Monthly Archives: June 2016

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Recent Product Announcements To CNYO – Night Sky Star Stensils™ And An Environmentally Friendly Lighting Resource From LEDLights

The following emails and product information came to the CNYO inbox recently and are reproduced below as received. CNYO does not endorse any particular product or service, but is happy to provide a forum for astronomy-related merchandise and services. Members of the CNYO board will also consider reviewing products on a case-by-case basis (please contact info@cnyo.org for more information).

Environmental Impact Of Lighting, from www.ledlights.co.uk

From the email:

Our choice of lighting can have a significant impact on the environment. Overly bright lights can disrupt hunting patterns, confuse baby turtles as they try to make their way out to sea, disrupt mating habits, and make it more difficult for birds to navigate. In addition to the effects of the lights themselves, how we produce light can have a significant impact on the environment. Fossil fuels and toxic materials can have a direct, disruptive effect on the environment, as well as contributing to global warming. There are a number of steps both individuals and companies can take to reduce the effects of light pollution on our environment. Limiting when exterior light is used, choosing more energy efficient bulbs, reducing the amount of street lighting after certain hours, and finding more environmentally friendly sources of energy can all improve the situation for wildlife.

Whether you make changes to your own habits at home or lobby for companies to be more responsible with their light usage, any steps to create more environmentally friendly lighting can help wildlife in your area.

And their very organized environmental impact poster is provided below (click for a larger copy):

2016june13_Environmental-Impact-LEDs-Infographic

Night Sky Star Stensils™

The following email and brochures were sent courtesy of Dick Shimmin of Bridgeway, Inc. (facebook), located in Galesburg, IL. For additional information (or to purchase), the product reviews on amazon.com may be useful.

Click HERE For The Product Announcement (in PDF Format)

Click HERE For The Product Brochure (in PDF Format)

2015april1_nightskiespictureThe Night Skies Star Stencils can create a relaxing and romantic display of a real night sky in any darkened room of anyone lured by the attraction to or are studying the night time sky, particularly those associated with CNY Observers. The Night Skies Star Stencils are available in two sizes featuring accurate and educational winter or summer night time displays over the Northern Hemisphere. Luminous paint and a corresponding star map are included with each Night Skies Star Stencils to enhance their educational value. The stencils can be used more than once and additional luminous paint is available. They can be purchased from many retailers who can be found by searching “Night Skies Star Stencils” on the Internet.

The Night Skies Star Stencils are a portion of the Ursa Major stencil selection (ursamajorstencils.com) produced by Bridgeway. Bridgeway, headquartered in Illinois, is a not-for-profit agency that provides an assortment of services to disabled people. Sales of its American made products help fund those programs.

12963487_1149217685119045_5991915582496788297_n* Night Sky Star Stencil™ transforms the ceiling of your darkened room into a dramatic replica of the real night sky while leaving the lighted room unchanged (no posters or noticeable markings).

* Dazzling and romantic. Guaranteed bedtime fun for everyone.

* Soothing and relaxing. Finally a simple cure for fear of the dark. The peaceful comfort of a starry night inspires a feeling of “connectedness” with the universe. Enhance your sense of peace with our new tape, Night Sounds™.

* Accurate and educational! Stars and constellations are in proper positions with accurate relative brightness. You also get a hand-held Star Map and Constellation Finder that shows the names and locations of hundred of stars–an entire hemisphere! In addition, the star map is an excellent take-along item anytime you’re star gazing outdoors.

* Easy! You simply affix the stencil to the ceiling or wall–the adhesive won’t stain or remove paint or wallpaper–and paint the stencil holes with the special glow-in-the-dark paint. Then you remove the stencil. Works on both smooth and textured ceilings!

* When you’re ready for the stars to shine, expose them to normal room light. Turn out the lights, and the stars glow and keep glowing for up to 30 minutes. They can be recharged indefinitely and are unnoticeable in lighted rooms or on light-colored surfaces. The 8-foot stencil takes one hour to apply; the 12-foot takes two hours. The stencil can be saved and reused.

* It’s all here! Your kit contains everything you need. The Night Sky Star Stencil (either 8- or 12- feet in diameter), adhesive, a special formula luminous paint, brush, and easy-to-follow instructions.

* No projectors, no batteries, no black lights…nothing to clutter the room.

* Completely safe non-toxic paint and adhesive (certified by O.S.H.A.).

* Available in winter or summer Northern Hemisphere sky, and 8- or 12-foot diameter. Choose one to fit your room.

NASA Space Place – Hubble’s Bubble Lights Up The Interstellar Rubble

Poster’s Note: One of the many under-appreciated aspects of NASA is the extent to which it publishes quality science content for children and Ph.D.’s alike. NASA Space Place has been providing general audience articles for quite some time that are freely available for download and republishing. Your tax dollars help promote science! The following article was provided for reprinting in June, 2016.

By Dr. Ethan Siegel

2013february2_spaceplaceWhen isolated stars like our Sun reach the end of their lives, they’re expected to blow off their outer layers in a roughly spherical configuration: a planetary nebula. But the most spectacular bubbles don’t come from gas-and-plasma getting expelled into otherwise empty space, but from young, hot stars whose radiation pushes against the gaseous nebulae in which they were born. While most of our Sun’s energy is found in the visible part of the spectrum, more massive stars burn at hotter temperatures, producing more ionizing, ultraviolet light, and also at higher luminosities. A star some 40-45 times the mass of the Sun, for example, might emits energy at a rate hundreds of thousands of times as great as our own star.

The Bubble Nebula, discovered in 1787 by William Herschel, is perhaps the classic example of this phenomenon. At a distance of 7,100 light years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia, a molecular gas cloud is actively forming stars, including the massive O-class star BD+60 2522, which itself is a magnitude +8.7 star despite its great distance and its presence in a dusty region of space. Shining with a temperature of 37,500 K and a luminosity nearly 400,000 times that of our Sun, it ionizes and evaporates off all the molecular material within a sphere 7 light years in diameter. The bubble structure itself, when viewed from a dark sky location, can be seen through an amateur telescope with an aperture as small as 8″ (20 cm).

As viewed by Hubble, the thickness of the bubble wall is both apparent and spectacular. A star as massive as the one creating this bubble emits stellar winds at approximately 1700 km/s, or 0.6% the speed of light. As those winds slam into the material in the interstellar medium, they push it outwards. The bubble itself appears off-center from the star due to the asymmetry of the surrounding interstellar medium with a greater density of cold gas on the “short” side than on the longer one. The blue color is due to the emission from partially ionized oxygen atoms, while the cooler yellow color highlights the dual presence of hydrogen (red) and nitrogen (green).

The star itself at the core of the nebula is currently fusing helium at its center. It is expected to live only another 10 million years or so before dying in a spectacular Type II supernova explosion.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), of the Bubble Nebula as imaged 229 years after its discovery by William Herschel.

About NASA Space Place

With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov (facebook|twitter) to explore space and Earth science!

NASA News Digest: Space Science For 5 May – 18 May 2016

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

The NASA News Service provides up-to-date announcements of NASA policy, news events, and space science. A recent selection of space science articles are provided below, including direct links to the full announcements. Those interested in receiving these announcements from NASA can subscribe to their service by sending an email to: hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov?subject=subscribe

NASA Makes Dozens Of Patents Available In Public Domain To Benefit U.S. Industry

RELEASE 16-050 (Click here for the full article) – 5 May 2016

2016may18_public_domain_thumbnail.verticalNASA has released 56 formerly-patented agency technologies into the public domain, making its government-developed technologies freely available for unrestricted commercial use. In addition to the release of these technologies, a searchable database now is available that catalogs thousands of expired NASA patents already in the public domain.

These technologies were developed to advance NASA missions but may have non-aerospace applications and be used by commercial space ventures and other companies free of charge, eliminating the time, expense and paperwork often associated with licensing intellectual property. The technologies include advanced manufacturing processes, sensors, propulsion methods, rocket nozzles, thrusters, aircraft wing designs and improved rocket safety and performance concepts.

To search the database of NASA-developed technologies now in the public domain, visit: technology.nasa.gov/publicdomain

To learn more about the Technology Transfer Program, visit: technology.nasa.gov

NASA’s Kepler Mission Announces Largest Collection Of Planets Ever Discovered

RELEASE 16-051 (Click here for the full article) – 10 May 2016

2016may18_kepler_all-planets_may2016NASA’s Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets – the single largest finding of planets to date.

“This announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler,” said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth.”

Analysis was performed on the Kepler space telescope’s July 2015 planet candidate catalog, which identified 4,302 potential planets. For 1,284 of the candidates, the probability of being a planet is greater than 99 percent – the minimum required to earn the status of “planet.” An additional 1,327 candidates are more likely than not to be actual planets, but they do not meet the 99 percent threshold and will require additional study. The remaining 707 are more likely to be some other astrophysical phenomena. This analysis also validated 984 candidates previously verified by other techniques.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/kepler

For briefing materials from Tuesday’s media teleconference where the new group of planets was announced, visit: www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/briefingmaterials160510

Critical NASA Science Returns To Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

RELEASE 16-052 (Click here for the full article) – 11 May 2016

2016may18_dragon-depart-final_smA SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:51 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 11, about 261 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, with more than 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo, science and technology demonstration samples from the International Space Station.

The Dragon spacecraft will be taken by ship to Long Beach where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA, and then be prepared for shipment to SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.

A variety of technology and biology studies conducted in the unique microgravity environment of the space station returned aboard the commercial resupply spacecraft, including research in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology. The Microchannel Diffusion study, for example, examined how microparticles interact with each other and their delivery channel in the absence of gravitational forces. In this one-of-a-kind laboratory, researchers were able to observe nanoscale behaviors at slightly larger scales – knowledge which may have implications for advancements in particle filtration, space exploration and drug delivery technologies.

Get more information about SpaceX’s mission to the International Space Station at: www.nasa.gov/spacex

Get more information about the International Space Station at: www.nasa.gov/station

From ‘Magnetoshells’ To Growable Habitats, NASA Invests In Next Stage Of Visionary Technology Development

RELEASE 16-053 (Click here for the full article) – 13 May 2016

2016-phase-ii-graphic-for-press-release-banner-graphicNASA has selected eight technology proposals for investment that have the potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities, and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems.

Awards under Phase II of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program can be worth as much as $500,000 for a two-year study, and allow proposers to further develop concepts funded by NASA for Phase I studies that successfully demonstrated initial feasibility and benefit.

“The NIAC program is one of the ways NASA engages the U.S. scientific and engineering communities, including agency civil servants, by challenging them to come up with some of the most visionary aerospace concepts,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. “This year’s Phase II fellows have clearly met this challenge.”

For a complete list of the selected proposals, and more information about NIAC, visit: www.nasa.gov/feature/niac-2016-phase-i-and-phase-ii-selections

For more information about NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit: www.nasa.gov/spacetech

NASA Invites Media, Social Media To June Deep Space Rocket Booster Test

RELEASE 16-055 (Click here for the full article) – 18 May 2016

2016may18_m16-055aMedia and social media followers are invited to watch as NASA tests the largest, most powerful booster in the world for the agency’s new deep space rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), on June 28 at Orbital ATK Aerospace System’s test facility in Promontory, Utah. SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft will launch astronauts on missions to explore multiple destinations on the journey to Mars.

NASA social media followers can apply for credentials to attend the booster test firing as part of a NASA Social event. A maximum of 45 participants will be selected to attend events on June 27, which include tours of the Orbital ATK facilities and opportunities for interviews with NASA and Orbital ATK officials. Participants also will have the opportunity to view, and feel, the powerful test firing on June 28.

For more information about SLS, visit: www.nasa.gov/sls

TONIGHT (Friday, June 17th, 9 – 11 p.m.) – Larry’s Hosting A Sidewalk Session At Peter’s Polar Parlor

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This just in from Larry Slosberg on the Facebook Group Page (and meetup.com Event):

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Trying to decide what to do on a Friday night? Well, let me suggest Ice Cream and Moonlight (and Jupiter, Saturn and Mars).

Tonight, starting at 9pm, the CNYO will be at Peter’s Polar Parlor on Milton Ave in Solvay. Showing, to anyone interested, the Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.

All are welcome, no purchase necessary (but oh so yummy) and the views through the telescope are, as always, free for all.

Where: Peter’s Polar Parlor, 3345 Milton Avenue, Syracuse, NY
When: Friday, June 17th, 9pm to 11pm

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique: “The Astonishing Power Of Your Brain”

Saturday – June 18, 9:30-11:00am

Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY


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Speaker

Corey Nathan White, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cognition, Brain, and Behavior Area, Department of Psychology, Syracuse University

Talk Overview

Although it is small, the human brain is one of the most important organs in our bodies. From helping us remember where the car is parked, to inspiring us to write a new song, the brain is what makes it all happen. Explore the world of Cognitive Neuroscience with Dr. White and learn how this magical organ allows us to do such amazing things, and why this small object in your head is what makes you who you are.

Biography

2016june13_white_coreyCorey N. White is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Syracuse University. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Then he completed his PhD from The Ohio State University, and received postdoctoral training in neuroimaging from the University of Texas. He joined the Cognition, Brain, and Behavior Area in the Psychology Department at Syracuse in the Fall of 2013. At Syracuse, Dr. White has been an integral part of the new Neuroscience Program, which aims to improve and advance education and research activities focused on understanding the brain. In his research, Dr. White runs the Brain and Behavior Lab, where he studies how the brain allows us to make good decisions and control our thoughts and actions. He specializes in neuroimaging with fMRI, scanning people’s brains while they engage in different cognitive activities (like choosing between two desserts). With this technique, he is able to study how different systems in the brain interact to guide our thoughts and actions. In his personal life, Dr. White likes to run half marathons, ski, and play with his three dogs (and one cat).

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.