Author Archives: Damian Allis

All Good Things… A Final (Official) CNY Observers (& Observing) Website Post

Greetings, fellow astrophiles –

After nearly eight years of observing announcements, CNY astronomy events, TACNY posts, major NASA announcements, Free Astronomy Magazine issue announcements, the short-lived Upstate New York Stargazing series for syracuse.com (archived at somewhereville.com), and a variety of other “that’s interesting” items for your consideration, the website component to CNYO is being retired. The site itself will remain up as a record of many years of observing, lecturing, outreach, and lots of good times had among all the dedicated amateur astronomers and aspiring observers who joined in our many activities.

Anything related to future CNYO activities can be followed in the CNYO Facebook Group. And, truth be told, we barely scratched the twitter.com/cnyobs account.

As a club, CNYO specialized in outreach wherever a decent location and parking could be had, be that at libraries, local parks, or ice cream shops. It goes without saying that there are several dedicated organizations with observatories, regular meetings, and their own outreach efforts for you to engage in astronomy with – a number of knowledgeable individuals, clubs, and their websites exist in Central New York for you to get out and look up!

For instance, keep track of observing opportunities at several Syracuse-area public parks and at Baltimore Woods with Bob Piekiel!

Depending on your location, you might find a local club *just* close enough to be worth the drive every month for meetings and observing (when the pandemic subsides. For now, consider their Zoom opportunities). From east to west…

Utica/RomeMohawk Valley Astronomical Societywww.mvas-ny.org

SyracuseSyracuse Astronomical Society www.syracuse-astro.org (the closest home for some of the CNYO participants as well)

Binghamton/VestalKopernik Astronomical Societykopernikastro.org

RochesterAstronomy Section Rochester Academy of Sciencewww.rochesterastronomy.org

Rochester/Buffalo AreaWestern NY Astronomersfacebook.com/groups/249806678720983/

BuffaloBuffalo Astronomical Associationbuffaloastronomy.com

FrewsburgMartz-Kohl Observatorymartzobservatory.org

And, of course, excellent sessions are to be had in your own backyard with a decent sky chart and a pair of binoculars.

Finally, the comment sections for the site will be kept open (for those comments surviving the spam filter) and the email address will remain active for years to come – info@cnyo.org. Observing notes from CNYO events and other items remain most welcome!

Wishing you clear skies and limited artificial lighting.

Space is the place!

Above – Bob Piekiel, Larry Slosberg, and Damian Allis in “inaction action” before closing up shop, Perseid weekend, 2013.

Free Astronomy Magazine – September-October 2020 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (September-October 2020) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure at www.astropublishing.com.

September-October 2020 includes a selected survey of astronomical content of local and cosmological interest from NASA/ESA, ESO, ALMA, as well as two feature articles from our fearless leader/editor Michele Ferrara. The feature articles in this issue discuss:

  1. “Betelgeuse – 100 years of uncertainties” – this article was 100 years in the making, but found itself updated with as-of-August scientific reporting in the final 100 hours before going to print (well, 150). The previous (pre-August) analyses were believed to be an adequate explanation, then the new reports indicate that that previous explanation did not, by itself, explain everything observed by us all since late last year.
  2. “In the mind of ET” – Continuing a multi-issue exobiology thread, this next article is a very interest perspective on the state of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (and not just SETI), based on the recent NASA award of Adam Frank (and collaborators) at the University of Rochester.

For those wanting a quick look at what the issue has to offer, the Table of Contents is reproduced below.

The web browser-readable version: www.astropublishing.com/5FAM2020/

Jump right to the PDF download (15 MB): September-October 2020

International Observe The Moon Night (IOMN) 2020 – Update Email

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

The email below landed in the CNYO inbox recently – and a reminder that your eyes, binos, or scope are more than enough to participate outside (then consider any of the many online events likely to happen across the globe (weather-permitting)).

Ask Us Your Questions – Come learn more about the International Observe the Moon Night program, and how you and your club or institution can participate. We’ll introduce you to this year’s program resources including a new event Moon map and Moon viewing guide, advertising materials, and social media shareables. We’ll highlight some recommended hands-on activities. We’ll offer tips and resources for hosting virtual events – and for evaluating them. And we’ll discuss opportunities to stay connected throughout the year. You can ask questions of the International Observe the Moon Night leadership team and of fellow current or prospective event hosts, and share your ideas for your International Observe the Moon Night event.

The webinar will take place on September 10 at 6pm Pacific Time.

Join the Webinar

If you aren’t able to make the webinar live, but would like to hear from us, a recording of the video will be posted after the webinar takes place. And as always if you have any questions, please reach out to us on our Facebook Page or at moon.nasa.gov/observe. We are happy to help!


Registration is Now Open!

Registration for International Observe the Moon Night is now open. Registering as an observer or event host officially marks your participation and connects you with our community around the world. We now have registration options for individual observers, private or household participation, and public events. Let us know how and where you are celebrating so we can add you to the global map.

Register Now


Call for Lunar-Inspired Artwork – We invite you to share and submit your lunar-inspired artwork for this year’s International Observe the Moon Night. We encourage you to interpret the term “artwork” broadly – these works may include multiple forms such as Moon poetry, writings, paintings, sketches, graphic design, or Moon observations from telescopes. Submit your lunar-inspired art to the official Flickr page, using the tag #ObserveTheMoonArt upon submission. You may also submit your creation to be considered for the University of Arizona’s “The Art of Planetary Science” exhibition.


The Moon and Beyond  

Lasers in Space – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team successfully bounced a laser beam from Earth off a reflective panel on the spacecraft, which is currently orbiting the Moon.  Learn more about the series of two-way laser experiments here or read the scientific paper here.

OSIRIS-REx Test Run The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which will collect a sample from asteroid Bennu in October 2020, performed its final practice run of the sampling sequence, reaching an approximate altitude of 131 feet (40 meters) over the sample site. Read more about the test run here, or learn more about the mission here.

NASA Night Sky Notes: Summer Triangle Corner – Altair

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. Your tax dollars help promote science! The following article was provided for reprinting by the Night Sky Network in September, 2020.

By David Prosper

Altair is the final stop on our trip around the Summer Triangle! The last star in the asterism to rise for Northern Hemisphere observers before summer begins, brilliant Altair is high overhead at sunset at the end of the season in September. Altair might be the most unusual of the three stars of the Triangle, due to its great speed: this star spins so rapidly that it appears “squished.”

A very bright star, Altair has its own notable place in the mythologies of cultures around the world. As discussed in our previous edition, Altair represents the cowherd Niulang in the ancient Chinese tale of the “Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.” Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle; while described as part of an eagle by ancient peoples around the Mediterranean, it was also seen as part of an eagle by the Koori people in Australia! They saw the star itself as representing a wedge-tailed eagle, and two nearby stars as his wives, a pair of black swans. More recently one of the first home computers was named after the star: the Altair 8800.

Altair’s rapid spinning was first detected in the 1960s. The close observations that followed tested the limits of technology available to astronomers, eventually resulting in direct images of the star’s shape and surface by using a technique called interferometry, which combines the light from two or more instruments to produce a single image. Predictions about how the surface of a rapidly spinning massive star would appear held true to the observations; models predicted a squashed, almost “pumpkin-like” shape instead of a round sphere, along with a dimming effect along the widened equator, and the observations confirmed this! This equatorial dimming is due to a phenomenon called gravity darkening. Altair is wider at the equator than it is at the poles due to centrifugal force, resulting in the star’s mass bulging outwards at the equator. This results in the denser poles of the star being hotter and brighter, and the less dense equator being cooler and therefore dimmer. This doesn’t mean that the equator of Altair or other rapidly spinning stars are actually dark, but rather that the equator is dark in comparison to the poles; this is similar in a sense to sunspots. If you were to observe a sunspot on its own, it would appear blindingly bright, but it is cooler than the surrounding plasma in the Sun and so appears dark in contrast.

As summer winds down, you can still take a Trip Around the Summer Triangle with this activity from the Night Sky Network. Mark some of the sights in and around the Summer Triangle at: bit.ly/TriangleTrip. You can discover more about NASA’s observations of Altair and other fast and furious stars at nasa.gov.

The image on the right was created using optical interferometry: the light from four telescopes was combined to produce this image of Altair’s surface. Image credit: Ming Zhao. More info: bit.ly/altairvsmodel
Altair is up high in the early evening in September. Note Altair’s two bright “companions” on either side of the star. Can you imagine them as a formation of an eagle and two swans, like the Koori?

The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!

NASA HQ NEWS: NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps Joins First Operational Boeing Crew Mission to Space Station

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

Excellent local astronomy news from the NASA News Releases. And, by local (from wikipedia)…

Jeanette Epps was born in Syracuse, New York, one of seven children born to Henry and Luberta (née Jackson) Epps… She graduated from Corcoran High School in Syracuse and earned a B.S. degree from Le Moyne College and an M.S. and a Ph.D degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland.

Official Astronaut portrait of Jeanette Epps Photographer: Robert Markowitz

NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.

Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory. The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.

The spaceflight will be the first for Epps, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1992 from LeMoyne College in her hometown of Syracuse, New York. She completed a master’s degree in science in 1994 and a doctorate in aerospace engineering in 2000, both from the University of Maryland, College Park.

While earning her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles on her research. After completing graduate school, she worked in a research laboratory for more than two years, co-authoring several patents, before the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited her. She spent seven years as a CIA technical intelligence officer before her selection as a member of the 2009 astronaut class. 

NASA assigned Williams and Cassada to the Starliner-1 mission in August 2018. The spaceflight will be the first for Cassada and third for Williams, who spent long-duration stays aboard the space station on Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and to the space station. Commercial transportation to and from the station will provide expanded utility, additional research time and broader opportunities for discovery on the orbital outpost.

For nearly 20 years, the station has served as a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight. As commercial companies focus on providing human transportation services to and from low-Earth orbit, NASA will concentrate its focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep-space missions.

Follow Epps on social media at: twitter/Astro_Jeanette and instagram/jeanette.epps/