve obtained about their 2022 km instead. That may seem like a small difference, but
sizes has come from nearly the same methods we apply to it is in fact large: The central density of two such stars differs
normal stars, but with a few complications. First off, it is by a factor of two. This is enough to have a profound effect
difcult to see down to the surface of many neutron stars. on the amount of repulsion the particles experience.
This is because the majority of neutron stars that have ever As with all scientic experiments, these results need to
been observed are enshrouded by strong magnetic elds be conrmed with independent methods. So far, though,
(called magnetospheres), as well as energetic charged particles the measurements indicate that neutrons are taking at least
that swarm around in these elds like a cloud. These types one of the possibilities available to them to partially release
the pressure valve. Which one, were still unsure. We need
both additional, independent observations and theoretical
C OMPOSITION: GREGG DINDER MAN / S&T, LIG H T CURV ES: FERYA L ZEL
A galactic GPS system investigations to nd out.
NICERs pulsar observations could also further
interplanetary exploration. Using the payloads X-ray Gravity to the rescue
Timing Instrument, astronomers will undertake the first One of the powerful techniques that can reveal the size of a
space demonstration of pulsar-based navigation. The idea neutron star relies on the general relativistic effects that arise
due to the stars extreme gravity the exact same effects that
is to use the millisecond pulsars that exist throughout
cause complications in surface area measurements. This time,
our galaxy like GPS satellite clocks, pinpointing the
though, they come to our help. We apply a technique known
pulsations arrival times to determine ones position
as pulse prole modeling to a special class of pulsars. In these
anywhere in the Solar System. This mission add-on, sources, the magnetic elds that are anchored on the surface
called Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation are weak enough that the swarm of particles around the star
Technology (Sextant), aims to determine the space doesnt overwhelm the light from its surface. Nevertheless,
stations real-time location within 10 km in any direction. these magnetic elds are strong enough to guide charged
particles toward the stars magnetic poles, producing a

hotspot where the poles meet the crust. As the star spins on
its axis, the hotspots come in and out of sight, generating a
characteristic pulse in the X-rays.
Measuring the pulses shapes allows us to determine the
size of the star that emitted them. This is because the amount
that the light path bends as it leaves the surface of a neutron
star depends on how large the star is. In other words, two
neutron stars of the same mass but with different sizes, say
20 and 25 km, would create a different pattern in the light
they emit. These patterns can be calculated very precisely and
compared to the pulses, revealing the sizes of these pulsars.
We are poised to conduct this experiment with an
instrument called the Neutron Star Interior Composition
Explorer (NICER), which is scheduled for launch to the
International Space Station (ISS) this year. NICER is
approximately a metre across and comprises carefully
designed optical elements that focus the incoming X-rays
onto 56 silicon detectors. After its arrival on a SpaceX
mission, it will be unpacked and mounted onto its home on
the ISS platform. A star-tracker-based pointing system will
then enable the high-precision X-ray timing instrument to
point to and track pulsar targets over nearly half of the sky.
What makes NICER unique is its unprecedented capability
to record the arrival times of incoming photons with
100-nanosecond precision. This capability will enable the
highly faithful reconstruction of the pulse waveforms for a
number of pulsars. The detectors will also capture the pulsars
spectra. Coupled with the precisely determined pulse shape,
these measurements will provide all the information necessary
for a precise size measurement within a year after its launch.
Another exciting avenue into the neutron star interior
will become possible through the detection of gravitational
waves with LIGO. Even though the rst two events detected
by LIGO were coalescing black hole binaries, LIGO is also
sensitive to signals from merging neutron stars. Shortly before
the expected coalescence, the pair of inspiraling neutron stars
start distorting and pulling each other apart through tidal
interactions, obeying the same principles as the Moons effect
on Earths oceans, but far more severe. How severe depends
on how deformable the stars are, which in turn depends on
their size, density and interior composition. Remarkably, the
distortions caused by these tidal interactions are then encoded
into the gravitational wave signals that are emitted, offering
one more penetrating glimpse into the neutron star interior.
If NICER and LIGO experiments conrm the existing
measurements of small sizes, the results would point to new
physics that emerges when matter becomes ultra-dense. Or
the experiments may offer other surprises that remains to
be seen. But no matter how small and impenetrable they
may seem, neutron stars will not be able to hold onto their
innermost secrets for much longer.
FERYAL ZEL is a professor of astronomy and physics at STARS COLLIDE Astronomers have seen the afterglow
the University of Arizona. She studies neutron stars and black from two neutron stars colliding. Next, they hope to detect
holes and is a member of the NICER team. gravitational waves from this kind of merger.
BEYOND THE STREETLIGHT by Leonidas Moustakas
In
the
Dark
About
Dark
Matter
Astronomers
favourite candidate
for the universes
invisible matter
is running out of
places to hide.
Maybe we should
be looking for
something else.

T
he universe is lled with dark matter. To some,
this might seem a bold claim after all, we cant
actually see it. But while we have not detected it
directly, dark matters inuence is all around us, on galactic
and cosmological scales. Over the last several decades,
the evidence for this mysterious, gravitationally powerful
stuff has become a rich tapestry of many independent
observational threads. We know how much dark matter there
is in the entire universe, the role it plays in the formation
of the galaxies we observe near and far, and that it must be
something new.
The question of the nature of dark matter is a thrilling
focus right now for physics and astrophysics. An enormous
amount of work has gone into experiments that could directly
detect dark matter or might somehow produce a dark matter
particle. The greatest focus has been on weakly interacting
massive particles (WIMPs), beefy hypothetical entities that
interact with matter only weakly. In the gloom of the cosmic
unknown, WIMPs have been the super-bright streetlight under
which weve been looking the most.
So far, we havent found them. Experiments are reaching
levels of sensitivity now that rule out more and more types
of WIMPs (see next page).
This is where the search gets exciting. Its also where
optimism starts to be tested. How much should we be
hedging our bets? How anxious should we be? There are so
many possible streetlights out there if we havent found
dark matter in the most obvious places, will we ever be
able to nd it at all? Does it even exist? There is a building
appreciation that the universe may hold something beyond
the WIMP, and that astronomical observations may offer
exciting insights that can lead us to it.
An cosmic necessity?
We dont need dark matter to understand the Solar System.
The planets orbit the Sun in a way that we can describe using
Einsteins general theory of relativity. Their movement is
perfectly explained by the mass of objects that we can see.
When we move up to the scales of galaxies, though, we
notice something unexpected. Galaxies rotate much too
quickly, as do the huge swarms of galaxies bound
together by gravity in clusters. Baryonic
SEEING THE UNSEEN This composite image reveals the The whole idea of motion in a gravitating matter
distribution of matter in the galaxy cluster Abell 1689. Using environment is that there is balance. The 4.9%
the observed positions of 135 lensed images (smears) of 42
motions of stars within a galaxy, or
background galaxies, astronomers calculated the locations
and amount of matter concentrations. The matter map, tinted galaxies within a cluster, are set by
Dark
blue, is overlaid here on an image from the Hubble Space the amount of material that keeps matter
Telescope. If the clusters gravity came only from the visible them bound together in a continuous Dark
25.9%
galaxies, the lensing distortions would be much weaker. dance. And these stars and galaxies energy
N AS A / E S A / D. CO E ( N AS A / J PL- CA LTEC H / S T S C I ) / N . B E N ITE Z are zipping around at a dizzying speed 69.2%
( I N S TITUTE O F AS TRO PH YS I C S O F A N DA LU S I A , S PA I N ) / T. B ROA D H U R S T
( U N I V E R S IT Y O F TH E BAS Q U E CO U NTRY, S PA I N ) / H . FO R D (J O H N S compared to the amount of mass that
H O PK I N S U N I V E R S IT Y )
we can see.
This puzzle leads to two possible S&T DIAG R A M
BEYOND THE STREETLIGHT
solutions. One is that general relativity doesnt quite describe Second, dark matter is neutral: It doesnt have a positive
how gravity works on larger astronomical scales. This is or negative electric charge. If it did, the particles would
certainly possible! A huge advantage in general relativitys either repel one another, preventing matter from clumping
corner, though, is that it is astoundingly successful in and creating a dramatically different cosmic structure, or
describing the universe as a whole. Everything from the hot they would build a dark sector of atoms, molecules, and so
Big Bang to the way the universe grows and its structure forth that would leave their mark in the cosmic microwave
evolves has an elegant, crisp description in the framework of background, a mark we dont see.
general relativity. Third, its cold that is, it moves slowly enough that
That is, as long as we introduce two special ingredients to it clumps together easily. We have already been able to
the recipe of the universe: an anti-gravitational force we call (gravitationally) detect how some of this clumping happens,
dark energy, and dark matter. because these clumps are the clouds of dark matter, called
Observations actually reveal a lot about dark matter. dark matter halos, in which galaxies form and live. Thus the
First, it mainly (but possibly not only) must interact with name cold dark matter (CDM).
itself and normal matter through gravity. If it didnt, these Finally, theres about ve times more dark matter than
two types of matter would be mixed and distributed in normal matter. Dark matter dominates the universe! Its the
profoundly different ways than we observe and we do fundamental scaffolding that galaxies and clusters are built on.
observe dark matters distribution, thanks to its effect on
background light. Particle physics weighs In
Lets take a look at another view of these discoveries.
Although our particle physics models that explain normal
The Standard Model matter are very successful, there are some hints that were
missing something. For example, the so-called Standard
u c t Model of particle physics only includes three of the four
Up Charm Tau Photon fundamental forces: the strong, weak and electromagnetic
d s b g forces. Scientists havent yet found a way to comfortably t
Down Strange Bottom Gluon gravity into this framework.
Higgs
But it is possible that the Standard Models greatest
Z
challenge is dark matter. If dark matter is indeed a type of
Electron Muon Tau Z
neutrino neutrino neutrino boson particle, then it should t into a greater, more encompassing
Quarks
W Leptons
particle physics framework, within which our current
Electron Muon Tau W boson Force particles Standard Model has its place.
So when astronomers proposed cold dark matter, it excited
SIDEBA R: LE A H TISCIONE / S&T, SOURCE: DA N HOOPER; G R A PH: G REGG DINDER M A N / S&T, SOURCE: R A FA EL L A NG
The Standard Model of particle physics explains matters
fundamental building blocks and how they interact. All 10 39
matter that we know of is made of elementary particles, 10 40

which come in two types: quarks and leptons. There are 10 41
Scattering cross section in cm2
Ruled out
six types of quarks and six types of leptons, split into 10 42
three pairs each. The lightest and most stable of these 10 43
pairs (the leftmost in this diagram) make up all stable
10 44
matter in the universe, with heavier particles decaying to
10 45
become lighter ones.
10 46 Generic
The Standard Model also includes four force-carrier
10 47 Neutrino WIMP
particles and the Higgs, which are all a type of particle
background
called bosons. The exchange of the force particles results 10 48
in three of the four fundamental forces: electromagnetism 10 49
(photons), the strong force (gluons), and the weak force (Z 10 50
0.3 1 3 10 30 100 300 1,000 3,000 10,000
and W bosons). Gravity is not part of the Standard Model.
WIMP Mass in proton masses
Fundamental particles acquire mass by interacting with
the Higgs field. However, protons and neutrons, which S TIGHT SQUEEZE More than a dozen experiments around the world
are each composed of three quarks, mostly take their have failed to detect WIMPs, ruling out an increasingly large range of
masses from the energy involved with the strong force particle characteristics (red). The white region between the red and
holding their constituent quarks together. This means that orange curves marks whats left for scientists to explore. It still includes
a fair amount of generic WIMP territory, a favoured region (purple). The
the Higgs is only responsible for about 1% of the mass of
bumps in the neutrino background are from different kinds of neutrinos.
everyday stuff. Camille M. Carlisle Liquid xenon experiments are pushing the red curve down, whereas
those using lighter elements are pushing it toward the lower left.

WIMP Catcher
Electrons
Outgoing
particle
Incoming S CATCHING DARK MATTER Left: The idea behind experiments such
particle as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is to catch WIMP dark matter particles interacting
with normal matter. In LZs case, the normal matter is about 10 tonnes of
liquid xenon. When a WIMP collides with a xenon atom, the atom emits
light and causes a burst of electrons in the tank. Sensors at the top and
bottom detect the initial light flash. An electric field pushes the electrons
to the top of the chamber, where they generate a second flash of light
(red). Right: A team member installs photomultiplier tubes in the bottom
array of the LUX experiment, LZs precursor.
particle physicists, because it enabled them to investigate will use a large chamber lled with liquid xenon. In this
what the characteristics of a CDM particle might be. For experiment, a WIMP collision with one of the xenon atoms
example, the very early universe was much more dense would produce a small ash of light and drifting electrons.
and hot than the universe today. There should be a time The two parameters physicists use to describe the
early on when dark matter and normal matter constantly sensitivity of this type of experiment are the cross section
interacted in non-gravitational ways, colliding all the time. and the WIMP mass, which is related to how cold the
Based on what the matters temperature and, thus, its particle is: The lower the mass, the zippier it might be.
density was at that point, we can write down how likely Although we havent detected a WIMP yet, we can now
DIAG R A M : SL AC N ATION A L ACCELER ATOR L A BOR ATORY; PHOTO: C. H. FA RH A M / LUX / CC BY-NC -ND 2.0
such an interaction is. This is usually called a cross section put limits on these two properties, because we know what
and describes how easily a dark matter particle and a normal each experiment would be sensitive to. There are many
particle might feel each others effect. combinations of cross section and mass that weve ruled
It turns out that the rough value of this cross section is out. Weve even excluded the predicted cross section values
close to the value we see in other parts of particle physics, in that rst inspired this work. As sensitivity has pushed
what are called weak interactions, which are responsible for more and more into uncharted spaces, the excitement (and
how some particles decay. This led to proposing the WIMP: a trepidation) has mounted. WIMPs are running out of places
family of particles apparently connected with the weak nuclear to hide.
force and (the calculations tell us) with a mass of up to 10,000 Theres a tantalising line near the bottom of this chart:
times or more the mass of a proton. the neutrino oor. At the sensitivity level marked by the
neutrino oor, experiments designed to detect dark matter
Hunting WIMPs will instead start detecting lots and lots of neutrinos.
How might one detect a WIMP? The basic idea is that the Neutrinos are nearly massless particles involved in many
chance for a collision between a WIMP and a normal atom processes, including fusion and the creation of neutron
is not zero just extremely low. Trying to catch one of these stars. Many of those detected on Earth come from the Sun
rare events, researchers set up experiments with carefully or cosmic rays hitting our planets atmosphere. Hitting the
isolated and monitored materials and hope a WIMP hits an
atom inside. For example, the upcoming LUX-ZEPLIN dark
matter experiment a merger of the recently completed CROSS SECTION
Large Underground Xenon (LUX) and Zoned Proportional A particles cross section is the probability
Scintillation in Liquid Noble Gases (ZEPLIN) experiments that it will interact with another particle.
neutrino oor will be a new window into how these particles

work, but if WIMPs live beneath that sensitivity level, the
sea of neutrinos we expect to detect will complicate the
continuing search for dark matter.
With the stakes so high, the WIMP pursuit has to
continue. The sense of unease is real, though. If dark matter
isnt WIMPs, then what is it?
Fickle photons
There are actually several options out there beyond the WIMP
streetlight. Many arise as solutions to particle physics puzzles
and happen, serendipitously, to also be good dark matter
candidates. Two of these candidates stand out.
The rst one could solve a persistent hole in particle
physics called the strong charge-parity problem, which has
been around since 1964. The Standard Model predicts that
whatever might happen to a particle should also happen to
its antimatter counterpart if you mirror-ip the spatial setup.
There are some types of particles and situations for which
this symmetry doesnt seem to apply.
One proposed solution is a hypothetical particle dubbed
the axion. Axions would have tiny masses, no charge, and
largely no way of interacting with normal matter. They are
also predicted to have a very special property: They convert to
photons if they nd themselves in extremely strong magnetic
elds. The photons energy will correspond to the mass of the
axion particle, following the familiar relationship between
energy and mass: E=mc2. There is a cross section for this to
happen, too in other words, a level of probability that tells
us about the nature of the axion itself.
S FORCING PHOTONS TO CHANGE The Axion Dark Matter Experiment We can use this transmogrication to our advantage. To
(ADMX) hides a microwave cavity inside a large superconducting magnet nd axion dark matter, we need to seek out places where
(the cavity is about as wide as the inner circle on the top of the setup in
there are strong magnetic elds or create them ourselves.
this photo). The magnetic field should convert any axions of a certain
mass that are passing through the cavity into microwave photons. Researchers with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment
Researchers slowly change the position of rods inside the cavity, trying to (ADMX), for example, have built a tall cavity within a
make the cavity resonate. The resonant frequency would correspond to powerful, superconducting magnet to try to magnetically
the photons frequency and therefore to the axions mass. force any galactic axions that might be passing through
the cavity to convert to photons. Its the ultimate parlour
trick, since light would essentially appear out of thin
air! In this case, though, the light ADMX is sensitive to
would be at microwave frequencies. To detect the photons,
scientists stick tuning rods into the cavity and carefully
change the distance between them. If axions exist at masses
TOP: L A MESTL A MER / CC BY-SA 3.0; BOT TO M: CAST / CER N

corresponding to microwave energies, then there should be a
rod separation that makes the cavity resonate at the created
photons frequency. Its kind of like tuning the dial on a
radio, searching for a signal.
Other scientists look at strongly magnetic astronomical
objects. Some have suggested that a transition to axion-like
particles (and back again) could explain why more gamma
rays reach us from black-hole-powered beacons called blazars
than we think should survive the trip. Still others have looked
S SOLAR AXION SEARCH The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) for axion-signature photons emerging from the stellar embers
points a cryogenic, dipole-magnet telescope at the Sun, in an attempt called white dwarfs, which often have enormous magnetic
to convert solar axions into X-rays. elds thus far with no success.

Cosmic Slice
light-years
10 0 million
2.5 mil
light-y lion
ear s
6 million light-years
3D MAP Astronomers produced this 3D slice of the cosmic

web by mapping the distribution of hydrogen gas, which left
10.6 billion its imprint in the spectra of distant background galaxies. (This
light-years
to Earth project used star-forming galaxies, not quasars as discussed
in the text.) Brighter colours represent higher density.
Another highly magnetic place is the Sun. Researchers at Except in some details. Axions are similar to a particle
CERN (which runs the Large Hadron Collider), for example, family we call bosons. Photons are bosons. A feature of bosons
have built an experiment with a powerful magnet that tracks is that they dont mind overlapping in space. Many of them
our star like a telescope does its target, in an attempt to make can crowd into the same point, and they dont get in one
axions streaming from the Sun convert to X-rays. anothers way in a conventional sense. This is very different
More fun arises when we ask whether the distribution of from what happens with bosons cousins, the fermions,
axion dark matter in the universe would be different from which include electrons, protons and even WIMPs. There can
what might be expected for WIMPs. Axions are pretty cold only be one fermion at any given point of space, like bowling
in the sense of CDM. Overall, when we create giant computer balls. We call this rule the Pauli exclusion principle.
simulations of the universe with CDM, the picture for WIMPs This remarkable property of being able to pile up might
versus that for axions should be pretty much the same. leave a detectable signature. Within a galaxy such as our
TOP: CASE Y STA RK (UC BERK ELE Y ) A ND K HEE- G A N LEE (MPIA); BOT TO M: M A RK R. LOV ELL E T A L. / MNR AS 2012 (2)
S COLD VS WARM DARK MATTER The average speed of dark matter particles affects how easily the particles clump together and, therefore, how
easily small lumps of material can form. Cold dark matter (which is slower, left) clumps more easily than warm dark matter (faster, right), as apparent in
these simulations of a 5-million-light-year-wide box of cosmic structure.
very own Milky Way, streams of stars are constantly swirling Getting warmer
around, as stars disperse from their star-formation cradles The second non-WIMP candidate is generically called warm
over time. If a dense bit of dark matter were to punch through dark matter, or WDM. The warm basically means that its
these streams, we might be able to see the effect on the stars particles have a somewhat greater general speed than CDM,
motions. WIMPs will predominantly form cloud-like clumps, and so some of the smaller clumps that might form in CDM
whereas axions might collect into super-high-density arcs, dont in WDM.
called caustics, and these two structures would plow through While most of our observations of the universe t neatly
streams in a different way. into expectations from CDM, there are small but persistent
Caustics are a controversial idea, and recent particle puzzles. Some of these have to do with the existence of the
physics work suggests that they might never form. On the smaller clumps within our Milky Ways galactic family or even
astronomy side, were starting to amass the observational at the earliest times of the universe. Astronomers have been
data to test the proposal. Europes Gaia satellite is measuring having trouble nding as many small satellite galaxies around
the positions and motions of more than a billion stars in the the Milky Way as CDM predicted should exist, although recent
Milky Way and might uncover holes in stellar streams. In computer simulations show that the predictions probably were
the mid-2020s, NASAs infrared WFIRST mission will also just overzealous because they didnt include normal matter.
survey large areas of the sky, and combined with ground- Another cold versus warm signature might be revealed by
based measurements of how quickly stars are moving along counting how many small clouds of clumpy hydrogen gas
their line of sight, we may be able to make another level of there are in the vast spaces between galaxies. Its the same
breakthrough. idea as with satellite galaxies. If dark matter is too warm to
(counts per second per keV)
0.06
0.04
Extra signal
0.02
0
0.02
N ASA / CXC / SAO / E. BULBUL E T A L.
0.04
3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8
Energy (keV)
S HINT OF DARK MATTER? An unexpected bump in the X-ray emission from the Perseus Cluster (background image, shown in X-rays) and more
than 70 other galaxy clusters might be produced when sterile neutrinos transform into active ones. The slight bump is circled in the spectrum. The
clusters X-ray glow in the background image spans roughly 500,000 light-years.

Bosons Fermions Macroscopic
1022eV eV meV keV MeV GeV TeV Solar mass

Wavelength Excluded by
Axions WIMPs
doesnt t gravitational
in galaxies Sterile neutrinos lensing
S CANDIDATE MASSES The playground of potential dark matter candidates spans roughly 90 orders of magnitude in particle mass. (The above
is thus not an exact scale.) All matter can be described as both a particle and a wave, and dark matter must fit within a galaxy, so the bottom limit
corresponds to a particle wavelength that is larger than a galaxy. The upper limit of about 1 solar mass comes from gravitational lensing studies,
which have essentially ruled out primordial black holes down to this size. There are many candidates in addition to the three most popular ones shown
here, but weve excluded them for simplicitys sake. For context, the protons mass is about 1 GeV.
clump gravitationally, then the gas which would ride along atomic lines and that could come instead from the dark
with the dark matter as it coalesced into clouds will be matter halo that each cluster lives in.
spread out, too. Back in 2014, two teams of astronomers suggested that
These hydrogen clouds would normally be impossible to they might have found this sterile neutrino signal, as a bump
detect. So astronomers use cosmic spotlights. These are bright in X-ray emission from 73 galaxy clusters and the Andromeda
objects called quasars, brilliant galactic cores powered by Galaxy. Astronomers are still arguing about how to interpret
black holes, and the light they emit has properties that we these X-rays. They may need to wait a while for the data they
have characterised very well. As quasar light traveling to us need to fully explore sterile neutrinos, though: Although both
intercepts these hydrogen clouds, the clouds absorb some of the the Chandra and XMM-Newton space telescopes detected
light. The absorption happens at particular wavelengths that the emission, the Japanese X-ray telescope Hitomi would have
correspond to the electron energy levels in hydrogen atoms. given us the best tool to date to investigate this hypothesis, but
By the time we detect the quasar light on Earth, it has it tragically broke up only a month after launch. NASA and the
picked up a series of wavelength-specic blackouts, small Japanese Space Agency are exploring a replacement for Hitomi.
light-absorption signatures from each of the hydrogen clouds
along that enormously long line of sight. Furthermore, each Still in the dark
clouds lines are redshifted by the universes expansion What a journey. In picking up clues from dark matters
according to how far away the cloud is from us, revealing gravitational effects in the universe, scientists are making
not only when in cosmic history the light encountered the tantalising connections with long-standing puzzles in
cloud but also how many clouds it hit. Once weve parsed the particle physics. At the same time, by studying the predictions
quasars spectrum, we can count up the clouds and tackle the from particle physics, astronomers view of the universe is
problem of how warm or cold dark matter may be. challenged, informed and enriched. The world of dark matter
One classic WDM candidate is the sterile neutrino. In our has benetted so much from the classic ideas of CDM and
now-familiar Standard Model of particle physics, there are WIMPs. They have given us a bright and clear spotlight,
three types of regular, or active, neutrinos. The Standard under which we have learned a lot about the universe and
Model also predicts that neutrinos should have zero mass, how it operates.
and each neutrino type should stay the same forever. And yet, what we have covered in these pages only
However, physicists have shown that neutrinos do have a scratches the surface of what dark matter could be. The
(small) mass, and its possible for each of these so-called question of the nature of dark matter remains a profound one
avours of neutrino to transform into one another. in both physics and astrophysics. Over time, and facing many
These particle conundrums open up new doors. One challenges, we are beginning to turn the lights up on the
introduces a type of neutrino that only interacts with matter whole cosmic room.
through gravity unlike the active neutrinos, which also We may reach a breakthrough at any moment. Its even
interact via the weak force. This is why its called the sterile possible that we might conrm more than one of these
neutrino. These particles have one revealing feature, though: theories! There is nothing to say that dark matter must G REGG DINDER M A N / S&T, SOURCE: R A FA EL L A NG
Given a large enough span of time, a sterile neutrino would consist of only one type of particle; its entirely possible that
occasionally convert to a regular, active neutrino plus a it may be made up of more than one of the candidates weve
photon. The particle masses that could ll the role of dark explored here. That would be a very interesting universe,
matter would produce X-ray photons when they decay. indeed. After all, weve been surprised before.
So if dark matter is made of sterile neutrinos, then in
places where there is a lot of dark matter, we might see lots LEONIDAS MOUSTAKAS manages the astrophysics section
of X-ray photons. If we return to our friendly galaxy clusters, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He
which helped start this quest many decades ago, and observe explores what astronomical observations can teach us about
them at X-ray wavelengths, we might detect a ghostly signal dark matter and is also a deputy project scientist with NASAs
in the clusters spectra that matches none of the known upcoming WFIRST mission.

FAMOUS FAILURE by Jeff Hecht
Great The Lesson of the
Paris Telescope
PUBLIC DISPLAY The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 was meant to be the grandest worlds fair of all time, and the Great Paris Telescope was
one of its most impressive exhibits. A siderostat mirror followed the turning sky and directed light into a 1.25-metre f/48 refractor, fixed horizontally.
Two objective lenses were made, one for visual and one for photographic use. During daytime the Sun could be projected onto an enormous indoor
screen in a darkened auditorium, as in the drawing at top.

a new generation of gigantic telescopes should reach
rst light in the 2020s: the 24-metre Giant Magellan
Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Metre Telescope
New electric lights
blazed across the 1900
Paris Exhibition at night,
(TMT), and the 39-metre European Extremely Large especially around the
Telescope (E-ELT). Only then, and after nal shakedown Palace of Electricity.
and tweaking, will their actual capabilities be known.
Their designers and engineers are skating at the edge of
21st-century technology. And in any given era, including
recently, the worlds most ambitious telescopes have had
only a mixed record of reaching their goals.
So perhaps its time to remember the largest refractor
that was ever built. If you think this was the Yerkes 1.0-m
(40-inch), commissioned in 1895 and famous ever since,
youre wrong. That was the largest productive refractor ever
built, and its still in service (for education and public
outreach). The actual largest refractor was the Paris 1.24-cm
(49-inch), considered a triumph of optics and engineering ...
for a while. Its story should be better known.
The 1.0-m and 1.24-m refractors each came into public
view with a grand splash at a worlds fair. In 1893 the
Warner & Swasey engineering rm displayed the tube and A time of telescopic transition
mount for the Yerkes 1.0-m at the Columbian Exposition Reectors were the rst giant telescopes, Melbourne
in Chicago. Not to be outdone, at the 1900 Exposition notwithstanding. As early as 1789 William Herschel had
Universelle in Paris a French rm debuted an even bigger built a 1.22-m reector with a 12-m focal length for high
working refractor, with a 1.25-metre (49-inch) objective magnication. But it proved cumbersome to use, and its
and a gigantic, 60-metre (200-foot) tube. But while the speculum-metal mirror required frequent repolishing and
Yerkes telescope became a workhorse, the Great Paris hence reguring. In 1845 William Parsons, the third Earl of
Telescope made only a few noteworthy observations before Rosse, built a 1.83-m (72-inch) speculum-metal reector with
its owners went bankrupt, no astronomers or institution a 16.5-m tube. His Leviathan of Parsonstown gave great views
would buy it, and it was sold off as scrap metal. when the weather was good, but that was rare on his Irish
What went wrong? estate, and the massive tube was hard to control (it required
Refractors were already reaching their practical limits. several assistants pulling ropes while the observer gave orders).
The lenses of the 1.0-m were so thick that, it was argued, a And it could only see near the meridian. By 1890 his son had
larger objective lens would never be worth making, because abandoned it for a smaller telescope that was easier to use.
the increasing thickness of the glass would absorb as much Undeterred, the wealthy English amateur Andrew A.
LEF T: ENG R AVING BY POYE T; ROG ER VIOLLE T / THE IM AG E WOR KS. A BOVE: WIKIMED IA COMMONS
light as the larger aperture would gain. Thinner lenses would Common built a 1.5-m (60-inch) silvered-glass reector in
require very shallow curves on their surfaces, making the 1890, but he also found its use very cumbersome.
focal length so long that the tube could never be mounted. Refractors, however, were in their heyday. Lick
An ever-longer f/ratio would also be needed to keep Observatorys 0.91-m (36-inch) refractor in California set a
chromatic aberration under control. size record in 1888, and the Yerkes 1.0-m in Wisconsin soon
But at the same time, professional astronomers were wary surpassed it. Astronomers liked the image quality of refractors;
of gambling on giant reectors, especially following the their optics were less difcult to gure well, while early
disappointment of the Great Melbourne Reector in Australia. reector surfaces tarnished quickly and may have scattered
Built in 1868 with a 1.22-m (48-inch) speculum-metal mirror, more light. But the Yerkes refractor, at 18 metres long and with
it became widely regarded as an expensive failure. thick lenses even at f/19, seemed to be near a practical limit.
The Great Paris Telescope was an oddity from the start.
It was the largest refractor ever

It was the brainchild not of an astronomer but a member
of the French Parliament, Franois Deloncle. He wanted to
show off French technology and science at the 1900 Paris
fair in the grandest manner possible. After talking with
Maurice Loewy, director of Paris Observatory, Deloncle
built, with a 49-inch objective
decided a record-breaking refractor would be just the thing.
(The idea of a 3.0-m reector was considered and rejected.) lens. It worked. And then it was
His quest led to construction of a unique and innovative
instrument that initially seemed to work well. sold as scrap.
FAMOUS FAILURE
handle a telescope 60 metres long. Such an unwieldy tube

would ex as it moved, and even if it could be kept rigid the
observer would have to move along with the eyepiece at nearly
a foot per minute to keep up with the turning of the Earth.
Most of all, it would require a 65-metre-diameter moving dome
that would cost several times more than the telescope itself.
To overcome these problems the group decided to build a
novel type of instrument, in which a large movable at mirror
would direct starlight into a stationary, horizontal telescope.
The mirroring device, called a single-mirror siderostat, had
been invented in 1862 by the French physicist Lon Foucault.
A siderostat is a variation on the heliostat, a at mirror that
reects sunlight in a constant direction as Earth rotates. The
siderostat could reect light from objects in a fairly large swath
of sky and keep them xed in the instruments eld of view.
Foucaults single-mirror design minimises light loss for
faint objects, but in practice it had been most successful
for solar astronomy. Gautier likely got the idea from Jules
Janssen, the pioneering solar astronomer who discovered
helium in the Suns spectrum; Janssen had built xed
horizontal solar telescopes with siderostats at Meudon.
In the nal design, the telescopes key moving element was
a at, 2-metre-wide silvered glass mirror 27 centimetres thick
in a fork-mounted siderostat. It directed light into the 1.25-
metre, f/48 objective and down a xed tube.
With astrophotography becoming important, two
interchangeable objectives were to be made: one achromatic
in the blue-violet wavelengths to which photographic
emulsions were most sensitive, the other with the usual red-
blue correction for visual use. The crown-glass elements of
CA RTO ON: AUTH ORS COLLECTION; PH OTO: LON E T L V Y / LON E T L V Y / ROG ER VIOLLE T / THE IM AG E WOR KS
THE MASTERMIND The Moon a metre away reads the caption to a
satirical cartoon of Franois Deloncle and his telescope. The instrument
indeed served up impressive lunar views to countless paying visitors.
From the Encyclopdie du Sicle, published in 1900.
Deloncle had an interest in astronomy, and a desire to

put on a Paris fair that would outshine even the 1889 Paris
exhibition highlighted by construction of the Eiffel Tower. His
dream was to build a telescope with such high magnication
that the Moon and planets would look almost within reach.
He found backers to form a company, Socit dOptique,
which sold stock to support building a new record-breaker
of a refractor with a 60-metre focal length to magnify
images 6,000 times, at least in theory. To build it they chose
Paul Gautier, a mechanical engineer whose company had
built the mechanical parts for many other French telescopes,
including Europes largest refractor: the 83-cm (32-inch)
Great Meudon Refractor at Paris Observatorys station in the
suburb of Meudon.
A bold and different vision

A magnication of 6,000= would make the moon look like it
BRINGING DOWN THE HEAVENS The 2-metre-wide, flat siderostat
was only 64 kilometres away, and the extremely long focus mirror rode in an exquisitely smooth equatorial mounting, which could
would reduce troublesome spherical and chromatic aberration. keep an object centred in the eyepiece more than 60 metres away for
But astronomers warned that no equatorial mount could up for 45 minutes.

SUM OF ITS PARTS The astronomer Eugne Antoniadi, famous for his planetary studies, drew this side view explaining the siderostats
components for a magazine titled Knowledge (1900). For smooth tracking, the forked mirror support (M) floated in mercury (inside N).
both objectives were to be mounted on rollers so they could difcult. douard Mantois, regarded as the worlds best maker
be separated from the int-glass elements for cleaning. of large glass blocks, turned down the job as too big. So it
Deloncle also pushed another innovation, encouraging went to Georges Despret, director of the Jeumont glassworks.
Gautier to use his mechanical skills to develop machines to Only one of Desprets 12 casts proved acceptable (ironically,
grind and polish optics to their nal shape, without the time- the rst). Mantois went on to cast the less unwieldy 1.25-
consuming step of nal hand retouching necessary for ne metre int and crown blanks for both objectives.
astronomical optics (as is still usually required to make ne Gautiers company had never made optics before and
AUTHORS COLLECTION
optics today). This technology, if successful, would promise needed nine months to grind the mirror sufciently at.
an immense step forward toward refractor objectives as Polishing the at was also time-consuming, because half
large as 2 metres, wrote the French astronomer Camille an hour of cooling was required after every two minutes of
Flammarion in a popular article about the Paris Telescope. polishing to avoid surface distortions. Grinding the objective
Casting the massive, 2-metre siderostat mirror proved lenses also went slowly; only the photographic lens was
FAMOUS FAILURE
LIGHT PIPE Sixty metres of steel pipe, weighing more than 10 tonnes, encircled the light beam on its way to focus. A cloth shroud or even just a few
light baffles might have done better; telescope makers have learned to keep as much mass as possible away from the light path to reduce distorting
thermal effects. Observers thought the city air was causing poor images, but the massive, unventilated metal tube could not have helped.
nished when the telescope was installed for the exhibitions The siderostat stood 10 metres tall at the north end of the
opening in April 1900. Foucault Gallery in the Paul Gautier Room, under sections
of roof and walls that could be slid to the north and south to
LON E T L V Y / LON E T L V Y / ROG ER VIOLLE T / THE IM AG E WOR KS

At the Palais de lOptique expose the sky. The base of the mirrors pivoting fork mount
The great telescope was the centerpiece of the exhibitions oated in 60 litres of mercury to smooth its motion. A clock
Palace of Optics, located right by the Eiffel Tower. It also drive kept the selected celestial object in the centre of the
included a giant kaleidoscope, a hall of mirrors, and a hall visual eld. However, objects rotated around the centre as
that could hold more than 3,000 people for lectures on the mirror turned to follow the sky, so photography required
astronomy. A 60-metre horizontal tube was built in the another clock drive to rotate the plate holder.
Foucault Gallery, made of 24 cylinders of 2-mm sheet steel 1.5 As displayed, the whole telescope cost an estimated 1.4
metres in diameter. Resting on pillars towering 7 metres tall million francs: roughly $400,000 at the time, or $10.6
and running the length of a dedicated exhibit space, the tube million today, and that did not include nal installation in
weighed 21,000 kilograms. Stairs led up to viewing balconies an observatory. By comparison, the Carnegie Institution of
that ran the length of the tube on both sides. The nished Washington would spend a similar amount, about $13.3
photographic objective lens was mounted at the north end. A million in todays dollars, building the immensely productive
moveable section of tube at the south end let operators select 2.5-m (100-inch) Hooker reector at Mount Wilson
an eyepiece for visual use or a plate holder for photography. The Observatory. The 2.5-m saw rst light in 1917 and opened the
unnished visual objective was displayed elsewhere. way for 20th-century astronomy.

About 50 million visitors came to the Paris exhibition. evidence that the future lies in the development of refracting
The public lined up to see new types of electric lighting and telescopes rather than reecting. Yet that was not to be.
appliances, talking movies, escalators, and diesel engines Ticket sales at the exposition failed to recover the Socit
as well as the giant telescope. But many astronomers were dOptiques investment. The company put the telescope up
skeptical of its unorthodox design, particularly after reading for sale after the exposition closed, but no one bought it.
exaggerated press reports that it could resolve one-metre Most astronomers remained skeptical of the design and its
objects on the Moon! Deloncle himself tested the telescope limitations; for one thing, it could view only part of the sky.
on the rst clear night when the Moon was observable It had been built for exhibition rather than for observatory
with the siderostat. He wrote, On the square ground-glass use, so changes would be required to meet astronomers
plate before our eyes [in the plateholder] the moons image needs, and success may have seemed uncertain. Then there
gradually crept up from one corner until it had overspread was the instruments sheer size. It was one thing to build
the glass completely. And there we stood in the centre of Paris a worlds-fair exhibit for paying viewers unaware perhaps
examining the surface of our satellite, with all its craters and of subtle problems, but another to retool such a giant
valleys and bleak desolation! I had won the day! instrument for professional needs in a working observatory
Charles P. Butler was quite impressed after an observing without breaking the bank.
session arranged by Deloncle. Even during the exhibition, The telescope remained at the exposition site until 1909,
he wrote in Nature (Oct. 11, 1900), the telescope was being when both the Socit dOptique and Gautiers optical rm
used for astronomy every clear night. Opening the roof led for bankruptcy.
took six to eight people, he reported, but only two were No buyer for the instrument came to the bankruptcy
needed for observations: one adjusting the siderostat and auction. So the tube and other mechanical parts were sold
the other adjusting the optics at the eyepiece end. The two as scrap. The siderostat mirror went to Paris Observatory,
communicated over a telephone line. Considering that even where it has long been displayed in the history building.
the lowest-power eyepiece gave 500= and a eld of view only 3 The nished int and crown elements of the photographic
arcminutes wide, Butler wrote it is astonishing how quickly objective went to the observatory cellars, where they lay
an object is obtained after the setting of the circles on the forgotten in wooden packing boxes until about 2002 when
siderostat. Once the object was found, interior lights were Franoise Launay of the Paris Observatory helped unearth
turned off for photography or viewing. The siderostat tracked them. The fate of the visual objective remains unknown.
so well that an object would stay in view for 45 minutes. More than a century after it was disassembled, its hard to
Butler noted that the Ring Nebula in Lyra, M57, looked assess the great refractors actual performance. The heavy lenses
better through the telescope than through a conventional have not been studied in detail with modern instruments, but
0.91-m. It also was bright enough for detail to be seen in Launay wrote in the Journal of Historical Astronomy (p. 459,
the highly magnied image. Observations were possible vol. 38, 2007) that the glass looks clear and shows few bubbles.
even with hundreds of people in the building and bright Although the instruments performance suffered from its
outdoor lighting on adjacent buildings. At midnight location, she says that observations by Antoniadi and a handful
when public viewing ended, Eugne Antoniadi of Juvisy of others show that it indeed had astronomical value.
Observatory would take over to observe nebulae. Butler
praised both the optical quality and the clock drive of the
great telescope and hoped that after the exhibit, it would Perhaps the limits of a technology can
nd a new home at some station out of the city, where
the purity of the atmosphere will allow of its power being be found only by exceeding them.
efciently used.
A few other astronomers reported making observations. The Paris telescope proved a technological dead end,
Antoniadi found that the refractors large aperture made it the swan song for large refractors. Perhaps the limits of a
wonderfully efcient on nebulae. He also observed Venus. technology can be found only by exceeding them. By the time
Charles Le Morvan took several photos of the Moon that it was taken apart in 1909, George Ellery Hale already had a
nearly lled glass plates 60 cm square. Thophile Moreux 1.5-m reector operating successfully on Mount Wilson and
sketched the ne details of a sunspot seen by projection. had begun on the 2.5-m which opened the age of giant
But overall, the great refractors scientic output was reectors, with never another look back.
suspiciously slight. Everyone who used it expected that the
seeing would be much better outside the city. But the image JEFF HECHT, a Fellow of the Optical Society, covers
quality must surely have been affected by the light passing optics and lasers for magazines including New Scientist and
through 60 metres of steel tubing with no provision for Optics & Photonics News. His books include Understanding
ventilation to prevent slight air-temperature differences (tube Lasers and City of Light: The Story of Fibre Optics. His father
currents, a bane of high-power observing) along the way. gave him his first telescope when he was 10, and hes been
To Flammarion, the telescopes success was further fascinated by light and the sky ever since.
COSMIC RELIEF by David Grinspoon
My rock of ages
On being immortalised far out in the asteroid belt.
asteroid orbits just outside of a large gap

in the main belt at about 2.5 a.u. that
our largest planet has already cleared
out. Anything in that gap orbits three
times for every one Jupiter year, and the
cumulative effect of this 3:1 resonance
is to heave those objects elsewhere in the
Solar System. I checked with an asteroid
expert friend, who told me, Youre just
outside the 3:1 resonance, but far enough
from it that you probably wont kill us
anytime soon. Phew.
So, asteroid Grinspoon is no danger
to anyone, and probably not of much
interest, either except as one tiny
part of a huge swarm that collectively
contains important clues to planetary
origins and in the future may provide
raw materials for all kinds of deep-
space manufacturing and mischief.
Understanding more about these space
outcasts and how to alter their orbits
WHEN I GIVE public lectures I often say members to share my delight, I checked may save our hides one day.
that somewhere out there is an asteroid my asteroids orbital parameters. What So, future humans, its okay with
with Earths name on it. Now I can add if it was one of the 1,786 potentially me if you grind up my asteroid for
that one has my name on it, too. hazardous objects detected so far (as minerals, use it for terraforming
Recently I learned about the naming of last March)? I could just see the another planet (please request
of asteroid 22410 Grinspoon. Its headline: Grinspoon threatens Earth permission from the locals rst), hollow
pretty cool to have a space rock a few in 2042! it out to live inside it, or even plant a
kilometers wide named after me. But
the truth is, millions of these minor "You're just outside the 3:1 resonance, but far enough from
planets exist, more than 20,000 of
them with peoples names attached. Its it that you probably won't kill us anytime soon." Phew.
not like having a planet named after
you, or even a feature on a planet. For What I found is that it has a forest of genetically modied, radiation-
those, the rules are clear: To earn the semimajor axis, or average distance hardened baobab trees on it.
honour of having, say, a crater bear your from the Sun, of 2.57 a.u. Thats a little Naming things can provide an
surname, you rst have to die, which over two and a half times the distance illusion of immortality, but all of this is
would seem to take the fun out of it. from Earth to our star. It has an temporary. Whatever happens to 22410
Upon hearing the news, I immediately eccentricity of 0.0232, making its orbit Grinspoon, something else will end up
JA ROSL AVAV / BIGSTOCK PHOTOS.CO M
thought of Antoine de Saint-Exuprys almost circular, and an inclination of using its atoms. As the poet Joy Harjo
Little Prince, living on his little asteroid 3.5, which takes it slightly out of the wrote, I know we will live forever, as
called B-612 and pulling up the baobab ecliptic plane. So its a fairly ordinary dust or breath in the face of stars, in the
trees that threaten to overrun it. Today main-belt asteroid. shifting pattern of winds.
theres an organisation, called the B612 But its part of a vast reservoir of rocks
Foundation, dedicated to protecting our close enough to Jupiters orbit that the big DAVID GRINSPOON is an
planet against future asteroid impacts. planet sometimes perturbs a fragment astrobiologist. Follow him on Twitter:
Indeed, right after emailing family into a more hazardous orbit. In fact, my @DrFunkySpoon.

NGC 5367 imaged with ProLine PL16803. Image courtesy of Wolfgang Promper.
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BINOCULAR HIGHLIGHT by Jonathan Nally
USING THE
STAR CHART
WHEN
Early September 10pm
g
Late September 9pm
NE
Early October 8pm
Late October Dusk
These are standard times.
Add 1 hour for daylight savings.
HOW Go outside within an

hour or so of a time listed above.
Hold the map out in front of you
and turn it around so the label
for the direction youre facing
(such as west or northeast) is
right-side up. The curved edge
represents the horizon, and the
stars above it on the map now
Messiers second

match the stars in front of you in U A
the sky. The centre of the map E Q
Fa c i n g E a s t
is the zenith, the point in the sky
CETUS
stellar city directly overhead.
FOR EXAMPLE: Turn the
G
lobular star clusters were often mistaken for comets by early map around so the label Facing 3
h
astronomers. In those days, using what we would probably SW is right-side up. About a
call relatively primitive telescopes, it was impossible to third of the way from there to the
discern the true nature of these fuzzballs in the sky. Indeed, as every maps centre is Crux, the
astronomer knows, Charles Messier who was keen on searching Southern Cross. Go out and look
for comets set out to catalogue globulars so that he (and others) southwest about a third of the
ER
would know when they were not looking at a comet. way from horizontal to straight
IDA
Number two on his famous list is high in the sky in October. up. Theres the Southern Cross!
NU
Messier2 , or M2 (or NGC 7089), in Aquarius is a ne sight through
S
binoculars, being one of the largest of our galaxys attendant NOTE: The map is plotted for
globulars. Its also fairly bright, at a combined visual magnitude 35 south latitude (for example,
of 6.3 (putting it theoretically just within reach of those with Sydney, Buenos Aires, Cape
extremely good eyesight when observing from the darkest of Town). If youre far north of
locations). It is an easy catch for binoculars, although you wont see there, stars in the northern part
individual stars; youll need a telescope for that. of the sky will be higher and
M2 was rst spotted by Jean-Dominique Maraldi on September stars in the south lower. Far
11, 1746; Messier independently rediscovered it precisely 14 years south of 35 the reverse is true.
Fa
later, on September 11, 1760. Maraldi described it as round, well

ci
n
terminated and brighter in the center, about 4 or 5 in extent and not 1

a single star around it to a pretty large distance.... To Messier, it was ONLINE 0
a beautiful nebula which doesnt contain any star, and the center You can get a real-time sky chart
1
is brilliant, & the nebulosity which surrounds it is round.... It wasnt for your location at
2
until 1783 that William Herschel, using a 4.2-inch scope, discerned skychart.skyandtelescope.com/
3 Star
that it is a cluster of stars, many of them visible. What do you see skychart.php
4 magnitudes
when you turn your gaze to this distant stellar city?

Fa c i n g N o r t h
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Fa c i n g S o u t h
UNDER THE STARS by Fred Schaaf
Stellar splendour
A deepest, darkest sky offers an extraordinary encounter with the stars.
T
here are different experiences of
awe or great wonder in astronomy.
The most staggering and
momentous, I believe, comes during a
total eclipse of the Sun. But the most
peacefully (yet still stirringly) wondrous
is the sight of a clear, dark sky lled
with stars.
Perhaps the best sky of this sort
was one I observed 40 years ago this
September.
Where I live, the least cloudy time
of the year runs from about late
August through mid-October. Strong
cold fronts move through frequently
but briey, temporarily pushing away
clouds and haze. In this rural area,
a favorably placed weather pattern
sometimes produces extremely
transparent nights in late April or
early May. But some of the clearest and
therefore most star-crowded nights Ive
experienced occurred in September or
early October.
Take a look at our October all-sky a joy it is to have a sky dark and clear of a prison. The tornado destroyed a
map on page 42. The bright stars from enough to make this quadrant of the huge barn and tossed one of the prison
northeast to southwest resemble a wave sky crawl with countless faint stars. guards 15 metres through the air.
sweeping the Milky Way band across That night in September 1977 I was But it was the words of another prison
the sky. But lling the entire southeast easily seeing stars in the magnitude guard that struck me the most. He
quarter of the heavens is a ood of 6.76 to 7.25 class of Antonin Becvrs said seeing the tornado headed right
sky so sparse in bright stars it really Skalnat Pleso Atlas of the Heavens with toward him was the kind of sight
does deserve to be compared to a dark my 22-year-old naked eyes. I tried for that makes strong men weak. So too
ocean (and because it consists entirely a very faint but conveniently situated is a total eclipse of the Sun in the
of water-related constellations, its star from the atlas and nally opposite way.
often called the Water and the Great convinced myself I was seeing it. I What do I mean? There are different
Celestial Sea). looked up its brightness in the SAO kinds of opposites. One opposite of
Fomalhaut and Beta (`) Ceti (also Star Catalog magnitude 7.9! But not fear produces similar and equally
known as Diphda or Deneb Kaitos) many years ago I checked its brightness strong feelings and sensations but is
are the only stars of 2nd-magnitude or in a more recent database its positive, not negative. That emotion is,
SK ALNAT PLESO ATL AS OF THE HE AVENS
brighter in this region on our map if brightness rounds off to 8.0. And this of course, awe. And if you experience
we consider the non-aquatic Epsilon observation was from just 13 metres a total eclipse of the Sun with even
() Pegasi (Enif) and stars of the Great above sea level. Did I really see the the least sensitivity to the wonders of
Square of Pegasus as merely bordering star? Other sights I was seeing suggest nature, youll be swept away by your
the region. But what about the interior that I did. awe of the event.
of the Great Square? Only two stars Many years ago, a US newspaper ran Im sure you, too, have been swept
inside its huge pattern are bright an article about a rare southern New away by something you have seen in
enough to be plotted on our map. What Jersey tornado that struck the grounds the day or night sky.

SUN, MOON & PLANETS by Jonathan Nally
Superior planets leave the scene

While Uranus reaches conjunction and Neptune is occulted by the Moon.
A
s October opens, the Milky Venus (10.8, 3.9) has been about 70 minutes before the Sun. The
Way stretches from north to delighting us with its pre-dawn crescent Moon will be nearby on the
south in the mid-evening, with brilliance for some months, but is now 17th and 18th.
Sagittarius, Scorpius and Scutum still low down in the sky as October opens. Jupiter (30.8, 1.7) will be low on
reasonably prominent. The Southern If you have a nice, clear horizon, try to the western horizon at dusk during
Cross is almost upside down far in the spot both it and Mars close together the rst half of October, heading for
south, and Vega is hogging the northern on the 6th, when theyll be just 12 superior conjunction on the 27th,
horizon. arcminutes apart; binoculars will give a placing it out of view behind the
Tiny Mercury around 5 arcseconds better view. On the 18th, the crescent Sun until it reappears in the eastern,
diameter, and ranging from magnitude Moon will be just to the north of the morning sky in November.
1.4 at the start of the month to 0.5 planet, but very low down only about Saturn (15.8, 0.5) begins October
by October 31 will be essentially out 5 degrees above the horizon. Venus still nice and high at an altitude of
of view this month, having disappeared will be very close to the Sun for the about 50 degrees at the end of twilight,
below the eastern morning horizon at remainder of the year as it heads toward but by months end will have begun
the end of September as it headed for superior conjunction on January 9, so drawing closer to the horizon (although
super conjunction (ie. on the other side make sure you take the opportunity to still at a respectable 30 altitude at
of the Sun) on October 9. Itll reappear observe it during October. 8:00pm local time). Nevertheless,
in the nal week of October, very low As mentioned above, Mars (3.8, 1.8) for telescopic observers, now is the
on the western horizon after sunset. will be low on the eastern, pre-sunrise time to make the most of the ringed
But if youre keen to see it, dont worry horizon as October opens, meeting up planet as it, too, heads toward superior
the innermost planet will be higher with Venus on the 6th. The Red Planet conjunction (in December.)
in the sky and much easier to see in will start to climb higher in the sky in The sixth planet, Uranus (3.7, 5.7)
November. the latter third of the month, rising will reach opposition on October 20.
S Jupiter is low in the west as S Venus and Mars, hard to see on the S Two planets and the crescent Moon,
October opens. eastern horizon. very low in the east.

by Con Stoitsis METEORS
Opposition is the best time to observe

a superior planet (ie. one whose
orbit lies outside that of Earths), as
it means that as the Sun sets in the
All eyes on Orion
west, the planet rises in the east, The return of one of the years best meteor showers.
giving you all night to study it. At
magnitude 5.7, Uranus will be visible
T
to the naked eye as a faint spot, he Orionid meteor shower is one of the very best for Southern Hemisphere
but only if you have dark skies and observers, producing a generous number of meteors and being visible at a
reasonable eyesight. A small telescope time of year that usually brings good weather and is not too cold. This year,
will show it as a tiny disc, distinctly Octobers new Moon will be
different to the pinprick light of the the perfect time to see the
surrounding stars. shower peak in dark skies,
Neptune (2.3, 7.8) doesnt often with the radiant (located
make the news, but on October 3rd about halfway between
it will be in the limelight when it Betelgeuse and the Castor/
becomes occulted by the gibbous Pollux pair in Gemini) well
Moon. But not everyone will get to placed for viewing after
see it it will be visible only to New 1:00am local time.
Zealanders, Tasmanians, and to those The years 2006 to 2009
Victorians located roughly south of saw the shower produce
a line drawn from Cape Otway in unexpectedly strong zenithal
the west to the NSW border in the hourly rates (ZHRs) of around
east. Unfortunately, that doesnt 40 to 70. Research has at least
include Melbourne, from which the partly conrmed the existence
Moon will have a near miss with of a 12-year periodicity
the planet (as indeed, it will appear in ZHRs due to Jupiters
to do from the rest of Australia). gravitational inuence on the
For observers in Hobart, the time of meteoroid stream. If thats
disappearance will be 9:58pm AEST. right, we can expect perhaps
25 or so meteors per hour
this year on the date of maximum, October 22. The Orionids also frequently have
several lesser maxima for several days either side of the main peak, so make sure
you observe from about October 19 to 25.
The absence of lunar interference this year, together with good meteor rates and
spring weather, will make the Orionids a shower that should not be missed by both
visual observers, and those who like to take long-exposure photos.
SKY PHENOMENA LUNAR PHENOMENA

OCTOBER OCTOBER
3 Occultation of Neptune by the Moon Full Moon 5th, 18:40 UT
5 Venus 0.2 north of Mars Last Quarter 12th, 12:25 UT
7 Uranus 4 north of Moon New Moon 19th, 19:12 UT
9 Mercury in superior conjunction First Quarter 27th, 22:22 UT
10 Aldebaran 0.6 south of Moon Perigee 9th, 06h UT, 366,855 km
15 Regulus 0.2 south of Moon Apogee 25th, 02h UT, 405,154 km
17 Mars 1.8 south of Moon
18 Venus 2 south of Moon
20 Uranus at opposition
24 Saturn 3 south of Moon
27 Jupiter in conjunction with Sun
S Saturn is well-placed for evening viewing. 29 Pallas at opposition
31 Neptune 0.9 north of Moon
COMETS by David Seargent
A most unusual comet

A bright new comet is found, while an oddball older comet reappears.
O
n July 19, a new comet (now its discovery brightness was not due to a nearly 60 degrees to the plane of the
designated C/2017 O1) was temporary outburst and if its brightness ecliptic. Moreover, its eccentricity (how
found in images secured by development follows the normal course, close the orbit is to a circle, with a
the 14-cm Cassius survey telescope it should be around magnitude 7 to 8 circle being 1.0) of just under 0.96 was
at Cerro Tololo Inter-American during early October. abnormally high for so modest a period.
Observatory in Chile during the course These orbital peculiarities are
of the All Sky Automated Survey Oddball comet makes a only the beginning of this comets
for Supernova (ASAS-SN) project. comeback strangeness, however. Spectroscopically,
Surprisingly, several visual observations October will also provide southern 96P is almost unique in being depleted
made several days later, following observers with a chance to see albeit in the usual cometary molecules of
the announcement of the discovery, rather briey and not without difculty CN, C3 and C2. Only one other comet
yielded magnitude estimates of around one of the most unusual comets the long-period (maybe dynamically
10. This is remarkably bright for a of all. Comet 96P/Machholz was new) object C/1988 Y1 (Yanaka)
newly discovered comet these days, visually discovered by Don Machholz in is similarly depleted in CN and C2.
and raises the question as to how the California on May 12, 1986 as a small This has caused some astronomers
object escaped earlier discovery by one
of the many other professional surveys
now operating. Possibly it was spotted The comet should still be visible from mid-southern latitudes
during an outburst or shortly after
switching on its out-gassing activity.
during early October, low in the morning twilight.
Or maybe it was simply missed!
A preliminary orbit available at nebulosity of eleventh magnitude. Once to speculate that both 96P and 1988
the time of writing indicates that a preliminary orbit had been computed, Y1 originated in another planetary
perihelion (at 1.51 a.u. from the Sun) it was clear that it had already passed system. Maybe they were expelled from
will occur on October 14 and that perihelion around April 23 at little more their home system and subsequently
the comet should still be visible from than 0.1 a.u. from the Sun. This was picked up by the Sun, or maybe the
mid-southern latitudes during early puzzling, as the comet was obviously an Sun poached them during an especially
October, low in the morning twilight as intrinsically faint one and would not close passage by their parent star and
it moves northward through Perseus. If normally have been expected to survive its planetary/cometary ensemble. On
such a close encounter with the Sun. the other hand, these oddball comets
The problem was resolved as further may have been formed in a region
observations enabled a more accurate of the pre-solar nebula that had an
orbit to be computed, but the solution atypical composition.
of one problem produced another Wherever it came from originally,
equally as puzzling! The comet turned 96P is now known to be associated with
out to have a short-period orbit a vast debris complex within the Suns
just 5.25 years. Comets having short inner planetary system. This debris
or moderate periods generally prove complex includes the Quadrantid,
to be better at surviving close solar June Arietid and Delta Aquarid meteor
encounters than those with very long streams, in addition to the Marsden
periods, but the very small perihelion and Kracht 1 families of tiny Sun-
distance of the new object was, at that skirting comets (discovered in SOHO
time, unprecedented for a comet having coronagraph images), the asteroid
S Comet C/2017 O1, imaged about 24 hours
so short a period. (defunct comet?) 2003 EH, the historic
after discovery by Ernesto Guido using the
50-cm iTelescope astrograph at Siding Spring.
96P/Machholz also differed from comet 1490 Y1 and a tiny SOHO comet
The comet will be about magnitude 7 or 8 other short-period comets by moving (designated as C/2008 Y12 and C/2014
in early October. in an orbit having an inclination of K3) which R. Kracht has demonstrated

to be of short period and associated
with the Delta Aquarid meteor shower.
Not only that, but during its
previous apparition in 2012, Liang Liu
and Prafull Sharma identied two very
small comets accompanying 96P and
obviously following a similar orbit.
Professor Z. Sekanina found that these
twin comets began life as a single
fragment which broke away from 96P
following its perihelion passage in
2007 and subsequently split into two
pieces on its way toward the following
perihelion in 2012. These comets
were apparently not detected after
perihelion and may not have survived.
In any event, they were too small to be
observed from the ground and, if they
are still intact, will (at best) be visible patterns of stria, not unlike those S Comet Machholz with its magnificent
only in SOHO images this year. displayed by some great comets such tail, passing by the Pleiades in 2005. Image
courtesy Gerald Rhemann.
Unfortunately, the full glories of as C/2006 P1 (McNaught) back in
96P are visible only in images from January 2007.
space-based coronagraphs. Typically, This year will see the comet in the twilight. Having crossed into Hydra
it sprouts a bright dust tail about two evening sky and accessible to southern by October 20, 96P is expected to
degrees long and, depending upon observers. Like many comets of short have brightened to around magnitude
whether it passes on the near or far or moderate period and small perihelia, 6.6 by then, but will only be some 19
side of the Sun, reaches maximum 96P switches on activity rather late and degrees from the Sun and setting prior
brightness of between magnitude +2 rapidly brightens as it approaches the to nautical twilight. Perihelion will
and -2. The difference is not simply Sun. On October 10, it is expected to occur just one week later (October
because the near-side perihelia are have brightened to around magnitude 27.96) at 0.124 a.u. from the Sun. The
closer to Earth. This comet is very rich 10, but will be diffuse and only 11 day before perihelion, the comet will
in ne dust and at large phase angles degrees above the horizon at the reach phase angles of over 120 degrees
(as when 96P passes almost between beginning of astronomical twilight for and (although only about 7 degrees
Earth and Sun) the forward scattering observers near the latitude of Sydney. from the Sun at that time) should
of sunlight by these particles causes Moving northward through display considerable forward-scatter
large enhancements of brightness. In Centaurus, the comet will rapidly brightening. Hopefully there will be
addition to its brightness at perihelion, brighten and become more condensed some impressive images from the
the comets dust tail has also shown while sinking ever lower into the SOHO C3 coronagraph!
DOUBLE STARS by Ross Gould
Dipping back into Aquarius

Yellow doubles abound in the water carrier constellation.
T
his month we visit the eastern is 94 Aqr (STF 2998), another fairly Bruce McEvoy, comments on what he
part of Aquarius. Using Lambda wide pairing a bright, deep yellow star calls a standard eyepiece for the rst
Aqr as our rst guide star, 2.5 with a less bright, darker yellow star in step in viewing a double. He says:
degrees west-southwest is STF 2935; pleasing contrast; a very good effect. Here preferences vary, depending on
a pair of yellowish stars of unequal Moving well south theres a grouping whether you think in terms of resolution
brightness, and fairly close at 100. of 4th-magnitude stars 98, 99 and 101 or the eld of view. I start with resolution,
North-northwest for 3.5 degrees from Aqr. The last, 101 Aqr, is our next double, and prefer an eyepiece that gives an exit
Lambda is STF 2944, a near-equal B 1900, discovered in 1929 by Willem pupil of around 1.0 [mm]: this lets me see
yellow pair, tight at 100, with an van den Bos, one of the most signicant the resolution limit of my telescope with
8th-magnitude star 60 east. discoverers and measurers of Southern a good sized eld of view. Others prefer a
Heading eastwards to the group of Hemisphere double stars. This particular magnication of 80 to 120 that presents
three 4th magnitude stars, Psi-1, Psi-2 pair is bright (magnitudes 4.8 and 7.7), a generous eld, minimizes the effects of
and Psi-3 Aqr, we nd STF 2993 nearly but tight at just 0.75 separation. With poor seeing in larger apertures and resolves
0.5 degree northwest of Psi-1. At 100 18 cm aperture it took 330 to show the all but the closest double stars...
with 18 cm its an easy pair. Two other companion as a much fainter appendage Both approaches can coincide with
stars making a long triangle with it; to the primary star. Again, this one is telescopes of 80 to 120 mm aperture,
an attractive grouping of yellow stars. treated in CDSA2 as an optical pair. because a 1-mm exit pupil is given when
Observers using the Cambridge Double However, the data over time shows it the magnication matches the aperture
Star Atlas 2nd Edition (CDSA2) will nd widening after discovery, with maximum in mm. With larger scopes this changes:
this pair marked but not labelled and separation around the 1960s and 1970s, a 30-cm scope requires a magnication
not in the doubles lists, because the then beginning to close again. The of 300 for a 1mm exit pupil too
author regarded it as merely an optical evidence suggests this is a binary, not high when the seeing isnt good, and a
(line of sight double) and excluded simply unconnected stars lined up. small true eld, about 16 even with a
all such pairs. However, I have found Our last double this month is 107 Aqr Nagler or similar wide-eld eyepiece.
it treated as a genuine binary in the (H 2 24), discovered by William Herschel. It does allow you to see the resolution
professional literature. Its a bright and easy double, the stars limit of [your] telescope if that means
STF 3008 is about 2 degrees northeast yellowish and paler yellow. It appears to equal pairs at the Rayleigh Criterion
from the Psi group. Its a ne bright be a binary of very long period, slowly (about 13.8/A in cm). However, equal
double of orange-yellow and near-equal widening with some change of angle. pairs closer than that can be seen as
stars, with two lesser stars westwards. elongated down to about 0.5-Rayleigh,
This one is an optical pair, not a true The Standard Eyepiece needing more magnication, and thus a
binary, but a very ne pair to view. In the introduction to the Cambridge smaller exit pupil.
Four degrees south of the Psi group Double Star Atlas 2nd Edition, the author, With my 140-mm refractor,
0.5-Rayleigh is 0.5 pairs, 400 used,
and 0.35mm exit pupil. Exit pupils
Double stars of Aquarius down to 0.3mm are within the range
Position Date of suggested by Jean Texereau for planetary
Star Name R. A. Dec. Magnitudes Separation Spectrum
Angle Measure observing, in his classic work How to
STF 2935 22h 43.1m -08 19 6.8, 7.9 2.4 307 2016 A5V Make a Telescope. In old-style parlance,
STF 2944 22h 47.8m -04 14 AB 7.3, 7.7 1.8 305 2016 G2V+G4 75 per inch commonly used in the
" " " AC 7.3, 8.6 62.2 086 2016
past for close pairs gives an exit pupil
STF 2993 23h 14.1m -08 55 7.6, 8.2 24.8 176 2014 F8V+G2V
of 0.34mm.
94 Aqr (STF 2998) 23h 19.1m -13 28 5.3, 7.0 12.3 353 2016 G5IV
Regarding the standard eyepiece,
STF 3008 23h 23.8m -08 28 7.2, 7.7 7.0 148 2016 K0III-IV
Ive preferred 80 to 120 power with
101 Aqr (B 1900) 23h 33.3m -20 55 4.8, 7.7 0.75 124 2001 A0V
telescopes from 100 mm to a C14 (354
107 Aqr (H 2 24) 23h 46.0m -18 41 5.7, 6.5 7.0 135 2016 A9IV+F2V
mm), because it shows the area around
Data from the Washington Double Star Catalog
a double star.

VARIABLE STARS by Alan Plummer
Catch R Hors maximum light

This southern Mira-type variable is ripe for springtime viewing.
T
his months target is RHorologii,
a bright southern Mira-
type variable star just now
approaching maximum light. R Hor
can reach as bright as magnitude
4.7, and will be visible with 7x50
binoculars for several weeks.
Maximum light is predicted for
November 3, but Ive noticed a few
slightly different periods listed for
R Hor, all just over 400 days, so you
never know. Thats why we observe
these types of stars, as their periods
and amplitudes can change slightly as
they evolve.
Long-period variables are classied
by their visual light curves; Miras are
red giants with periods of 80 to 1000
days and visual light variations of more
than 2.5 magnitudes. Mira, the class
prototype in the constellation Cetus,
is currently at minimum light, and
will be our target for the next issue of
AS&T. Mira reaches a very respectable
3rd magnitude, which is why it was
the rst such star for which we have above, nd bright white star Achernar S R Hor is located at 02h 53m 52.77s, 49
observations. R Hor has one of the (Alpha Eridani), and then follow Chi 53 22.7 (epoch J2000). This chart (courtesy
of the AAVSO) is approximately 12 degrees wide
largest amplitudes of all, ranging from and Phi Eri and, with binoculars, star
from east to west and has visual magnitudes
magnitude 4.7 to 14.3, although Ive hop to R Hor. The chart is perfectly shown with decimal points omitted to avoid
never seen it so faint myself. In my reasonable to follow down to 8th confusion with faint stars so 80 denotes a
experience, a 20-cm telescope could magnitude, after which you will need magnitude 8.0 star.
get the whole cycle, depending on how a telescopic chart from the AAVSO
dark your sky is. website (aavso.org). Start with R Hor
CREDIT: N ASA , ESA , A ND THE HUBBLE HERITAG E TE A M (STSCI/AUR A)

Locating R Hor is relatively now, and pick up Mira next month.
straightforward. Using the nder chart Youll be in for a treat!
GIVE THE GIFT OF WONDER!

Christmas is coming, so nows the time to drop
the hint that youd like Santa* to bring you
a subscription to Australian Sky & Telescope.
Print (see page 73, or call 02 9439 1955) and digital (bit.ly/2vI0tOT) editions available.
*PS. If youre Santa, why not arrange it yourself?

by Ken Hewitt-White GOING DEEP
Small globular, tiny galaxies

The area around NGC 7006 in Delphinus is interesting and challenging.
ADRIFT IN THE GALACTIC wilderness 135,000 light-

years away, NGC 7006 is a distant globular star cluster
easily visible through amateur telescopes. At magnitude PGC 65893
10.6 its no showpiece, but its easy to locate 3$ east of
4th-magnitude Gamma (a) Delphini. In turn, NGC 7006 is
a handy hopping-off point to some nearby faint galaxies a
few of them barely beyond the outskirts of the cluster. My
descriptions below stem from observations made with two NGC 7006
large Dobsonians over the past several years. NGC 65907
First, the globular. Resolving NGC 7006 into stars is no
easy exercise. The brightest cluster members are magnitude PGC 1501723
15.6, and most of the rest are much fainter. All those dim dots
are packed into a sphere spanning less than 4v of sky. On a
concentration scale ranging from 1 to 12, NGC 7006 is class 1 PGC 65908
extremely dense. Through my 44.5-cm f/4.5 reector at 83=, Anon
POSS-II / CA LTECH / STSCI / PA LO M A R OBSERVATORY
I see only a little hazy ball that gradually brightens towards the
middle. A 14th-magnitude double star of about 15w separation S Resolving the tight globular cluster NGC 7006 into individual stars is
lies near its southern edge. a challenge even with a big scope. At 83= with 44.5 cm of aperture, the
The view improves subtly with increased magnication. At cluster displays as a hazy ball, brightening toward the centre. A close
222=, the clusters broad, bright middle grows granular, and my study of the region southwest (lower right) of the globular reveals a dim
averted vision perceives a slightly mottled halo that includes quartet of galaxies.
some peripheral pinpoints. They might be eld stars conspiring

to make NGC 7006 appear larger than it really is, but at 285=, Heading north
my perception of resolved stars includes three or four across Now for the galaxies. The obscure specimens around NGC
the core. Ive also aimed a friends 50-cm f/5 Dobsonian at 7006 are classic faint fuzzies visible only through larger
NGC 7006. To my delight, the bigger telescope working at 363= apertures at dark observing sites. If youre up for a challenge,
delivered at least partial resolution. lets ferret out the tough stuff!
I begin by nudging the scope 12v northwest of the globular
21h 10m 21h 00m 20h 50m 20h 40m 20h 30m to 14.2-magnitude PGC 65893. Thanks to a relatively
7003 +18 favourable surface brightness, this tiny elliptical at 222=
is not difcult to detect though its a mere mote of mist
PGC 65877 less than 1v in size. Two 11th-magnitude stars glimmer 2.5v
7025 7006 a northwest of the galaxy.
_ +16 Less than $ north-northwest of NGC 7006 lies
7034
b 13.7-magnitude PGC 65877. This face-on spiral, barely
7033
PGC 65972 c 1v across, is another puny patch. The scene is saved by an
10 attractive, low-power triple 8v to the galaxys west-southwest:
DELPHINUS `
+14 the 6.7-magnitude primary star, HD 199941, is accompanied
PEG 17 by a 9.2-magnitude star 70w northeast and a 10.0-magnitude
d
star almost 3v south-southeast.
Star magnitudes
4 16
5 15 Almost 1$ farther north is the 13.0-magnitude face-on
+12
6 spiral NGC 7003. Measuring 1.1v = 0.8v, this pale haze to
7 f
my eye looks elongated in a ratio of 2:1. At 222= I note a
8 18
1 15th-magnitude star hugging the galaxys eastern edge. At
a EQUULEUS g lower powers, the combination seems comet-like: the star acts
+10
6 as the comets nucleus while the elongated galaxy is its tail.
GOING DEEP
Heading south and east NGC 7033 points north-northeastward to the slightly
Lets reverse our steps, dropping southward past our cluster bigger and brighter NGC 7034, which, in turn, aims at an
starting point but not by much. Less than $ southeast 11th-magnitude star 1v northwest. These basic details and
of NGC 7006 is a 6.9-magnitude orange-red variable star, little else show at 285=.
HD 200393. Just 6v northeast of that glaring beacon is the We now push 1$ north-northwestward, past a
14.2-magnitude spiral galaxy PGC 65982 . At 285=, I see 6.3-magnitude star, HD 201196, to French 1. This $-wide
the 0.6v = 0.3v wisp plus a 15th-magnitude star immediately asterism, nicknamed the Toadstool, is formed by a dozen
eastward. 9th- to 12th-magnitude stars. On its east edge is the brightest
From PGC 65982 we head east for 1/3$ past a galaxy in my survey: 12.8-magnitude NGC 7025. The face-on
12th-magnitude star (and past galaxy PGC 66006, which Ive spiral measures 1.9v = 1.3v, elongated northeast-southwest.
inexplicably overlooked!), to 14.2-magnitude PGC 66034. At 83=, its a miniscule patch almost in contact with a
Measuring 1.6v = 1.1v, this galaxy at 222= is marginally better 9.7-magnitude star 40w west. At 222=, NGC 7025 is elliptical,
than PGC 65982. A 10th-magnitude star glares 6v southwest. diffuse, and brighter in the middle.
Images of this wee wisp reveal not one galaxy but two the
interacting systems displaying tidally distorted arms.
Slightly more than $ south of the orange-red variable
mentioned earlier is 14.0-magnitude PGC 65972 . I need Images of this wee wisp reveal not one
285= just to identify this 0.5v = 0.3v blur, but the surrounding
eld is nice. 13v northeast of the galaxy is an 8.7-magnitude galaxy but two the interacting systems
golden-yellow star, HD 200547, which sports two
11th-magnitude companions, about 25w and 35w southeast.
displaying tidally distorted arms.
And only 9v east-southeast of the object is a 9.1-magnitude
blue star, HD 200493, with three 14th-magnitude attendants
along its north side, each about 30w from the primary. A Beside the globular
pretty sight! From the Toadstool, its a 1$ hop back to our starting
From that pretty multiple star, I slowly drift 1$ point, NGC 7006. Compared to all the fuzzy stuff, the
east-southeastward past 6.6-magnitude HD 200877 to little globular actually looks impressive! And it leads me to
14.2-magnitude NGC 7033 and 13.8-magnitude NGC something easily found yet challenging to see: a compact
7034, galaxies 1.5v apart. (The pairing is 2$ southeast of clump of four teensy galaxies right beside the cluster. The
the globular cluster NGC 7006.) Each galaxy is elongated quartet lies almost halfway between NGC 7006 and a
and measures approximately 1v in its long dimension. 7.8-magnitude star, HD 200079, about 13v to the southwest.
PGC 21h 02m 21h 01m

65877
Star magnitudes
7
DELPHINUS HD 199941
8
9 PGC
10 65893
11 7025 PGC PGC
65907 65893
PGC +1615
PGC 66006 7006 7006
66034 PGC PGC 1501723
65982 Anon PGC
+16 Toadstool 65907
PGC PGC
HD 200393 65908 1501723
Anon
HD 201196 PGC HD 200079
HD 200547 65908
+1600
HD 200877 PGC
PEGASUS 9
Star magnitudes
HD 200493 65972
10
7034
11
7033 12
+15 13
21h 10m 21h 08m 21h 06m 21h 04m 21h 02m 21h 00m 14

Diving deep off the nose of the Dolphin
Object Ma Surface RA Dec. PA Notes
Brightness
NGC 7006 10.6 3.6v 21h 01.5m +16$ 11v Glob. cluster
French 1 13.0v 21h 07.4m +16$ 18v The Toadstool
Heading North
PGC 65893 14.2 13.5 0.8v = 0.6v 21h 00.9m +16$ 18v 55.0 Not difficult
PGC 65877 13.7 13.5 1.1v = 0.9v 21h 00.4m +16$ 52v 112.3 Not difficult
NGC 7003 13.0 12.7 1.1v = 0.8v 21h 00.7m +17$ 48v 115.0 Elongated
Heading south and east
PGC 65982 14.2 12.2 0.6v = 0.3v 21h 03.1m +16$ 02v 15.5 High SB
PGC 66006 0.9v = 0.7v 21h 03.7m +16$ 03v 14.5 Overlooked!
PGC 66034 14.2 14.7 1.6v = 1.1v 21h 04.5m +15$ 05v 100.0 Double system
PGC 65972 14.0 11.8 0.5v = 0.3v 21h 02.9m +15$ 23v 80.0 High SB
NGC 7033 14.2 13.1 0.8v = 0.5v 21h 09.6m +15$ 07v 4.1 1st of pair
NGC 7034 13.8 13.3 1.1v = 0.6v 21h 09.6m +15$ 09v 121.0 2nd of pair
NGC 7025 12.8 13.6 1.9v = 1.3v 21h 02.9m +16$ 20v 49.4 best in show
Beside the globular
PGC 65907 0.6v = 0.4v 21h 01.3m +16$ 10v Not difficult
PGC 1501723 0.6v = 0.4v 21h 01.1m +16$ 08v More difficult
PGC 65908 0.8v = 0.3v 21h 01.7m +16$ 06v Challenge!
Anon Star in front
Angular sizes and separations are from recent catalogues. Visually, an objects size is often smaller than the catalogued value and varies according to the
aperture and magnification of the viewing instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0.
The image on page 51 shows a combination of smudges Continuing clockwise around the parallelogram brings us
and stars forming a squat parallelogram whose north- to the southwest corner marked by PGC 65908 or maybe
south dimension spans approximately 3v. Theres one not. Ive never made a rm sighting of this strongly elongated
smudge per corner, except on the southeast corner where a ghost through my 44.5-cm scope. When conditions are ideal,
14.2-magnitude star substitutes for a galaxy slightly off the I can detect the 15th-magnitude stars anking the target
mark. An 11.4-magnitude star dazzles on the parallelograms but not the galaxy itself. However, Im fairly condent Ive
west side, and numerous 13th- to 15th-magnitude stars are glimpsed it through my friends 50-cm Dob at 363=.
scattered around the gure. The four fuzzies, each under an The galaxy near the parallelograms southeast corner
arcminute in size, blend in with the starry crowd. is slightly mysterious. Our photo reveals that the object,
A 3v-long line from the globular passes through a labelled Anon, is almost obliterated by a 13th-magnitude
13.8-magnitude star to PGC 65907 on the northeast corner star superimposed on its southeast side. Through my
of the parallelogram. The galaxy forms a roughly 30w-wide telescope at 285=, I see only a star that seems unnaturally
equilateral triangle with the 13.8-magnitude star and a large and blurry. The effect is similar through the 50-cm
12.9-magnitude star. I can hold the target steadily at 285=. at 363=. Eagle-eyed observers with larger Dobsonians
Slightly more than 2v in the same direction is PGC 1501723, might discern the galaxy itself and thus conrm the faint
on the northwest corner. It, too, forms a 30w-wide triangle foursome beside NGC 7006.
with a 13.6-magnitude star eastward and a 14.4-magnitude
star south-southeastward. (The previously mentioned Galaxy hunter KEN HEWITT-WHITE takes a special interest in
11.4-magnitude dazzling star lies only 30w farther.) This groups of galaxies that lie virtually in the same line of sight as
dimmer galaxy is hard to hold, but denite at 285=. globular clusters.
DYNAMIC DWARF by Alan MacRobert
21 30
HD 180332
Dec 2
HD 180089
22
19h 17m 19h 16m
Spotting Pluto in 2017

Dont look now, but a proposed sizing scheme would make it a planet again.
WELL, ACTUALLY YOU can look at on the small charts. The black box on to be it, make a careful sketch of its
Pluto now if you have a 35-cm-or- each one shows the eld of the next position in the star eld right around it.
larger telescope and a sky dark enough one up. The large chart is only 1.2 tall, Come back in a day or two to see if your
to detect a 14.4-magnitude speck high and its brightest stars are 7th and 8th suspected object is moving.
in the north-west (its at declination magnitude. Use these to start narrowing
21). Pluto is fading into the distance in on the precise point where Pluto will The name game
year by year, and were edging into a be hiding at the time and date when you The stunningly successful New
century-plus era when, for practically all look. The date ticks on Plutos path are Horizons yby of Pluto two years
visual observers, the dwarf planet will for 0h Universal Time; put a pencil prick ago, a triumph from start to nish,
be nothing but a memory at most. But at exactly the right point on the path. resurrected this dwarf planet as an
it will always remain a fairly easy target As you get close with the scope, switch important object in planetologists
for long-exposure telescopic imagers. to your highest power to improve the pantheon of worlds. Its currently more
The large chart on these pages is visibility of the very faintest stars. geologically active than Mercury or
your other essential visual equipment. The tiniest stars in these swarms are Mars, and its only the third place in
Pluto is in northern Sagittarius just no fainter than Pluto itself, so if you the Solar System where we see plain
below the Teaspoon asterism, as shown think you see something that ought evidence of an active hydrological

SAGITTARIUS
HD 179201
Sept 1
5
9
13 7
1721
Path of Pluto
Star magnitudes
25 8
29 9
28 24 20 Oct 3 10
16 7
12 8 Nov 4 31 27 23 19 15 11
11
12
HD 179519 HD 179113 13
14
HD 179609
19h 15m 19h 14m 19h 13m 19h 12m 19h 11m
cycle. On Earth, water is the volatile an objects physical 19h 30m 19h 20m 19h 10m
that evaporates, then rains or snows nature than whether 21
Path o
out of the atmosphere, ows in rivers it has cleared away f Pluto
HD 179201
or glaciers to pool in lowlands, and other objects near its 50
then evaporates again. On Titan, its orbit. But be careful 22
mixtures of methane and ethane. On what you wish for.
Pluto, New Horizons found nitrogen Runyons proposed
SAGITTARIUS
forming great frozen plains, a hazy, new denition, 23 Star magnitudes
layered atmosphere, and long glaciers based on size and 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
owing down between mountains. And roundness, would
it spotted a 36-km-long slab of frozen add moon planets
nitrogen that was apparently once a like our Moon and
liquid lake. Other volatiles are probably other big satellites to the roster, as well Teaspoon
involved as well. as dozens of trans-Neptunian objects
So should Pluto be called a planet of Plutos size and smaller. He estimates
Path of
again? Kirby Runyon (Johns Hopkins that his proposed redenition would Pluto
University) is pushing to have the add at least 110 new planets.
International Astronomical Union A list that long would need quite
decide on a new and perhaps better a mnemonic to remember it by. Our
denition, one having to do more with guess? This is going nowhere.
IMAGING DUSTY TARGETS by Richard Jakiel
Phantoms
of
the Deep Sky
Hunt down molecular clouds and other elusive targets.
S DAZZLING COLOUR The giant molecular cloud in Ophiuchus includes the colourful region surrounding the multiple star system Rho Ophiuchi as
well as the bright star Antares in Scorpius, whose reflected light produces the yellowish nebulosity in this deep photo.
S
hortly after the turn of this century, a new, highly Imagers using modern CCD and DSLR cameras can try
photogenic class of deep sky objects began to draw their hand at capturing these phantom nebulae. Many of
the attention of astrophotographers. Amateurs these complexes span 10 or more, so a variety of optical
equipped with fast astrographs and sensitive CCD cameras systems can be used to hunt them down. A fast-f/ratio,
noticed that many of the targets they pursued were not high-quality telephoto lens of 100-mm focal length is a
surrounded by inky-black skies as they had traditionally been good match for many of these objects. Fast astrographs also
depicted. Instead, they found that pushing the processing of work well with relatively wide elds of view (FOV), while
their images rewarded them with mottled wisps of gas and larger instruments (apertures of 30 cm or more) can record
dust often extending many degrees beyond their target's the more exotic structures of these objects surrounding
previously assumed borders. several well-known galaxies. Getting enough signal to
Known as giant molecular clouds or galactic cirrus, noise over the sky background to produce a satisfying
these faint targets cover vast areas in the night sky at every image is the challenge as you will soon nd out, this isnt
season of the year, though revealing them will challenge any very easy to do!
ROGELIO BERNAL ANDREO
imagers equipment and processing skills.

These large, exceedingly low-contrast targets barely Giant molecular clouds
register above the sky background in long exposures, and The rst class of these ghostly nebulae are molecular clouds
they require a combination of very dark skies and stacking consisting primarily of molecular hydrogen (H2), helium and
many long exposures to properly reveal their true extent. smaller amounts of other gases including carbon monoxide

(CO). Tiny grains of dust within these clouds aggregate into Looking out
vast, dense clumps called dark nebulae. Within these giant Heading into the spring and summer months when we face
clouds reside the major star-forming nurseries scattered the outer Milky Way, we can nd the Orion giant molecular
along the arms of our galaxy. clouds that span more than 1,000 light-years and lie about
The largest of these structures, ttingly known as giant 1,600 light-years from Earth. These complexes, designated
molecular clouds (GMCs), range from 15 to more than Orion A and Orion B, cover much of Orion and Monoceros
600 light-years across. They are the densest and largest and include a number of well-known objects, including M42,
gravitationally bound regions of the interstellar medium in IC 434, NGC 2024, M78 and all of Barnards Loop. Some of
our galaxy. But unlike giant emission nebulae such as the the brightest (and easiest-to-see) portions of the Orion GMC
Orion Nebula (M42), they dont glow from the ionisation can be found near M42 and adjacent M43, making for good
of hydrogen. Instead, these objects radiate in the deep-red targets for honing your imaging skills. With only a moderately
portion of the spectrum. This extended red emission or ERE deep accumulated exposure of a few hours, the area
is thought to come from carbon-rich molecules or polycyclic surrounding the emission nebulae will start to reveal both the
aromatic hydrocarbons in these clouds. The dense dust clouds deep ERE and brownish hues of dense molecular cloud.
both scatter and reect blue starlight, and appear to have a Much deeper images composed of numerous long-
mauve-toned glow. exposures will reveal a complex interplay of dark motes,
Giant molecular clouds are prevalent in the night sky. bluish reection nebulae, and the intricate structure of the
Lets start by looking toward the inner regions of the Milky mauve-coloured dusty laments that cover the region. And
Way at one of the most colourful and photogenic targets: you dont have to shoot the region around M42 to pick up
the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex. This star-forming a beautiful FOV, as just about anywhere in the central and
region is one of the closest to Earth at roughly 420 light- eastern portion of Orion contains this amazing GMC.
years away. A wonderful interplay of dark, emission, and Not far from the Orion GMC lies the more distant and
reection nebulae, Rho (l) Oph lies about 1 north of compact Monoceros R2 GMC complex. The small, bright
Antares. One of the most intriguing parts of this dusty reection nebula NGC 2170 sits near the centre of the
nebula is the dark river that spans from Antares back spectacularly colourful area. Indeed, the region is awash with
toward the dense Milky Way star clouds. Yellowish dust
reecting light from the red supergiant star Antares adds to
the beauty of the eld.
Just as notable, but far better known to southern astro-
imagers, is the R Coronae Australis molecular complex. In
its centre lie the bright bluish reection nebulae NGC 6726
and IC 4812 and an unusual variable nebula, NGC 6729.
Cutting between the reection nebulae and extending well
over 10 to the east stretches an interwoven network of dust
and molecular clouds. Unrelated to the cloud but completing
the scene is the globular cluster NGC 6723.
Galactic cirrus
Related to molecular clouds is galactic cirrus nebulosity.
These large, lamentary structures were discovered in the
1960s on the red light plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky
Survey. Unlike GMCs, these gossamer strands can project
several hundred light-years beyond the equatorial plane of
the Milky Way. They also cover vast areas in the night sky
and can be found almost anywhere, including regions far
from the ecliptic near the celestial poles.
Many galaxies also have galactic cirrus as foreground
objects in the same FOV. One well-known example surrounds
M81 and M82 in Ursa Majore. The eld around the highly
tilted barred spiral NGC 7497 in Pegasus also contains dusty
streamers, with one particularly dense lamentary band
M ASIL IM AGING TE A M
projected across the galaxys disk. Even areas in the vicinity

of the nearby spiral galaxies M31 and M33, in Andromeda S THE VULTURE Known alternately as the Baby Eagle or Vulture Head
and Triangulum, respectively, feature faint wisps of cirrus Nebula, LBN 777 in Taurus is a dusty extension of the Taurus GMC found
not often captured in images. about 5 northeast of M45, the Pleiades.
IMAGING DUSTY TARGETS
S EXPANSIVE DUST The reflection nebulosity surrounding the

variable star R Coronae Australis at right is a popular target for
imagers, though deep, wide-field images reveal the brownish
dusty molecular cloud extending several degrees to its east.
bluish reection nebulae, patches of pinkish hydrogen-alpha Orion GMCs, this complex is much more rareed and has
emission, jagged dark rifts of dark nebulae and broad swaths relatively few bright nebulae embedded within. Deep in the
of dust. Moderate-to-large-aperture instruments work well to heart of the GMC and about 1 west of 44 Tauri is the very
capture the delicate details, while even telephoto lenses can faint nebula LBN 777, sometimes referred to as the Vulture
record these GMCs in their entirety. Head or Baby Eagle Nebula. The 15v-by-10v head features a
A far more challenging target toward the northwest, the dark brownish patch of opaque dust (B207) located above the
Taurus Molecular Cloud 1 (TMC-1) can be found just north clearing that forms the eye.
of the Hyades and extending westward past the California
Nebula (NGC 1499) and the Pleiades (M45). It lies at a Additional targets
distance of only about 450 light-years, though in roughly the Very few references have been written on imaging these
opposite direction to the Rho Ophiuchi GMC. Unlike the challenging deep sky objects. Edward Emerson Barnards 1913
classic A Photographic Atlas of Selected Areas of the Milky Way
is a good place to start your research. Even better are Beverly
Phantom nebulae targets Lynds catalogues of dark and bright nebulae (LDN and
LBN, respectively), both published in the 1960s and based
Object Size RA Dec. on examination of the red and blue plates of the Palomar Sky
Survey. They give not only positional and size data but also
Rho Oph Cloud Complex 11 6.5 16h 28m 24 32v present relative opacity of dust and the nebulas brightness on
R Coronae Australis 6.8 3.7 19h 13.1m 37 28v a 1-to-6 scale. Other resources include Sidney van den Berghs
(vdB) 1966 catalog of 159 reection nebulae. For galactic
NGC 7497 4.3v 1.5v 23h 9.1m +18 11v cirrus, the online resources are much more limited. The best
Orion A 10 5 5h 37.5m 6 58v place to start is with Steve Mandels page (galaxyimages.
com) and perhaps searching online for images others have
Orion B 12 8 2h 49.5m +2 46v recently produced.
Monoceros R2 5.8 3.6 16h 33.3m 6 24v The good news is that all of these references have
been scanned and are readily available online. Powerful
TMC-1 14 9.5 4h 41m +25 52v applications such as The SkyX or SkySafari Pro include many of
GER A LD RHEMANN
LBN 777 20v 18v 4h 25m +26 25v these objects, as well as a number of the giant molecular cloud
complexes. So if you spend some time exploring these and
Angular sizes are based on the authors measurements on deep astrophotos.
Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0.
other resources, you might become the rst person to image a
portion of dusty GMC or lacy galactic cirrus in colour.

Essential
astronomy
reading
These Australian-produced titles are must-haves for
all astronomy enthusiasts. Order your copies today,
NASA/ESA/HHT
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NOT FINAL COVER
ASTRONOMY 2018 YEARBOOK 2018 AUSTRALASIAN SKY GUIDE ASTRONOMY 2018 CALENDAR
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the Astronomy yearbook series has been easy-to-read 2018 Australasian Sky Astronomy 2018 Calendar provides a guide
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Packed full of data, with extensive month- along with lots of interesting facts and lunar occultations, conjunctions and
by-month detail of whats visible in the gures, detailed descriptions of special meteor showers, plus monthly star maps
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EXPLORING THE SOLAR SYSTEM by Thomas A. Dobbins
Planetary Observing by Thomas A. Dobbins
A steady hand and steady sky along with a 45-cm

reector and a binocular viewer with high-quality 4.5-
mm eyepieces all came together for this sketched
rendering of Jupiter on March 27, 2017.
Taking a look at planetary observing

Which eyepieces should you use to get the best views of Solar System objects?
T his generation of amateur

astronomers can choose from
a bewildering variety of eyepiece
light transmission and freedom from
ghost images, internal reections and
scattered light.
and radius of curvature. With only two
air-glass surfaces, monocentrics provide
images of unsurpassed brightness and
types made to suit all purposes and Ghost images are caused by double contrast. But they have a very narrow
pocketbooks. Complex designs that reections from air-glass surfaces that apparent eld of view, only 25 to 30,
provide apparent elds of view of 80 come to focus at or near the eyes focal which many observers have compared
or even 100 can deliver a dramatic plane. The more of these interfaces to looking through a drinking straw.
spacewalk viewing experience. Many within an eyepiece, the greater the In 1911 Charles Hastings patented a
of these optical marvels command chance that ghost images will arise. renement of the design that Carl Zeiss
prices surpassing a decent 20-cm Modern anti-reection coatings produced until the 1950s. The rm
Newtonian reector complete with dramatically reduce such spurious TMB briey revived this design a decade
an equatorial mount. reections, but eliminating scattered ago, but today monocentrics are only
Just as some telescope designs light requires optical elements with well- available on the secondhand market.
provide discernibly superior visual views polished surfaces that are free of sleeks Orthoscopic: Designed by the
of Solar System targets, so do certain and scratches, blackened lens edges, a brilliant German mathematician and
eyepiece types. The planets all subtend nely threaded and effectively blackened physicist Ernst Abbe, the orthoscopic
very small apparent angular sizes, so interior of the eyepiece barrel, and a (from the Greek roots for straight
devoted planetary observers dont place sharp, well-dened eld stop. seeing) was the rst eyepiece to offer
a premium on wide apparent elds of Conventional wisdom has long held virtually complete correction of optical
view (or even 2-inch-format eyepieces) that the best planetary eyepieces are aberrations and distortion. Introduced
that require a multitude of lens those with the smallest number of lens in 1880, it consists of a cemented triplet
PE TER V ERCAU TEREN / ASTRONO M Y DR AWINGS.CO M
elements, air-glass surfaces or complex elements and air-glass surfaces that eld lens paired with a single-element
edge correction. can still provide a well-dened image biconvex or plano-convex eye lens.
in the centre of the eld of view. Three Widely available even today, orthoscopic
The virtues of simplicity optical congurations that satisfy eyepieces offer excellent sharpness,
Instead, contrast and denition are this minimum glass paradigm have colour correction, and contrast
the qualities of paramount importance emerged. combined with a 40 to 45 apparent
to the fastidious planetary observer. Monocentric: Introduced by eld of view.
Discerning all of the planetary Hugo Adolf Steinheil in 1883, the Plssl: This brainchild of Viennese
details that a telescopes optics and monocentric design comprises a optician Georg Simon Plssl originally
the state of the atmosphere allow cemented triplet lens with spherical consisted of a pair of identical cemented
demands eyepieces that have high surfaces that share a common centre doublets. It was also known as the

symmetrical eyepiece. Twentieth-
century renements of the original
1860 design by Rudolf Knig and
Chester Brandon place the interior
surfaces almost in contact to minimise
ghost reections and employ an eye lens
of shorter focal length than the eld
lens. Providing a 45 to 50 apparent
eld of view, the best Plssls rival the
performance of orthoscopics. But the
quality of todays commercial offerings
varies widely.
Importance of eye relief

During a typical planetary observing
S Eyepiece designs with fewer lenses tend to deliver the most light to your eye, but those with
session, youll maintain a prolonged complex optical combinations often provide more expansive views and better eye relief.
vigil at the eyepiece, waiting patiently
for those eeting moments when the
atmosphere steadies momentarily to does this present an insurmountable other undriven telescope, the wider eld
provide what Percival Lowell called obstacle to eyeglass wearers, but the is a welcome bonus because the target
revelation peeps. Comfort is of surface of the eye lens is also prone to doesnt drift out of the eld as quickly.
paramount importance if you want to smearing with eyelash oils. Frankly, much of the conventional
maintain visual acuity for long periods. The time-honoured solution to this wisdom about what constitutes virtue
To fully exploit the resolving ergonomic difculty is to combine an in the design of a planetary eyepiece
power of any telescope when viewing eyepiece of moderately long focal length has ceased to be true. Maximising
a low-contrast target, youll need to (and thus comfortable eye relief and light transmission while minimising
use a magnication of at least 1 per an eye lens of reasonable diameter) internal reections and contrast-
millimetre of aperture (or 25 per with a Barlow lens or other image robbing scattered light remain essential
inch) and, when the seeing permits, amplier that doubles or triples the goals, of course. But achieving them
you can double that value protably. A magnication. Most observers nd that no longer limits optical designers to
classic, long-tube achromatic refractor any loss of image quality resulting from a small number of lens elements and
with a focal ratio of f/15 achieves this the Barlows two additional air-glass uncomfortably tight eye relief.
range of magnication with eyepiece surfaces is almost imperceptible and Modern high-index glasses and
focal lengths of 15 to 7.5 mm. The more than offset by the combinations efcient, broadband, multilayer anti-
popular f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain ease of use and comfort. reection coatings allow many eyepieces
requires focal lengths of 10 to 5 mm, In fact, many of the best eyepiece with as many as 10 air-glass surfaces
while the increasingly common fast f/5 designs offered today integrate a to rival the performance of traditional
Newtonian reector needs 5 to 2.5 mm. Barlow lens to provide a remarkably eyepiece designs in critical side-by-side
The problem is that such short focal generous eye relief of 20 mm even with comparisons on the most challenging
lengths tend to offer poor eye relief, the eyepiece focal lengths as short as 3 mm, planetary details.
The minimum glass paradigm for
planetary eyepieces still has its vocal
Contrast and definition are the qualities of paramount
adherents, just as there are ardent
importance to the fastidious planetary observer. audiophiles who disparage digital
components in favour of old analogue
distance from the outer surface of the combined with well-corrected apparent technology. But theres been a marked
eyepieces eye lens within which you can elds of 50 to 60. At one point, TMB shift toward complex, high-quality
view the full viewing angle. Although offered six-element eyepieces of this eyepieces many of which, happily,
monocentric, orthoscopic and Plssl form that the designer, the late Thomas dont command substantially higher
eyepieces all provide decent eye relief, M. Back, claimed were the equal of the prices than those of older, simpler
G REGG DINDER M A N / S&T
about 70% to 80% of their focal length, rms gold standard monocentrics designs.
the short focal lengths required for in sharpness, contrast and lack of
planetary observing involve squinting scattered light while overcoming their TOM DOBBINS has forsaken his
through tiny eye lenses located just a poor eye relief and narrow eld of view. old orthoscopic eyepieces in favour of
few millimetres from your eye. Not only If you use a Dobsonian reector or some modern, short-focus offerings.
FAKE PHOTOS by Jerry Lodriguss
Ethics in Seeing isnt always believing

in the digital age.
Astrophotography
night sky for real. But, more importantly, when a fraud is
Is it real, or is it Photoshopped? exposed, it erodes the general publics condence in whats
T
hats often the rst thing we ask ourselves when seen in astronomical images. Fraudulent imagery desensitises
looking at a photograph today, meaning: Is it real, or viewers to fakes as well as to the truth. It also fosters
is it fake? cynicism about photography and science in general. This is
Photoshop, the trademarked name of Adobes image- probably the most damaging aspect of faked astrophotos that
processing program, originally was a noun. But today its are presented as real the erosion of trust.
listed in at least one dictionary as a verb, with the meaning:
to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other Counterfeit and more
image-editing software especially in a way that distorts There are two main types of deception associated with
reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes). problem astrophotos. The most common is misrepresentation
Fake images have become so sophisticated that most of the picture and how it was recorded.
casual observers often cant tell the difference between a An image published January 22, 2016, on the Astronomy
fabricated and a real photograph. And, like fake news stories, Picture of the Day website (apod.nasa.gov) purported to
fake images have become ubiquitous online theres even an depict the International Space Station (ISS) transiting Saturn
@FakeAstropics handle on Twitter. as captured by Julian Wessel. The photo displayed both the
JERRY LODRIGUSS
Experienced astrophotographers are justiably upset ISS and Saturn perfectly exposed, with the space station
when fabricated images garner attention, because they know perfectly placed exactly in the centre of as well as exactly
rsthand how much effort and skill it takes to shoot the the same size as the disk of the planet. The problem wasnt

W FULL DISCLOSURE The Moon was added to this image of a Some leading astrophotographers, quite upset about the
city skyline by the author for planning purposes to determine its ISS and Saturn fabrication, objected strongly on the APOD
position and size. It had not been published until now. forums. Planetary imaging expert Damian Peach wrote, It is
a total slap in the face to every imager that had dedicated in
S PROPER EXECUTION The real photo of the Moon setting some cases thousands of hours of time to getting the best real
over the city. The author waited three years for the combination of
images they can. Incidents like this also serve to undermine
Moon phase, location, time and weather to cooperate. The Moons
brightness was diminished by high clouds.
the pro/am relationship that exists in the planetary imaging
community.
APOD now includes a brief ethics statement on the
that this was a multiple-exposure composite. It was that it submissions page that states, APOD accepts composited
was misrepresented as being a real image from that event or digitally manipulated images, but requires them to be
when, in fact, it was faked. Wessel recorded the images of
the ISS and Saturn on different days, and the Sun-Saturn-ISS
SK Y LINE: JERRY LODRIGUSS; FIRST FA K E: HIPPOLY TE BAYA RD
W THE FIRST FAKE

geometry was all wrong. Wessel initially claimed the scene This photograph by
was real but later recanted when confronted with the facts. Hippolyte Bayard, taken
in 1840, is considered
The other basic deception is plagiarism, when an individual
to be the first staged
takes anothers work and claims it as his or her own. On photograph. Entitled Self
January 12, 2017, APOD published an image of NGC 891 with Portrait as a Drowned
a copyright by Alessandro Falesiedi. But actually it had been Man, it depicts the
taken from an original photo by Adam Block. The editors of photographer pretending
to have committed
APOD removed his image and replaced it with Blocks when
suicide in response to
the similarities between the two images were pointed out. the French government
Both of these images Wessels and Falesiedis now acknowledging Louis
reside in shame, with others, on the APOD retractions page Daguerre as the inventor
on Facebook at bit.ly/2szepXi. of photography.
FAKE PHOTOS
of, revealing a previously hidden world of faint astronomical

objects. Most of the major discoveries in astronomy over the
past 100 years involved astrophotography, including Edwin
Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe.
Blurred lines
Fakes have existed in photography since the invention
of the medium, but in its early days forgeries were more
shocking when exposed because of that reality element of
photography. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in the
truthfulness of the faked Cottingley Fairies photos.
Today we dont have any problem accepting ction as
entertainment. Think of all the computer-generated special
effects used in movies. We dont think Gollum is real in Lord
of the Rings. We dont feel a sense of betrayal by them because
S CONVINCING FAIRIES The Cottingley Fairies are a famous example we know up front that they are ction. Historians consider
of an early photographic deception. Acquired by Sir Arthur Conan
Ansel Adams a realist nature photographer, yet one of his
Doyle in 1920 to illustrate an article on fairies in The Strand Magazine,
the photos were presented as genuine, though decades later the two most famous images Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico
cousins who took them admitted they were faked using cutouts from a is extremely unrealistic. The photograph depicts the rising
popular childrens book. gibbous Moon in a pitch-black daytime sky taken when the Sun
was still above the horizon. Viewers in this case willingly accept
identied as such and to have the techniques used described the emotional impact of the art of the image without worrying
in a straightforward, honest and complete way. about it being exactly as Adams camera recorded the scene.
Phony images that undermine our belief in science are Astronomical images can also present some interesting
a real concern. Photographs are incredibly powerful to us, ethical considerations when it comes to image manipulation,
because our visual system is so connected to our survival. It especially in this age of digital photography and Photoshop.
is the primary way we interact with the world we think, Some imagers believe astrophotos should reect what
literally, that seeing is believing. objects should look like if they could be seen visually. But if
Photography is also important to science because it this argument was enforced, almost all long-exposure, deep
extends human vision to reveal things that are invisible sky images would be merely shades of grey, because the eye
to the eye, even when looking through giant telescopes just doesnt see colours under faint illumination.
(including wavelengths beyond those visible to our eyes, such Others, especially those in journalism, feel an image
as ultraviolet, infrared and radio wavelengths). This comes should strictly be presented as it came out of the camera, in a
from its ability to integrate exposures and keep collecting single frame, without any changes. But this is unrealistic and
photons for much longer time periods than the eye is capable uninformed. All images from a digital camera are manipulated
Disk of Saturn
15.6 arcseconds
FAIRIES: ELSIE WRIG H T; SAT UR N & ISS (2): JULIA N WESSEL
International
Space Station
24.1 arcseconds
W DECEPTIVE COMPOSITE This image purported to capture the

International Space Station as it passed in front of Saturn on January
15, 2016. Above: Skeptical visitors to the APOD website noticed several
inconsistencies with Wessels image. One major discrepancy was the
apparent size of the space station compared to the disk of the planet as
seen from the photographers location near Dlmen, Germany.

S PLAGIARISM Another APOD post, on January 12, 2017, shows the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 (left). Although credited to Alessandro
Falesiedi, it shared many similarities with an image taken by well-known astrophotographer Adam Block. The unique light scattering around the bright
stars is one of several characteristics that helped conclusively identify the deception. Blocks original is seen at right.
to some degree, including by the camera itself. The raw data are another persons image intentionally stolen? Almost everyone
linear. Yet human vision is nonlinear, so special adjustments would agree that those behaviours cross the ethical line.
are applied to the image before its displayed. Its really pretty simple. It comprises two of the rst things
To make faint details visible, most deep sky astrophotos we learn in life: Dont steal, and dont lie.
require contrast enhancement far beyond what we would
do to a normal daytime image. Colour is produced from So is it real?
monochrome sensors by the clever use of red, green and blue Photography can be an honest and believable representation
lters over alternating pixels. At its most fundamental level, a of reality. It can also be fantasy and fabrication. The crucial
digital photograph is just a series of coloured blocks! thing is to be honest about how you create an image and then
Many other examples demonstrate how lines are blurred its viewers can make their own judgments.
when manipulating an image. Some are considered acceptable We trust our eyes and, by extension, we trust images.
almost without question, such as white balancing to produce But in reality, were placing our trust in the photographer.
natural colours. Others are more complex, such as high- It is only when fake images are deliberately presented as
dynamic-range processing, which has the potential to be the truth that potential problems arise. These forgeries,
more truthful to a scene in nature, and to what the eye whether in news stories or as astronomical images, erode
actually saw, than what a single frame can record, because the publics ability to distinguish between ction and reality,
the eye has a much greater dynamic range than a camera desensitising us to differences between the two.
does. For instance, the wide range of brightness within What the unscrupulous fail to realise is that with
the solar corona visible during a total eclipse of the Sun is the scrutiny that many amateurs invest in examining
impossible to capture in a single exposure. astrophotos, it is extremely difcult to fool us. The
perpetrators reputations are seriously compromised after
A DA M BLOCK / M OU N T LEM M ON SK YCEN TER / UNIV ERSIT Y OF A RIZON A (2)
Ethics dened being revealed. After theyre exposed as frauds, every other
Once we get past the fact that all images are manipulated image theyve produced suddenly becomes suspect.
in some way, we get to the heart of the matter: the ethics When viewing an image in todays post-factual world we
involved. Ethics dene a set of moral values of acceptable should remain skeptical, because it is a useful survival trait.
conduct. So what kinds of image manipulation are Remember this unattributed skeptics maxim: Do not be so
acceptable? open-minded that your brains fall out.
Personally, I believe that almost anything goes when it Accept that if its someones intention to deceive, some
comes to image manipulation if the photographer is honest people are going to be deceived. But the perpetrators are
about what he or she has done. Then the viewers can judge almost certainly going to be exposed eventually. And you
the image and place a value on its truth and aesthetics for shouldnt let these deceptive images harden your heart to the
themselves. Is it something they can trust to be a faithful sense of natural wonder and joy that a real astronomical or
representation of reality, or is it merely eye candy? nature photograph can bring.
What is important from an ethical standpoint is
transparency and intent. Did the photographer lie about Contributing Editor JERRY LODRIGUSS shoots real
how an image was created with the intent to deceive, or was astrophotos his from suburban home.
AS&T TEST REPORT by Richard Tresch Fienberg
Get up and go with AZ Mount Pro

iOptrons full-featured alt-azimuth Go To mount provides convenience and performance.
THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER dictionary

denes convenient as suited to personal
comfort or to easy performance.
Personal comfort isnt necessarily
something we associate with amateur
astronomy in decades past it took
considerable knowledge and effort
to aim a telescope at anything you
couldnt see with the unaided eye.
Enter todays computerised Go
To telescopes and mounts. Once
initialised, they make easy work of
observing one faint target after another.
Some of the latest models have made
setup as effortless as ipping a switch.
Today, backyard astronomy can be very
convenient indeed!
After appearing on the scene about
10 years ago, iOptron has become a
respected supplier of Go To mounts
and related gear. Among its newest
offerings is the AZ Mount Pro, an
altitude-azimuth Go To mount that,
at rst glance, could be mistaken for
the companys older Mini-Tower Pro.
The newer mount incorporates more
sophisticated electronics, as suggested
by the words easy level and go
intuitive setup in iOptrons ads.
In addition to easy setup, the new
mounts key features include a saddle
that can accept either Losmandy- or
narrower Vixen-style dovetail bars,
an internal rechargeable lithium-
iOptron AZ Mount Pro altazimuth What we like ion battery, and the ability to attach
mount with 5cm tripod Automatic alignment two telescopes at once by swapping
routine works well
the counterweight for an optional A LL PHOTOS BY SE A N WA LK ER / SK Y & TELESCOPE
US price: $1,299
Accurate pointing & tracking secondary saddle one that accepts
iOptron.com and dealers
across the entire sky only a Vixen-style dovetail bar. To see
Intuitive, user-friendly whether the AZ Mount Pro lives up to
S The compact AZ Mount Pro can handle a hand controller its marketing claims, we borrowed a
payload of up to 15 kg and includes the Go2Nova production unit from iOptron and took
hand controller, a universal saddle plate that What we dont like it for a test drive.
accepts both Vixen- and Losmandy-style dovetail User manual
mounts, and an internal rechargeable battery good
for up to 10 hours of observing.
Serial-to-USB interface Thinking inside the box
cable not included The mount is available in several
Also pictured is the optional 5-cm steel tripod and
4.5-kg counterweight. Charger cable too short congurations. The kit that iOptron

battery is fully charged. The chargers with my Explore Scientic 80-mm f/6
cord is not quite 1.2 metres long; with refractor, which tips the scales at about
the mount sitting on my desk, I had to 4.5 kg including its 8=50 nder, star
use a household extension cord to reach diagonal and a 2-inch eyepiece. With
the nearest power point. It took less such a light telescope, iOptron says the
than an hour to top off the batterys mounts counterweight isnt necessary,
charge. (Subsequent charges, done after but I used it anyway, for a total payload
draining the battery in the eld, took of 9 kg.
only a few hours.) For proper alignment of the AZ
Mount Pro, you need to make sure the
Assembly and setup telescope aperture points in the same
The quick-start guide says to install the direction as a small white triangle on
three level-adjustment screws into the the dovetail saddle. This little indicator
tripod head and then place the mount isnt very prominent, and it gets covered
atop them. However, the tripod pictured by the dovetail bar. It would be helpful
in the quick-start guide and in the to have additional white triangles
full users manual didnt match my on the saddles sides, so that you can
tripod, which had two sets of holes for double-check after attaching the
the adjustment screws. I gured out telescope. I also balanced the telescope
which set to use by looking at the holes in the saddle as indicated in the
S iOptron includes a rugged case with a in the bottom of the mount. iOptron quick-start guide to avoid straining the
custom foam insert to hold the mount head, should incorporate new photos into mounts altitude motor.
Go To controller and several small accessories. future versions of these documents. The rst time that I put everything
For the AZ Mount Pro to operate together, I did it indoors and then
supplied to us sells with product code properly, it needs to be level. Leveling carried the assembled unit outdoors.
8900, which ships in two boxes. One the tripod itself isnt critical; you just Too heavy! Subsequently, I took the gear
box includes the mount head, hand level it by eye using the adjustable outside in pieces and assembled it at my
controller, battery charger, cables, legs. You then level the mount on the observing site.
leveling screws and tripod-locking knob, tripod by twisting the leveling screws
all neatly tucked into a foam-tted as needed to centre the built-in bubble On the sky
carrying case. The other contains a level on the base. The AZ Mount Pros claim to fame is its
heavy-duty tripod with 5-cm-diameter The AZ Mount Pro is rated for a self-calibration routine. I wasnt entirely
legs, a 4.5 kg counterweight, and a primary payload of 15 kg. I tested it sure what would happen when I rst
triangular spreader to stabilise the
tripod and lock its legs in position.
Upon opening the case, I found
a quick-start guide but not a more
detailed manual. The guide lists some
online resources available on the
companys website including a PDF
version of the users manual, which I
downloaded. Call me old-fashioned,
but I think a product in this price range
should include the printed manual.
(As Ill explain later, there were two
other items absent that I think should
have been in the box too.) I went to
the Support section of iOptron.com,
scrolled through the list of available
instruction manuals, and downloaded W Orientation of the saddle plate is important
the PDF for the AZ Mount Pro. for the mounts level-and-go setup. Your
telescopes aperture must point in the direction
Step 1 in the quick-start guide says
of the small white triangle on the plate. Above:
to charge the mount using the included Attaching the AZ Mount Pro to the 5-cm tripod
AC charger, which has an LED that requires first installing three leveling knobs
turns from red to green when the within the inner set of threaded holes.
AS&T TEST REPORT
ENTER. Pressing the up- and down- bright 1st- and 2nd-magnitude stars, but
arrow keys has no effect. This seems the AZ Mount Pros internal catalogue
to imply that the star will already be of alignment stars (listed in an appendix
centred vertically, but it turns out that to the users manual) numbers more
youll adjust the up-down pointing in than 250, and some are 4th magnitude.
the next step. Most of us need to consult a star chart
On this rst attempt to have to identify such faint stars. Accordingly,
the mount align itself to the sky I think iOptron should include in its
automatically, my telescope ended up users manual a rudimentary all-sky
pointed several degrees from the target chart that labels all the alignment stars
star in both azimuth and altitude, for quick reference in the eld.
placing it outside the nderscope eld. With the mount successfully
I used the hand controller to get closer aligned/calibrated, I commanded it to
S There are three input ports on the base of in azimuth, then loosened the altitude- point to a selection of stars and deep
the mount. The HBX port accepts the Go2Nova lock knob and manually adjusted the sky objects scattered all over the sky.
hand controller, while the RS232 serial port
aim closer in altitude too (I didnt yet Initially I tted my refractor with an
is used to connect to a computer, though
youll need to provide your own serial-to-USB
know that the up- and down-arrow eyepiece providing a generous 3 eld
adapter if your computer lacks a serial port. keys would be activated in the next of view. Not surprisingly, every slew put
The port at right is for the AC charger. step). With the star now in the nder the target in the eld, usually near the
eld, I centred it on the crosshair and centre. Next I switched to an eyepiece
powered up the mount, because I found conrmed that it was in the eyepiece, giving a 1 eld. Each new target still
conicting instructions in the quick- then pressed ENTER. The hand landed in the eyepiece, though not as
start guide. Step 10 says to ip the controller then reported a successful consistently near the center.
power switch to ON and wait for the alignment. As for the stability of the mount, I
mount to perform its self-calibration. Before describing what happened found the AZ Mount Pro on its beefy
But Step 13 says that when you power next, I need to offer two observations. tripod to be rock-steady. My telescope
up the mount, a message on the hand First, neither the quick-start guide settled down within 2 to 3 seconds
controller will ask if you want to run nor the users manual say anything after a light tap on the eyepiece. And it
the assist alignment wizard if you about using a low-power eyepiece or tracked its targets tenaciously. I could
do, youre supposed to press the ENTER nderscope when aligning the mount leave the scope unattended for an hour
key, and if you dont (that is, if youd they assume you already know to or so, and when Id come back, the
prefer to manually perform a one-, do this. Second, the hand controller last object Id been looking at was still
two- or three-star alignment), youre identies alignment stars by name. visible through the eyepiece.
supposed to press BACK instead. I think its fair to expect amateur The more I used the mount, the
It turns out both are true. The hand astronomers to know the names of more comfortable I became with the
controller does indeed ask for the users
input but doesnt wait very long for it. If
you dont respond within a few seconds,
it assumes you want it to self-calibrate
and proceeds accordingly. The mount
makes a complete turn in azimuth and
swings the telescope between horizontal
and vertical; concurrently, it establishes
a GPS satellite link to determine your
geographic location and local time.
After a brief pause in the so-called
zero position (facing south with the
telescope at the zenith) it determines
a suitable naked-eye alignment star,
identies it on the hand controller, and
slews toward it.
Once the mount stops moving, the
instructions on the hand controller
say to centre the target star using the S A retractable counterweight shaft is secured using a collet-style twist-lock system. Its most
left- and right-arrow keys, then press useful when using scopes weighing more than 5.5 kg.

control the mount with a compatible I went to the Support section of
planetarium program. I used SkySafari iOptrons website and saw that not
Pro on my iPad, and it worked like a only was there new rmware for the
charm: Touch an object on the screens AZ Mount Pro, but that it purportedly
sky chart, press the programs Go To improved initial calibration accuracy.
button, and the AZ Mount Pro slews to Following the step-by-step instructions
the target without hesitation. in the users manual, I updated both
Once aligned to the sky, the mount the hand controller and the mounts
had no trouble putting objects in the main electronics board, and after that
eyepiece, no matter how long the slew. the initial alignment routine went
But I kept having trouble with the much better.
initial self-calibration, rarely getting
the auto-alignment star in the eyepiece, Final thoughts
let alone the nder. It occurred to me So, who is the AZ Mount Pro for? I
that perhaps this could be xed with a dont think itd be a good rst mount
software update. The only item I hadnt for a newcomer to amateur astronomy,
yet removed from the aluminum case because its operation requires at least a
S iOptrons Go2Nova 8407 controller includes was the supplied RS232-RJ9 serial cable, modicum of knowledge and experience
a database of more than 212,000 objects,
which is included for this purpose. But in the hobby. But for anyone looking to
including the Messier, NGC and IC catalogues,
as well as many Solar System objects (though my laptop PC doesnt have a 9-pin serial match a small- to medium-size optical
excluding Pluto). A bracket is included on the port, and I suspect yours doesnt either; telescope assembly with a sturdy,
mount to conveniently hang the hand paddle much like parallel ports for connecting full-featured alt-az mount for visual
when not in use. printers, serial ports have been replaced observing, the AZ Mount Pro would be
by USB ports on modern computers. a terric choice. With its automated
hand controller, which is really quite I needed a serial-to-USB adapter, and alignment routine and superb pointing
intuitive in its operation. It takes iOptron sells one. Fortunately, I already and tracking, it takes backyard
no more than two or three button- owned one, but this accessory should be astronomy to a whole new level of
pushes to navigate to different celestial included with the mount. convenience.
catalogues and choose objects to view.
If I picked something that wasnt up
yet, the controller helpfully said as
much. And if you do a little exploring
and sweep up a star or faint fuzzy
whose identity youre not sure of, the
controller will identify it for you if
its in one of its catalogues which is
likely, as the database includes more
than 200,000 objects.
Additional features
The mount normally tracks at the
sidereal rate, but it can also track at
solar or lunar rates, though youll need
to switch to these speeds manually. I
was disappointed that Pluto is missing
from the Solar System menu. Pluto
may no longer be an ofcial planet, but
it hasnt been kicked out of the Solar
System!
Another nice feature of the
AZ Mount Pro is built-in Wi-Fi
connectivity. When you turn on the
Wi-Fi system with the hand controller
and connect to its network with your S An optional Vixen-style saddle is available that replaces the counterweight, enabling
smartphone or tablet, you can remotely users to mount a second telescope.
ASTRONOMERS WORKBENCH by Jerry Oltion
A simple observing stool, plus

Build the Swiss Army Knife of observing stools.
EVERY AMATEUR ASTRONOMER easily supports Tonys weight with no

needs something to sit on, for kids to wobble. The stool weighs 7 kg when
stand on at star parties, and something empty, light enough to carry easily but
to carry our gear in. And its nice to heavy enough to not tip over when you
have a visual guide to help locate our bump against it.
scopes in the dark. Tony painted it glossy white inside
Victorian ATM Tony Morris has and out to increase visibility of the
answered all these needs with a single accessories he stores in it and to keep
project: a multi-purpose seat/stand/ from tripping over it in the dark, but his
storage compartment/marker light. observing site is dark enough that that
S At night the interior LED provides a soft glow
Practicality, utility, durability and wasnt quite enough. That led him to visible from a fair distance, yet it is not too
functionality were uppermost in his the idea of lighting it from within and bright when the box is opened.
mind. He also wanted it to be light, drilling holes in the sides and top so the
strong and stable. That led to a three- light could shine outward. conditions when my pupils have dilated
legged design to ensure stability on The light is simply a jumbo red (10 sufciently, I can see the seat from
uneven surfaces. This in turn steered mm) LED mounted through a hole quite a distance. But the light level is so
him toward a triangular seat that in a small piece of Perspex acrylic low that no other astronomer has ever
required less complicated cutting than sheet taped to a 9-volt battery. A little complained when I have lifted the lid to
if he had decided on a hexagonal shape. experimentation led him to use a nd some item.
He started by cutting the sides of the 420-ohm resistor in series to drive the The holes in the lid serve a second,
box, using 12-mm-thick particle board, LED with the optimal light output. valuable function: They provide markers
and gussets for the corners (both top Tony reports that under very dark for where to put your feet when standing
and bottom) out of 33-mm on the stool. This is especially
particle board. He screwed and useful at star parties when
glued those pieces together, then children need to stand tall to
added the feet, which are made reach the eyepiece. The holes
of 25-by-50-mm hollow steel are drilled near the outer edge
tubing that he splayed outward to serve as a warning of where
slightly to improve stability. He the footing ends. Tony says, My
didnt have to bend the tubing; stool is far more stable than a
he simply mounted the legs at an step ladder, and the dim red light
angle when he drilled the holes shining through the holes in
to bolt them in place. He usually the lid lets a child know exactly
observes on hard ground, so he where his/her feet are.
hasnt had to plug the feet yet, Overall, Tony is very happy
but he plans to do that with with his combination project. He
angle iron when necessary. reports just one glitch: If I were
The oor of the box is to build another astronomy stool
Masonite, and the lid is 18-mm I would denitely build it to the
particle board edged with angle same basic design, but I would
aluminium. The edging extends make the boxs sides 2 inches
below the outer sides of the box Tony Morris with longer so my star atlas would t
and keeps the lid from slipping his multi-purpose inside it!
TO N Y M O R R IS (2)
sideways. seat/stand/storage For more information,

The triangular box gives the compartment/homing contact Tony at pandt@vic.
beacon.
stool strength and rigidity. It chariot.net.au

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Subscribe online at www.skyandtelescope.com.au

NIGHT LIFE
S Sunshine by day, dark skies at night. The inaugural Star Stuff

festival at Byron Bay was a roaring success.
AstroLight World Space Week International Observe NACAA 2018

September 23 October 410 the Moon Night March 30April 2
Huge Melbourne-based astronomy and The largest public space event on October 28 National meeting of amateur
light festival for all ages. Earth, with more than 2,700 events in Annual celebration of our celestial astronomers to exchange ideas and
astrolightvic.wordpress.com 86 countries. neighbour. Get involved! foster co-operation.
JENN Y BRIA N /K IRR A PENDERG AST/STA R ST UFF
worldspaceweek.org observethemoonnight.org nacaa.org.au

StarFest
September 29October 1 VicSouth Desert Spring Snake Valley Astrocamp
Fantastic celebration of astronomy at Star Party November 1821
Coonabarabran, the home of optical October 2023 Dark skies 30 minutes from Ballarat or
astronomy in Australia. Includes Siding Joint venture of the astro societies of 90 minutes from Melbourne. Cabins
Spring Open Day. Victoria and South Australia. and camping available.
starfest.org.au vicsouth.info/vicsouth.htm snakevalleyastrocamps.org
WHATS UP? Do you have an event or activity coming up? Email us at editor@skyandtelescope.com.au

Stars align at Byron Bay
The weather gods were kind for the inaugural Star Stuff festival.
ASTRONOMY EVENTS are notoriously paced mix of humour and education that 100 amateur astronomers. VicSouth
at the mercy of the weather. It was good entertained everyone. All speakers were is jointly hosted by the Astronomical
fortune therefore, that the inaugural well received though, with every session Society of South Australia and the
Star Stuff at Byron Bay occurred under packing the 400 seat-conference hall Astronomical Society of Victoria and is
clear, crisp winter skies after a month- to capacity. Vendors such as Australian held at the Little Desert Nature Lodge
long deluge of rain. Weather-proof Geographic, Bintel and Celestron had on the northern edge of the Little Desert
though the event was, with two days their gear on display and attendees also National Park, about 4.5 hours from both
of deep-diving talks on cosmology, enjoyed solar viewing, Mars 3D Virtual Melbourne and Adelaide. Visit vicsouth.
rocket science, dark matter and Reality, a movie screening of Hidden info/vicsouth.htm for more info.
astrophotography, the added bonus Figures and lots of give-aways. Also in Victoria, next month
of dark-sky stargazing at Australias Tickets sold out this year and if the (November 1821) will see the
easternmost cape delighted attendees. audience feedback is any indicator, the next Snake Valley Astro Camp. The
The luxurious venue, Elements of sequel in mid-2018 will do the same. Valleys very dark skies, facilities
Byron, was a welcome backdrop with More info at starstuff.com.au. (cabins and camping are available)
space-themed wines and ne dining. Down south in Victoria this month and friendly company are only
Dr Karl Kruszelnickis address Great (October 2023) will be the VicSouth 30 minutes from Ballarat and 90
moments in space science at the VIP Desert Spring Party, an annual event minutes from Melbourne. Details at
dinner on the Saturday night was a fast- rst held in 2003 that attracts around snakevalleyastrocamps.org.
SSO Open Day - 9:30am to 4pm

30th September
Science in the Pub
7:30pm 29th September Bok Lecture - 10am 1st October
music, food and refreshments, science Coonabarabran Bowling Club
Coonabarabran Bowling Club
An evening of banter and
debate with science writer Director of the ANUs Research
and talks about astronomy for children. School of Astronomy and Astro-
and astronomer, Professor
StarFest 2017 is proudly supported by physics. Professor Colless will
acclaimed astronomers Dr present this years Bok Lecture
Julie Baneld, Dr Hercules and will be explaining why
Konstantopoulos, Dr Millie Aliens is not the answer to
Maier and Dr Ivy Wong.
For more details and bookings, go to: www.starfest.org.au or www.facebook.com/StarFestSidingSpring
GALLERY
Astrophotos from our readers
S THE TRIFID
Ryan Curcio
Ryan, who is 15 years old and has taken up
astrophotography as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award
scheme, took this image of the Trifid Nebula using a
Williams Optics 110mm f/7 triplet Fluoro Star, modified
Canon EOS 40D with light pollution filter, and a total
exposure time of 120 minutes.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR IMAGES Images should be sent electronically and in high-resolution (up to 10MB per email) to contributions@
skyandtelescope.com.au. Please provide full details for each image, eg. date and time taken; telescope and/or lens; mount; imaging equipment
type and model; filter (if used); exposure or integration time; and any software processing employed. If your image is published in our Gallery, you'll
receive a 3-issue digital subscription or renewal to the magazine.

S BOX SEAT
Ray Prior
The Jewel Box star cluster
is a fine sight in Crux.
For this shot, Ray used
a Canon 1100D camera
and a 20-cm Newtonian
scope, for 18x 15-second
exposures, put together
with DeepSkyStacker
software.
W ISLAND IDYLL
Zachary Veron
An idyllic sight, seen
from an idyllic location
Lord Howe Island
with the Moon, Venus
and Mars setting over
the lagoon. Zac used a
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II
camera, Canon EF 24-70
f/2.8L II USM lens, and a
20-second exposure at
f/2.8 (ISO 3200).
GALLERY
T PANORAMIC SKIES
Ryan Owens
To make this image of the Milky Way, Ryan
stitched together twelve, 30-minute exposures
in Microsoft ICE. He used a Fujifilm X-T1
camera, Fujinon XF 55-200mm lens at f/3.5
and an iOptron SkyTracker mount.

S DIVING IN
William Tan
This is not how we normally see the Lagoon Nebula, but its how it
looks when seen through O III, S II and H-alpha filters. William used a
Sky Rover 110ED doublet lens with 0.8x reducer and a ASI 1600MM-
Cool camera. Total exposure time was 2.5 hours.
W TROPICAL GALAXY
Justin Young
Theres nothing to compare with the sight of the Milky Way
stretching across the sky. For this shot, Justin used a Fujifilm X-E1
camera with a Samyang 12 wide-angle lens for the 13-second
exposure (ISO 3200). Post-processing was done in Lightroom.
Market
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LFDPHUDFRP

Next Issue
ON SALE
October 12
SpaceTime* covers the latest news in astronomy &

space sciences. The show is available as a free twice
weekly podcast through itunes, Stitcher, Pocketcasts,
SoundCloud, Bitesz.com, Audio Boom, and from
spacetimewithstuartgary.com
SpaceTime is also broadcast coast to coast across the
United States on Science360 Radio by the National Science
Foundation in Washington D.C.
SpaceTime blog
spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com
SpaceTime Facebook
facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary Earths dying days
The fate of the Solar System largely hangs
SpaceTime Twitter on how the Sun ages. Regardless of the
@stuartgary outcome, it doesnt look good for us.
* Formerly known as Star Stuff on ABC radio

Father of southern astronomy
Frenchman Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille
created more of todays constellations
than anyone before or since.
Design Your Own Custom Adapter at
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Filter Wheels, Cameras, and more
info@preciseparts.com
The hunt for Planet X

ADVERTISER INDEX Australian Sky & Telescope magazine acknowledges Evidence is building that a large world
and thanks the advertisers who appear in this issue. Speciality equipment manufacturers lurks far beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
and dealers are an important resource for astronomers. We encourage you to contact these The race to find it is on.
advertisers and benefit from their experience.
Astro Anarchy .......................................... 51 Orion Telescopes & Binoculars ............... 6-7 Searching for ET
ATIK Cameras .......................................... 45 OzScopes ........................................... 31, 33 How do you listen for signals from trillions
Australian Sky & Telescope .......... 52, 61, 79 PreciseParts ..............................................81 of potential planets circling millions of
stars? Andromeda is the answer.
British Astronomical Association .............. 9 Rogers Optics & Restoration ...................79
Celestron ...................................... 11, 80, 84 Siding Spring Observatory Starfest ......... 75
Finger Lakes Instrumentation .................. 41 Sky-Watcher (Tasco Sales Aust.) ......... 2, 83 FIND US ON
Meade (Tasco Sales Aust.) ........................ 3 Stuart Garys SpaceTime ..........................81
iOptron ...................................................... 13 VernonScope ............................................ 49
FACEBOOK
FOCAL POINT by Martin Elvis
The crisis in space observatories

Doing just one NASA agship mission at a time hurts science. Here's a solution.
NEXT YEAR NASA will launch

the biggest, most expensive space
observatory it has ever built. The James
Webb Space Telescope will be a wonder
of its age, promising to reveal secrets
of exoplanets, the deep universe and
much more.
But Webbs launch will also mark
the end of an era. For three decades,
astronomers have had deep access to
the entire spectrum: from X-rays and
gamma rays through the ultraviolet,
optical and infrared bands. But Webb,
an infrared telescope, is so big a step
that no instrument in other bands of
the spectrum can match it.
Surely we should be patient and wait
a few years while NASA builds amazing
telescopes for other wavelengths? Not
this time. Webb has cost NASA almost
$8 billion. Thats a lot. The agencys Spitzer. Thats why they are called the priority order. So far, so good. But once
Astrophysics Division has about half a Great Observatories they are a great a list reaches the decision makers, it
billion dollars a year for new, big space team. In the Webb era, we must wait a becomes a way of selling astronomers
observatories. So at Webbs cost, we will decade or more to do that. That wont #1 priority and only that. After all,
have matching X-ray, ultraviolet, and be a fun game to watch. Our long who wants second best?
far-infrared observatories in 50 years! golden age of astronomy will be over. So we go heavily for one big mission.
This is a crisis. Why? Because, as the What can we do? Asking to double And of course, these big missions do
band Nada Surfs 2012 album has it, the budget would be as unsuccessful fantastic science. But are we getting the
the stars are indifferent to astronomy. as Oliver Twist asking for some most science for the buck? Could two or
Stars dont care about the limits of our more. The only way out is to make three less expensive missions do more
in aggregate?
To nd out, we must pit one choice
Big missions do fantastic science. against another. And there are many
great ideas for breakthrough missions
But are we getting the most science for the buck? costing far less than Webb. So I suggest
that NASA ask the next decadal review
telescope technologies. They shine as observatories cheaper. New rockets, not for a wish list but for a complete
they will, and we must capture their from newcomer SpaceX and traditional program of spectrum-spanning
messages, whatever the wavelength. players, are slashing costs to orbit missions, at the same total cost. Then
That makes 21st-century astronomy by two-thirds or more. That lets us our golden age will thrive for another
a team sport: All of our observatories consider how we can build spacecraft generation.
DAVIDE BON A Z ZI / SA L ZM A N A RT
must play together, kicking the ball and telescopes cheaper, too.
rapidly to the best-positioned player. But to take advantage of the savings MARTIN ELVIS is a senior
Today, if you make an ultraviolet- we must choose wisely. Every ten years astrophysicist who has researched
band discovery with Hubble, within astronomers perform a decadal review. quasars and, more recently, near-Earth
a year you can check it out in X-rays Their task is to make a wish list of asteroids. All opinions expressed here
with Chandra and in the infrared with large- and medium-size missions, in are his own.

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What telescopes are featured in the magazine?

What telescopes are featured in the magazine?

What are some tips for choosing telescopes?

What are some tips for choosing telescopes?

DUSTY TARGETS Track the FAKE PHOTOS Seeing isnt always EYEPIECES Choosing the

THE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE OF ASTRONOMY

TEST REPORT P68

STAR GATE DOBSONIAN

TABLE TOP DOBSONIAN

SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE,

f/10 - 16 Model shown

f Available in 10, 12, 14, 16 apertures

WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE?

24 In the dark about dark matter

4 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

76 Gallery Printed by Webstar

Check out the Orion page on Facebook

Kepler team releases nal catalogue

8 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

China launches X-ray observatory

MISSIONS: INSTITUTE OF HIGH ENERGY PH YSICS (CHINESE ACA DEMY OF SCIENCES)

Supermassive black holes in close dance

BL ACK HOLES: JOSH VA LENZUEL A / UNIV. OF NE W ME XICO;

G A L A XIES: STEPH A NIE JUNE AU E T A L.

10 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

CELESTRON AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS:

Finding the rst exoplanets

12 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY skies of the Societys rural property,

14 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

16 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

Density increases by 100 trillion times

20 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

energy to be conned closer and closer together. To counter

22 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

24 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

matter that we know of is made of elementary particles, 10 40

26 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

neutrino oor will be a new window into how these particles

TOP: L A MESTL A MER / CC BY-SA 3.0; BOT TO M: CAST / CER N

28 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

3D MAP Astronomers produced this 3D slice of the cosmic

30 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

Bosons Fermions Macroscopic

1022eV eV meV keV MeV GeV TeV Solar mass

32 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

Great The Lesson of the

34 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

It was the largest refractor ever

handle a telescope 60 metres long. Such an unwieldy tube

Deloncle had an interest in astronomy, and a desire to

A bold and different vision

36 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

LON E T L V Y / LON E T L V Y / ROG ER VIOLLE T / THE IM AG E WOR KS

38 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

asteroid orbits just outside of a large gap

40 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE October 2017

Widest Field DQG Highest Resolution: Introducing our 50 Megapixel ML50100

KAF-50100 with microlens

Designed and manufactured in New York, USA.