Stargazing - 05.24.13

A new cycle of eclipses begins tonight as the full Moon just dips its toe in Earth’s faint outer shadow, the penumbra.

That shadow will cover just about one percent of the lunar disk, but it is so faint that no one will notice the difference.

A New Cycle

A new cycle of eclipses begins tonight. Unfortunately, though, this one barely qualifies as an eclipse at all. The full Moon basically just dips its toe in Earth’s faint outer shadow, the penumbra. That shadow will cover just about one percent of the lunar disk. And the shadow is so faint that no one will notice the difference.

Eclipses come in groups. Each group is known as a Saros. The circumstances for each eclipse in the group are similar — the Moon is about the same distance from Earth, for example, and they occur at the same time of year.

Each Saros begins with a bare penumbral eclipse, like the one tonight. With each succeeding eclipse, though, the Moon dips a little deeper into Earth’s shadow. By the middle of the cycle, the eclipses are total, with the Moon completely immersed in the shadow. After that, the Moon moves away from the center of the shadow, and the cycle ends with another grazing penumbral eclipse — but this time with the Moon at the opposite side of the shadow.

Tonight’s eclipse is the first of Saros 150. It will consist of 71 eclipses in all, with each one coming a little more than 18 years after the previous one. So Saros 150 will last 1262 years — with its final eclipse on June 30th, 3275.

While tonight’s eclipse isn’t much to look at, there is a consolation. The star Antares, the bright orange heart of the scorpion, rises just below the Moon, and stays close to the Moon throughout the night.

Stargazing - 05.23.13

A pair of hunting dogs chases high across the north tonight.

Known as Canes Venatici, the hounds are pursuing Ursa Major, the great bear, which stands below them at nightfall.

The bear includes the stars of the Big Dipper.

The Hunting Dogs

A pair of hunting dogs chases high across the north on May evenings. The hounds are pursuing Ursa Major, the great bear, which stands below them at nightfall. You’ll recognize the bear because it contains the stars of the Big Dipper. The dogs are held in leash by Boötes, the herdsman.

The dogs form the constellation Canes Venatici. Unlike Ursa Major and Boötes, which date from antiquity, the hunting dogs are fairly recent. Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius drew the constellation in the 17th century to fill in some gaps between more prominent star patterns.

As a result, Canes Venatici is small and faint. You need fairly dark skies to see its stars, and a great imagination to picture a pair of hounds. The constellation’s three brightest stars form a wide-spread letter V, with its point aiming south.

Canes Venatici’s brightest star is Cor Caroli — the “heart of Charles.” Famed astronomer Edmond Halley named it for England’s King Charles the Second. Binoculars or a telescope show that it’s really two stars. The brighter one is hotter and brighter than our own Sun, and it’s the star that’s visible to the eye alone.

The constellation’s next-brightest star is Chara, and it’s similar to the Sun. It’s about the same color, temperature, and brightness. In fact, it looks almost exactly like the Sun would appear if we could view it from the same distance — about 30 light-years.

Look carefully for the stars of the hunting dogs as they pursue the great bear across the night.

G-TechNote™: 3-D PRINTERS

A new wave of printers is turning digital designs into three-dimensional models and could revolutionize how American manufacturers do business.

The large printers use substances such as plastics or metal to build products layer by layer until they are complete.

The Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing has three such printers at locations in South Charleston and Huntington.

One printer in South Charleston is about the size of a minivan and uses spools of thin plastic wire to build 3-D models.

Manufacturing specialist Chris Figgatt says it works much like a hot glue gun to squirt out layers about as thick as a human hair.

NASA has considered using 3-D printers to build items for space stations, while Princeton University scientists recently used it with human cell cultures to create a working, bionic human ear.

Stargazing - 05.22.13

The planet Saturn perches to the left of the Moon as night falls this evening.

It looks like a bright golden star.

The true star Spica stands to their upper right.

Moon and Saturn

The planet Saturn perches to the left of the Moon as night falls this evening. It looks like a bright golden star. The true star Spica stands to their upper right.

Spica is the brightest star of Virgo. And Saturn has been inside that constellation’s borders for most of the last four years.

One reason is that Virgo is one of the largest constellations. Another is that Saturn is so far away from the Sun that it takes the planet almost 30 years to complete a single orbit. So as seen from Earth, it takes that same amount of time for Saturn to complete one circle against the background of stars.

That “circle” isn’t smooth, though. Instead, for a few months each year, Saturn reverses its normal eastward motion and heads westward.

That’s because each year or so, Earth catches up to Saturn and passes it by. As that happens, our viewing angle to the planet changes. It’s like passing another runner on a jogging trail. When you’re behind the other runner, she appears to move forward compared to objects in the distance, such as buildings or mountains. As you catch up and pass her by, though, she briefly appears to move backward against that same background — a result of your changing viewing angle.

Saturn actually moved into the adjoining constellation Libra for a few months, but its reverse motion brought it back into Virgo. It’ll remain there for about three more months, when it’ll once again leave Virgo behind — not to return until the year 2038.

Stargazing - 05.21.13

The Moon takes aim at one of the brightest stars in the night sky tonight: Spica, the main star of the constellation Virgo.

Spica is close to the lower left of the Moon as night falls, and even closer to the Moon as they set before dawn tomorrow.

Moon and Spica

The Moon takes aim at one of the brightest stars in the night sky tonight: Spica, the leading light of the constellation Virgo. The star is close to the lower left of the Moon as night falls, and even closer to the Moon as they set in the wee hours of the morning. They’ll be at their closest for skywatchers on the West Coast, where they’ll be separated by the width of your finger held at arm’s length.

The gap between them gets smaller because of the Moon’s orbital motion around Earth. It takes 27-and-a-third days for the Moon to make one full loop against the background of stars. At that rate, it covers a distance equal to its own diameter in about an hour.

Keep in mind, of course, that the gap between the Moon and Spica is only a projection effect — the two bodies just happen to line up in the same direction in the sky.

In reality, they’re far apart. The Moon is a bit more than one light-second away — the distance that light covers in a little more than one second, or about a quarter-of-a-million miles. The distance to Spica, on the other hand, is 250 light-years — about six billion times farther than the Moon.

To look at it another way, it took the Apollo astronauts about three days to reach the Moon. At that same average speed, it would take about 50 million years to reach Spica.

So keep an eye on Spica — a star that looks like it’s close to the Moon — throughout the evening and into the early morning.

Calhoun-Gilmer Career Center Student Receive Welding Certificates

“They have both demonstrated remarkable skill and dedication in the field of welding., and I am very proud of them,” said Carl J. Collins, the Welding Technology Instructor at Calhoun-Gilmer Career Center.

Joseph is the son of Michael and Michelle Richards of Big Springs, WV and Luke is son of Tabatha and David Tabatha Beall of Glenville, WV.

Stargazing - 05.20.13

The Moon is in its “gibbous” phase, which means that sunlight illuminates more than half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way.

The dark portion of the lunar disk is in the Moon’s own shadow, so it is night on that part of our satellite world.

Close Companions

For a star, companionship isn’t always a good thing. A star in the constellation Ophiuchus, for example, has been whittled away by a domineering companion — a black hole. Only a fraction of the star remains.

The system is known as MAXI J1659. It was discovered three years ago when it produced a brilliant outburst. Observations by X-ray telescopes in space showed that the system likely consists of two objects — a black hole about three times as massive as the Sun, and a small companion star. The two stars are so close together that the black hole steals some of the companion’s gas. Before the gas enters the black hole, it forms a hot disk around the black hole. Sometimes, so much gas flows into the disk that it causes an eruption like the one seen in 2010.

Models of stellar evolution suggest the companion star originally was a little heavier than the Sun. The star that gave birth to the black hole was even heavier, but it quickly used up its nuclear fuel. Billions of years ago, its core collapsed to form a black hole, while its outer layers exploded.

Since then, the black hole has stripped away most of the companion’s outer layers, leaving a faint remnant that’s only about one-fifth as massive as the Sun.

The two bodies are probably about a half-million miles apart, and they orbit each other once every 2.4 hours. At that rate, the companion star whips around the black hole at more than a million miles per hour.

Stargazing - 05.19.13

M13, the Hercules Cluster, stands in the east at nightfall, in the constellation Hercules.

To the eye alone it looks like a small, hazy patch of light.

Small telescopes reveal hundreds of the cluster’s individual stars.

M13

Just because an astronomical object is big and bright doesn’t mean it can’t maintain some mystery. The objects known as globular clusters, for example, are the biggest agglomerations of stars in the galaxy — hundreds of thousands of stars packed into a tight ball. That makes them quite easy to see and study. Even so, astronomers are still unsure how these balls of stars were born.

The Milky Way is home to fewer than 200 globulars. One of the best known is M13, the Hercules Cluster. It’s well up in the east at nightfall, in the constellation Hercules. Small telescopes reveal hundreds of its individual stars.

Globulars are the oldest objects in the galaxy. Their stars were born when the universe was quite young. Their most massive stars burned out a long time ago, leaving a population of stars that are no more massive than the Sun.

Despite decades of work, though, astronomers still haven’t agreed on a mechanism for making these clusters. In most globulars, the stars seem to have formed all at once. That means that a giant cloud of gas collapsed suddenly, giving birth to a gaggle of stars within just a few million years. But why such a cloud would collapse remains uncertain.

And a few globulars have more than one generation of stars, which means there was more than one round of starbirth. Again, though, no one is certain just why that’s the case.

So M13 and the other bright, giant balls of stars will retain a little of their mystery for some time to come.

Stargazing - 05.18.13

Hercules is in good view in the east and northeast at nightfall and soars high overhead during the night.

The most prominent portion of the constellation is the Keystone, a group of four stars that forms a lopsided square.

Hercules

One of the most famous characters in the night sky takes a prominent position at this time of year. The character is known by his Roman name, Hercules. His constellation is in good view in the east and northeast by the time it gets dark, and soars high overhead during the night.

In Greek mythology, the strongman was the son of a mortal woman and Zeus, the king of the gods. To appease his jealous wife, Hera, Zeus named the boy Heracles, which means “glory to Hera.” But Hera definitely was not appeased, and she tormented Hercules. He killed his family while under her spell, so he was forced to perform 12 labors of strength and courage to atone for the crimes. The list included killing a lion and a snake, which also stand in the stars.

The most prominent portion of Hercules is the Keystone — four stars that form a lopsided square. It’s above the northeastern horizon as darkness falls.

Along the line connecting the two stars that rise first, at the top of the Keystone, look for a beautiful globular star cluster known as M13. In dark skies, it’s visible to the unaided eye as a faint smudge of light. Binoculars reveal a swarm of stars, while small telescopes reveal many more. In fact, M13 contains hundreds of thousands of stars packed into a tight ball. These stars are among the oldest in the galaxy. We’ll have more about M13 tomorrow.

Again, look for Hercules ascending the sky beginning at nightfall, and soaring high overhead after midnight.

Stargazing - 05.17.13

A bright star keeps company with the first-quarter Moon tonight.

Regulus, the “heart” of Leo, the lion, stands a little above the Moon as night falls, and keeps that position as they slide down the southwestern sky later on.

Moon and Regulus

A bright star keeps company with the first-quarter Moon tonight. Regulus, the “heart” of Leo, the lion, stands a little above the Moon as night falls, and keeps that position as they slide down the southwestern sky later on.

The Moon reaches first quarter at 11:35 p.m. Central Time. At that moment, the Moon stands at a right angle to the line between Earth and the Sun. Sunlight illuminates exactly half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way, so it looks as though someone sliced the Moon right down the middle.

Because of that, you might expect the quarter Moon to be half as bright as a full Moon, but it’s not. In fact, it’s not even close — the first-quarter Moon is only about one-tenth as bright as a full Moon.

That’s because the Moon isn’t a perfect mirror for reflecting sunlight. Instead, it’s most efficient at reflecting sunlight in the direction from which it came — back toward the Sun. At full Moon, Earth lines up between the Moon and Sun, so some of that bright glow hits us. At other phases, though, the Moon is off to the side of Earth, so we don’t get the full force of that reflection.

Over the next week, the illuminated portion of the Moon will grow fatter and brighter. It’ll be half as bright as a full Moon on the 22nd, when sunlight will illuminate all but a few percent of the lunar disk. The Moon will reach its peak a week from tonight, when it’ll be full — filling the night sky with brilliant light.

USDA Seeks Applications for Grants to Provide Technical Assistance to Help Rural Businesses Grow

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is seeking applications from qualified organizations to provide technical assistance to rural businesses to help them expand and create jobs. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Today’s announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

“These grants will help businesses get access to planning, mentoring and other services that can help ensure their success,“ Vilsack said. “This assistance will provide development and managerial services that often are not readily available to businesses in rural areas, part of the Obama Administration’s effort to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and create jobs across the country.“

Funding will be provided through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG) program. Up to $2.6 million is available through this notice. The maximum grant is $100,000.

Grants may be used for feasibility studies, strategic planning, leadership training and other types of business development activities. Eligible applicants include public bodies, non-profit corporations, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes and rural cooperatives.

USDA Rural Development is also soliciting RBOG applications to support a new Obama administration initiative called Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP). USDA is partnering with the Commerce Department, the Small Business Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to promote development of new manufacturing jobs. RBOG applicants, for example, could seek grants to help rural communities develop long-term strategic plans for their manufacturing sectors or to provide training to entrepreneurs who want to create manufacturing businesses in rural areas. Applicants who receive RBOG funding complementing the IMCP initiative may later be eligible for larger grants directly through the initiative.

Some of the funding available under this RBOG notice will be made available for projects benefitting federally recognized Indian tribes and projects benefitting Rural Economic Area Partnerships. The remaining funds are open for national competition.

The RBOG program and other USDA business and cooperate development programs have had a significant impact on rural communities. In 2012 alone, they helped almost 10,000 rural small business owners or farmers improve their enterprises. Business and cooperative program funding created or saved an estimated 53,000 rural jobs in 2012.

For example, in 2011 USDA Rural Development awarded a $50,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant to the Scott County Economic Development Corporation to improve economic conditions in rural southeastern Indiana. USDA’s RBOG funds are helping support the Mid-America Science Park, which is a business incubation and workforce development center in Scottsburg, Ind.

The application deadlines for Rural Business Opportunity Grants are June 30 for partnership funds and June 28 for all other requests. For additional information on how to apply, see the May 14 Federal Register, page 28184, or visit www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-14/html/2013-11451.htm.

President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President’s leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way, strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities.

USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has a portfolio of programs designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.

USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration, the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $828 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible.

Stargazing - 05.16.13

One of the most important stars in the ancient world was Arcturus, in Bootes, the herdsman.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and others spun legends around this bright, yellow-orange giant.

Arcturus stands high in the eastern sky this evening.

Faith 7

CAPCOM: 4, 3, 2, 1, Fire! Roger, green from here. COOPER: Roger, I think I got all three.

After almost 34 hours in space, astronaut Gordon Cooper was headed home. He fired the retrorockets on his Mercury capsule, Faith 7, and headed toward splashdown in the Pacific Ocean — bringing America’s first manned space program to an end 50 years ago today.

Project Mercury was created to counter the apparent space dominance of the Soviet Union. By the time it ended, President John F. Kennedy had made it the first step on the path to the Moon.

Cooper’s flight was the sixth Mercury mission, and by far the longest — longer than the first five put together. The astronaut conducted experiments and snapped pictures. Most important of all, he proved that he could live and work in space for a long period with no problem. And at the end of the flight, when his automatic control system failed, Cooper piloted Faith 7 to a pinpoint landing. This NASA documentary sums it up:

AUDIO: And so it ended — 34 hours, 20 minutes, 31 seconds. The flight of a man in space 22 times around the Earth, 540,000 miles…

And Cooper himself summed up the entire Mercury program at a press conference after his flight:

COOPER: I think that Mercury has shown that man is adaptable to this new and strange environment, and he can contribute immeasurably to the reliability and completion of space flights….We have had 100 percent success on our manned flights…

...Setting the stage for new space adventures.

Stargazing - 05.15.13

As darkness falls this evening, the twins of Gemini stand above the western horizon, to the right of the Moon.

Leo, the lion, is to their upper left, with Libra, the balance scales, just climbing skyward in the southeast.

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille

As darkness falls this evening, the twins of Gemini stand above the western horizon, to the right of the Moon. Leo, the lion, is to their upper left, with Libra, the balance scales, just climbing skyward in the southeast.

All of these constellations are thousands of years old — drawn so long ago that we can’t be sure who created them. That’s not the case with a handful of constellations in the skies of the southern hemisphere. They were created by a French astronomer who was born 300 years ago today.

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille originally planned to enter the clergy. But during his studies he became interested in mathematics and astronomy, so he switched his career. He worked at the Paris Observatory for a while, then established his own observatory.

In 1751, he set up his instruments at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He then spent the next year compiling the most extensive map to date of southern-hemisphere skies.

Lacaille’s atlas was published in 1763 — a year after his death. It included the positions of almost 2,000 bright stars. It also included 14 new constellations. Many of them honored scientific instruments — the telescope, microscope, pendulum clock, and others. Lacaille also split the sky’s largest constellation — Argo Navis, the ship that carried Jason and the Argonauts — into three separate constellations.

Lacaille’s creations are still in use today — star patterns with a well-known history.

Stargazing - 05.14.13

Some of the brightest stars of winter are dropping from the evening sky.

Very low in the west at nightfall, look for bright white Procyon in Canis Minor, the little dog.

The “twins” of Gemini, Pollux and Castor, are to the upper right of Procyon.

Skylab

One of the experiments on the International Space Station keeps an eye on the Sun. Its observations help scientists plot tiny changes in the Sun’s energy output, which helps them understand the interactions between the Sun and Earth.

The first American space station also carried Sun-watching telescopes. They were far more capable than any that had been sent to space before — or for a couple of decades after. They were launched 40 years ago today, aboard Skylab 1.

LAUNCH CONTROL: 3, 2, 1, 0, and we have a liftoff! The Skylab lifting off the pad now…

Skylab was designed to host three crews of astronauts. They would study the Sun and Earth, and how their own bodies adapted to the space environment. Within moments of the launch of the station itself, though, it seemed their mission might be doomed:

MISSION CONTROL: This is Skylab Control. Skylab space station now in orbit. Still some doubt in the minds of flight controllers here in Mission Control as to whether the main solar panels on the workshop have indeed deployed.

A shield designed to protect the station from space rocks and the Sun’s heat ripped away during the launch. That ripped off one of Skylab’s electricity-producing solar panels, and jammed another so it wouldn’t open.

The launch of the first crew was delayed while engineers worked out a new plan. The astronauts eventually raised a new shield and freed the jammed solar panel. That let them and two later crews spend a total of six months aboard Skylab — keeping a close eye on the Earth below and the Sun above.

Stargazing - 05.13.13

Rasalgethi, one of the brightest stars of Hercules, is in the east at nightfall and soars high overhead during the night.

It is about 380 light-years away, so its light has been traveling since shortly after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

Setting a Date

Astronomers made an announcement a couple of months ago that sounded astonishing: The universe is a hundred million years older than previously thought — 13.8 billion years. What’s truly astonishing, though, is that the new age completely agrees with the older one.

In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding. That implied that the universe had a beginning — that it had to expand from somewhere.

That beginning moment was dubbed the Big Bang. But figuring out when it took place depends on figuring out how fast the universe is expanding — a difficult task. By the 1990s, estimates placed the Big Bang at between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago.

Then in the ’90s, Hubble Space Telescope provided by far the best measurement of the expansion rate to date. Astronomers used that to calculate that the Big Bang took place 13.7 billion years ago.

But such measurements always have a bit of uncertainty. The Hubble observations had a range of about five percent either way. Later observations reduced the uncertainty, but there could still be an error of a few hundred million years.

The most recent measurement was made by Planck, a European spacecraft that observed the “afterglow” of the Big Bang. It gave an age of 13.8 billion years. But that’s well within the margin of error of the Hubble work. So the new observations confirm that astronomers have a solid idea of when the Big Bang took place — give or take a hundred million years or so.

Stargazing - 05.12.13

The planet Jupiter huddles close to the lower right of the Moon early this evening.

To the eye alone, Jupiter looks like a brilliant star, outshining all the true stars in the night sky.

More Moon and Jupiter

The planet Jupiter huddles close to the lower right of the Moon early this evening. To the eye alone, Jupiter looks like a brilliant star — it outshines all the true stars in the night sky.

A bit of help reveals much more about the giant planet. Binoculars show us Jupiter’s four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They look like small stars lining up close to the planet. And just about any telescope reveals the planet’s cloud bands and its ruddy “eye” — the Great Red Spot.

But some things you can’t see even with a telescope. That includes Jupiter’s rings — bands of dust and rock around the planet. Although they span close to 150,000 miles, they’re so sparse that they weren’t even discovered from Earth. Instead, they were first seen by the twin Voyager spacecraft when they flew past Jupiter in 1979.

Since then, we’ve seen the rings with other spacecraft, as well as with some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth.

There are four major ring components. There’s the main ring, which is the brightest of the bunch. Much of its material consists of bits of rock. Between the main ring and Jupiter’s cloudtops is the halo — a big doughnut of dust. And outside the main ring are the two gossamer rings, which are also dusty.

All of the rings are kept in place by small moons. They’re also supplied by the moons. Space rocks hit the moons and blast out debris. Over time, the debris spreads out — forming Jupiter’s hard-to-see rings.

Stargazing - 05.11.13

The bright planet Jupiter stands above the thin crescent Moon early this evening, with the planet Venus to the lower right of the Moon.

Although quite bright, Venus is so low in the sky that you need a clear horizon to spot it, not long after sunset.

Moon and Jupiter

Two of the three brightest objects in the night sky stage a beautiful conjunction the next couple of evenings. And the third member of the bright trio is also nearby, although it’s a little bit tougher to spot.

The brightest of the three is the Moon, which is quite low in the west as night begins to fall. It’s a thin crescent right now, which means that the Sun is illuminating only a tiny sliver of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way.

The planet Jupiter stands above the Moon this evening. It looks like a brilliant cream-colored star. It’s the third-brightest object in the night sky. Right now, though, Jupiter is near its faintest. That’s because it’s getting ready to pass on the far side of the Sun as seen from Earth, so it’s farthest away from us — more than half a billion miles. Even so, Jupiter still outshines all the true stars in the night sky.

The second-brightest object in the night sky, the planet Venus, is to the lower right of the Moon. Although it’s quite bright, it’s also quite low in the sky, so there’s not much time to look for it before it drops below the horizon. And any buildings or trees along the horizon will block it from view.

Over the next few nights, though, Venus will climb higher into the evening sky, so it’ll be much easier to pick out. In fact, Venus and Jupiter will sweep past each other in just a couple of weeks. We’ll keep you posted. And we’ll have more about the Moon and Jupiter tomorrow.

Stargazing - 05.10.13

Leo, the lion, dives head-first toward the western horizon during May and June evenings.

Tonight it stands high in the south as darkness falls.

The last of its bright stars to set is Denebola, “the lion’s tail.”

Getting Away

When you think of a black hole, you probably think of material pouring into its voracious maw like water draining down a bathtub, and that’s true enough. But material can also rush away from a black hole like the water rushing out of a showerhead. And both actions — falling in and rushing away — are powered by the black hole.

The most powerful outflow yet seen comes from a quasar — the brilliant center of a distant galaxy. The quasar is powered by material spiraling into a black hole that’s a billion times as massive as the Sun or larger. As it moves inward, this gas is heated to billions of degrees, so it produces enormous amounts of energy.

Astronomers studied the quasar — known by the catalog designation SDSS J1106 — with the Very Large Telescope in Chile. They found that gas is rushing away from the quasar at about 5,000 miles per second. What’s more, this outflow carries enough gas every year to make 400 stars the size of the Sun.

The outflow doesn’t come from inside the black hole itself — nothing can escape a black hole. Instead, it comes from the hot gas around the black hole. Magnetic fields in that gas may power the outflow.

The outflow is so strong that it may clear away gas and dust within hundreds or even thousands of light-years of the supermassive black hole. That would not only stop material from falling into the black hole, it would also shut down the birth of new stars in this galaxy’s busy heart.

West Virginia Adopts Anti-Sexting Law for Juveniles

West Virginia is banning sexting by juveniles.

But the new law targeting that activity also seeks to offer offenders another chance.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin held a ceremonial signing for the legislation this week.

It bars juveniles from making, having or distributing photos, video or other media that portrays a minor in an inappropriate sexual manner.

Juveniles who violate this law would be guilty of an act of delinquency.

But the legislation also asks the Supreme Court to develop an educational diversion program as an alternative to juvenile charges.

That program would show offenders the consequences of sexting, including the potential long-term harm on relationships and school and job opportunities.

The new law also does not require juveniles found guilty to register as sex offenders.

It takes effect July 12, 2013.

G-Fin™: U.S. Senate Passes Bill to Collect Internet Sales Tax

The U.S. Senate passed legislation to force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes for state and local governments.

The vote was 69-to-27 in favor, and included senators from both major parties. The vote sends the issue to the House of Representatives, where it must be passed in the same form before it can be presented to the president to be signed into law.

The 11-page bill, called the Marketplace Fairness Act, allows U.S. states to force online retailers with more than $1 million in annual out-of-state sales to collect sales taxes from customers and remit them back to state and local governments. States will be required to provide software to help calculate the taxes.

You can read the actual bill, introduced in the Senate as S.743, here. The House version is H.R.684.

Today, U.S. states can impose a sales tax on products or services sold in that state, including those offered online; most do, some do not. Court rulings around the issue have required retailers to have a physical presence in the state to be subject to taxation.

The new legislation is interesting because it is a tax-related measure that divides the usual base of support for such things. Ideologically speaking, Republican legislators have long opposed most taxation efforts; on the other hand, the lack of taxation on Internet transactions comes at the expense of brick-and-mortar retail businesses, another area of support for that party.

Supporters see the measure as a way to protect government’s right to collect taxes; opponents see the measure as yet another tax. Either way, it represents a major change in the way that the online marketplace has been functioning to date, and could trigger audits as businesses that engage in e-commerce come under further scrutiny.

President Barack Obama has indicated that he supports the measure, leaving House lawmakers with the final hurdle.

Area Counties’ Lifeline Customers Eligible for Broadband Discount

Lifeline-eligible customers in eight West Virginia counties served by Frontier Communications can subscribe to broadband service for discounted rates through a limited-time Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pilot program.

The FCC’s Lifeline program, which historically provided a discount for phone service for qualifying low-income consumers, will support broadband adoption through discounts for broadband services and the promotion of digital literacy as part of a yearlong pilot program, Dana Waldo, senior vice president and general manager for Frontier in West Virginia, said in a news release.

The program will serve eligible customers in Mason, Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt and Wood counties.

Frontier is working with Future Generations, a West Virginia nonprofit organization, to provide computer training to participants and demonstrate the value of broadband.

“Providing opportunities for low-income West Virginians to obtain broadband is critical in building our state’s capacity for continued economic growth,“ LeeAnn Shreve, director of Future Generations Rural America, said in the release. Future Generations Rural America also offers low-cost refurbished laptops to this same demographic through a partnership with Mission West Virginia.

Residents interested in participating in the program or receiving more information can call 1.888.483.6767 to speak with a Frontier broadband consultant.

Stargazing - 05.09.13

An annular solar eclipse will shine above Australia and the South Pacific today.

The Moon will cover most of the Sun, but a bright ring of sunlight will encircle the Moon.

Hawaii will see a partial eclipse, but the continental U.S. will miss the show.

USDA ANNOUNCES NEW RULES TO FUND BROADBAND SERVICE IN UNSERVED RURAL COMMUNITIES

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new rules to better target Community Connect broadband grants to areas where they are needed the most. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. This announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

“These rules give communities better access to the benefits that broadband service provides,“ Vilsack said. “The Obama Administration is working to ensure that rural residents share in the opportunities provided by modern Internet service.“

USDA Rural Development’s Community Connect Grant program serves rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be available, but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for citizens.

The changes:

  • Simplify the application process by requiring a single project summary and map.

  • Allow grant applicants to use a USDA web-based mapping tool to define their proposed service area. The old rules did not accommodate some of the most rural communities, which often are not Census-designated places or were not recognized by a commercial atlas.

  • Give grant applicants more flexibility on the types of resources, in-kind services and monetary contributions that can be used to meet the 15 percent matching fund requirement.

  • Allow USDA to consider giving funding priority to projects in:

        » persistent poverty counties;

        » communities experiencing population declines;

        » the most rural areas.

USDA’s Rural Utilities Service plans to publish information on Community Connect funding opportunities, including application deadlines and the amount of assistance available, in the Federal Register soon.

In addition to Community Connect grants, USDA Rural Development provides loans and loan guarantees to help finance the construction of rural broadband networks. For example, USDA Rural Development awarded a Community Connect grant to the Texas County Rural Area Informational Network (TRAIN) to install and operate a Fiber-to-the-Home network in Raymondville, Texas. The grants helped fund a Community Center called the Public Access Community Room. TRAIN also is providing broadband service to community residents and businesses.

Since its inception, the Community Connect program has funded 229 projects with USDA investments of $122 million. In 2012, USDA assistance led to improved broadband service nationwide for nearly 65,000 rural households, businesses, and community institutions (such as libraries, schools and first responders). Information about the rules is available at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-03/pdf/2013-10502.pdf.

President Obama’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President’s leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way, strengthening America’s economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities.

USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has a portfolio of programs designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.

USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration, the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $828 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible.

Stargazing - 05.08.13

The twins of Gemini are dropping feet-first toward the western horizon as night falls this month.

One of those feet is marked by a small, faint smudge of light: the star cluster M35.

It is about 2,500 light-years away and contains about 150 stars.

Keeping Tabs

The twins of Gemini are dropping feet-first toward the western horizon as night falls this month. One of those feet is marked by a small, faint smudge of light — the star cluster M35. It’s more than 2500 light-years away, and it contains about 150 bright stars.

The cluster is an important target for a team of McDonald Observatory astronomers. They use the positions of M35’s stars to calibrate observations made with Hubble Space Telescope.

The team uses Hubble to precisely measure the positions of stars. As Earth orbits the Sun, the viewing angle to a star changes a bit, and measuring that angle reveals the star’s distance. This technique — known as astrometry — also makes it possible to measure the masses of planets orbiting other stars by measuring the motions of the parent star.

The measurements are extremely precise, but they also require the Hubble instruments to be precisely calibrated — and that’s where M35 comes in. The positions of the stars in M35 are well known, so the Texas astronomers compare the known positions with what they see through the telescope.

BENEDICT: So you can look and say, “All right, here’s the position of this star, this star, this star, this star.” We know what their positions are, but we measure this. So we measure this, and if the position is different than what the catalog says, our instrument is making it different. And so to make the instrument give us the same answer, that’s the calibration. And so we apply the calibration, and then we measure those stars again and they agree perfectly with the catalog.

So keeping tabs on the stars of M35 helps the astronomers track many other stars throughout the galaxy.

West Virginia Convictions Mount for Distracted Driving

In the first 10 months since a West Virginia law banned driving while texting or talking on a hand-held cell phone, 125 offenders have been convicted of doing just that.

The Legislature passed Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s distracted-driving bill last year.

Drivers caught texting while behind the wheel face fines of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second violation and $300 for subsequent offenses.

Using a handheld cellphone to talk becomes a primary offense July 01, 2013.

Stargazing - 05.07.13

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is about to disappear in the evening twilight.

Look for the star blazing low in the southwest beginning in early twilight.

It sets a couple of hours after sunset.

Recalibrating

Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting Earth for more than 20 years. Or parts of it have. The telescope has changed dramatically over the years, as astronauts installed new and better instruments, better electronics, and other equipment.

For astronomers, that means that comparing Hubble observations made over the years requires some work. Different instruments may be sensitive to different wavelengths of light, for example, or have a different field of view. So astronomers must carefully compensate when they use observations from more than one instrument.

Texas astronomer Fritz Benedict and his colleagues have had to adjust several times over the years to changes in instruments known as the Fine Guidance Sensors.

BENEDICT: There are three Fine Guidance Sensors on the telescope. Two of them are used to guide the telescope — hold it steady so you can make those beautiful pictures. The third Fine Guidance Sensor can be used to do astrometry, which is measure star positions, which is what we do.

A decade ago, one of the sensors failed, so a new one took its place, requiring a recalibration. Another recalibration was needed just a few years ago.

BENEDICT: They decided to refocus the telescope and do a little tweak in the FGS-1R that we were using. And it turned out that, yeah, it now gives slightly better positions, but it basically destroyed our calibration in that we now had to bridge a gap.

Team member Barbara McArthur did just that — keeping the astronomers from losing years of observations of the stars.

More tomorrow.

Stargazing - 05.06.13

Through a telescope, the galaxy known as M82, which is near the Big Dipper, looks like a lumpy caterpillar.

But it is one of the most interesting galaxies because a collision with another galaxy is triggering the creation of thousands of new stars.

File Cabinet

In more than two decades of observations, Hubble Space Telescope has snapped tens of thousands of pictures of the universe. It’s also taken tens of thousands of spectra and other observations. It all adds up to dozens of terabytes of data — and a treasure chest for the astronomers of today and tomorrow.

The Hubble archive allows them to look at how things have changed over the years, for example — changes in position, brightness, and structure. Astronomers can watch as the cloudy remnants of exploded stars grow bigger, or plot the orbits of stars in clusters in great detail.

That’s an even better tool when the Hubble views are combined with those of ground-based telescopes made decades earlier. Although the ground-based images aren’t as sharp, they help track the evolution of astronomical objects over a longer period.

Astronomers can also apply new technology and new ideas to old observations to better understand them. Better technology allows them to squeeze more knowledge out of older observations. And new ideas about what’s happening in the universe pop up all the time. Sifting through years of older observations can provide a quick way to test those ideas to see if they hold up — and if they require new observations to refine them.

So the Hubble archive will remain a valuable scientific resource far into the future — well after the telescope itself has completed its mission of exploration.

More tomorrow.

Stargazing - 05.05.13

Hydra, the water snake, is the largest of the 88 constellations.

It is so faint, though, that it is tough to see.

It serpentines across the south tonight, all the way from the constellation Cancer to the constellation Libra.

Big and Little

Eighty-eight constellations cover the sky like the patches of a giant quilt. Some are huge, while others are tiny. The two most extreme constellations are a bit of a surprise, because the largest is a dud while the smallest is a spectacle.

The largest constellation is so obscure that you may never have seen it. Hydra, the water snake, serpentines across the sky just like its namesake. It stretches all the way from the constellation Cancer to the constellation Libra.

Despite its vast size, Hydra has no brilliant stars and only one moderately bright star, Alphard. It’s an orange giant that’s bright enough to see even from most suburbs. With a good star map, you can find Alphard high in the southwestern sky as night falls. There aren’t any other bright stars around it, which enhances the view.

On the other hand, the smallest constellation is brilliant. Crux, better known as the Southern Cross, is so well known that it even appears in songs — “Blue Wide Open” by Sieges Even and “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, among others.

The Southern Cross boasts four bright stars. There is a catch, though: as its name suggests, you need to live far to the south to see it. In fact, it’s best seen from the southern hemisphere, although it’s also visible from Hawaii and much of Mexico.

Hydra and Crux illustrate a paradox of constellations: bigger isn’t always better. Instead, small constellations like the Southern Cross can pack a big stellar punch.

Stargazing - 05.04.13

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower should be at its best before dawn tomorrow.

But you need to be in the southern half of the country to have a good shot at seeing it because its “shooting stars” are seldom seen north of about Kansas City or Denver.

Eta Aquarid Meteors

A modest meteor shower should be at its best before dawn tomorrow. But you need to be in the southern half of the country to have a good shot at seeing it — its “shooting stars” are seldom seen north of about Kansas City or Denver.

This is the Eta Aquarid shower. It happens when Earth passes through a trail of bits of rock and ice left by Halley’s Comet. The grains of comet dust plunge into the atmosphere at up to 150,000 miles an hour — a good bit faster than most meteors. That generates intense heat that produces a glowing trail high in the sky — a meteor.

The meteors can appear just about anywhere in the sky, but they all appear to “rain” into the atmosphere from the constellation Aquarius, the water bearer. Aquarius is quite low in the south, so the view gets better as you go farther south. It’s pretty good from the southern United States, with perhaps a dozen or so meteors per hour around the shower’s peak. The view is best from the southern hemisphere.

Aquarius doesn’t climb into view until the wee hours of the morning, so the Eta Aquarids are best in the couple of hours before dawn. The Moon will be a thin crescent in the pre-dawn sky tomorrow, not far from Aquarius. It’s so pale that it won’t do much to dampen the show.

And even though the shower peaks early tomorrow, it’ll still rain a few meteors into the sky for a few days more, providing more chances to see a fiery display from a watery constellation.

Stargazing - 05.03.13

Two bright planets bookend the evening sky tonight.

Golden Saturn is low in the southeast at nightfall, with brighter Jupiter about the same height in the west.

Model Cosmos

Several bright members of the solar system are in good view right now. The Sun is in view all day, every day. The Moon rises in the wee hours of tomorrow morning and is low in the sky at first light. And as night falls this evening, the golden planet Saturn is low in the southeast, with the brighter planet Jupiter about the same height in the west.

All of these bodies are a long way off. The Moon’s the closest at a quarter-of-a-million miles, while Saturn’s the farthest at about 800 million miles.

Such distances are tough to comprehend. But several groups have tried to make the enormous distances easier to grasp by building miles-long models of the solar system.

One in Maine, for example, follows U.S. Highway 1. The Sun is on the campus of the University of Maine in Presque Isle. The dwarf planet Pluto is in Houlton — 40 miles away. Scale models of each world are located along the way.

Another one stretches from Peoria to Kewanee, Illinois. And another was recently completed in New Mexico. It follows State Highway 6563 — named for a wavelength of light — through the mountains from Cloudcroft to Sunspot, site of the Sun-watching Sacramento Peak Observatory. Markers indicate the relative sizes and distances of the planets.

The New Mexico model covers 16 road miles. But the real solar system is 250 million times larger — a scale that’s hard to comprehend now matter how good the model is.

Stargazing - 05.02.13

Cassiopeia, the queen, stands low in the north at nightfall and wheels up the northeast during the night.

Its brightest stars form a pattern that resembles a letter W.

Star Factory

Our stellar neighborhood is pretty quiet — most of the nearby stars are mature and sedate. But you don’t have to go all that far to reach an area that’s abuzz with activity — an area where new stars are being born at a prodigious rate.

Westerhout 3 is a complex of star clusters that’s about 6500 light-years away. It contains thousands of stars that are no more than a couple of million years old, including many that are just thousands of years old. And there’s plenty of gas and dust to give birth to thousands more stars.

What’s more, W3 is next door to a couple of other star clusters where the stars are just a few million years old.

Quite a few of the stars in W3 and its neighbors are among the biggest and brightest classes of stars. Winds from these stars compress surrounding clouds of gas and dust, triggering the birth of more stars. But the winds also clear out some of the stuff around them, reducing the supply of raw materials to make more stars.

Many of the stars in W3 are so young that they’re still surrounded by cocoons of dust. These cocoons may be giving birth to new planets. And if any planets have already taken shape, they would have spectacular night skies — ablaze with the splendor of newborn stars.

W3 is in the constellation Cassiopeia, the queen. Although W3 isn’t visible to the unaided eye, Cassiopeia’s brightest stars form a letter W that’s low in the north at nightfall, and wheels up the northeast during the night.

G-Comm™: Hoppy’s Commentary - Time for Tax on Internet Sales

Quick, raise your hand if you pay sales tax on your Internet purchases.

You probably don’t, even though you are supposed to if you live a state that has a sales tax.

The instructions for the West Virginia tax code specify that a “use tax” of six percent applies to “Internet purchases, magazine subscriptions, mail-order purchases, out-of-state purchases, telephone purchases originating out-of-state, (and) TV shopping networks.”

But hardly anyone correctly fills out the West Virginia Schedule UT form and calculates those taxes do the state.

Those uncollected taxes add up. It’s estimated that at least $11 billion dollars due the states is left on the table every year because of what amounts to a giant loophole in collections.

That would change under the Marketplace Fairness Act. That federal legislation would require retailers with at least $1 million in annual remote sales to collect sales taxes and send the money to the appropriate state or city.

That’s not a simple matter. There are about 9,600 different taxing jurisdictions in the country.  Qualifying sellers would need special software, which bill supporters say the states will give them for free, that would calculate the taxes.

That’s the right move.  The current two-tiered system not only lets taxes due go uncollected, but also puts brick-and-mortar businesses at a disadvantage.

In West Virginia, the local merchant has to impose a six percent sales tax, while an out-of-state business can sell the same item with no taxes.

The primary reason these taxes have gone uncollected over the years is that a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Quill Corp. v. North Dakota) said Internet and catalog sellers don’t have to collect sales tax in states where they have no physical presence.

However, the Court’s opinion left the final say up to public policy makers.

“The underlying issue is one that congress may be better qualified to solve and one that it has the ultimate power to resolve,” the Court said.

The U.S. is on the verge of doing just that, with the help of Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, who both support the bill.  The House of Representatives should follow suit.

This is not about imposing new taxes, but rather having a fair and equitable system of collecting the taxes that are already due.

Stargazing - 05.01.13

The Big Dipper and W-shaped Cassiopeia wheel around the Pole Star like a carnival ride.

When one is high in the sky, the other sits atop the horizon.

This month the Big Dipper takes the upper berth, standing high in the north during the evening.

Star Wheel

Two of the night sky’s most prominent star pictures wheel around the Pole Star, Polaris, like a giant carnival ride. When one of them is high in the sky, the other is quite low, sitting right atop the northern horizon.

The “high-low” contrast is on good display this month. During the evening hours, the stars of the Big Dipper stand highest in the sky, with the bowl pouring its contents down upon Polaris. At the same time, W-shaped Cassiopeia, the queen, is directly below the Pole Star. It perches just above the horizon for most American skywatchers, but some or all of its stars dip below the horizon for those in the southern parts of the country.

All of the stars in the celestial northern hemisphere appear to wheel around the star that marks the north pole. That’s because Earth spins on its axis — one full turn against the starry background every 23 hours and 56 minutes. So as the night progresses, the stars appear to rotate across the sky.

The stars rise and set about four minutes earlier each night. So as the seasons go by, each star appears at a different spot in the sky for the same time of night.

Most of the stars spend part of the year below the horizon and out of sight. But stars like those of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia are so close to the pole that, from mid- and high-northern latitudes, they never set — they’re in view every night of the year.

So watch these stars as they continue their never-ending circle around the celestial north pole.

Stargazing - 04.30.13

The star Gamma Hydra marks the tail of Hydra, the water snake, the longest constellation in the sky.

It is low in the southeast at nightfall and forms a triangle with the bright planet Saturn to its lower left and the star Spica closer to its upper right.

Muons II

The Mayan city of La Milpa, in Belize, has been abandoned for more than a thousand years. Dense jungle covers the city, including a pyramid that towers seven stories high. Yet archaeologists hope to look deep into the pyramid this spring and summer. Their tools aren’t picks and shovels, but electronic detectors and particles created high above Earth’s surface.

The particles are muons. They’re created when particles from exploding stars slam into atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. The muons can penetrate deep into solid rock. That allows them to act like X-rays - instruments can detect the muons after they’ve passed through an object, creating an image of its interior.

The technique was developed by Luis Alvarez. In 1967, he used a muon detector to search for hidden chambers inside the pyramid of Khafre in Egypt. The experiment found no hidden chambers, but it did confirm that the technique would work.

Since then, scientists have used muons to probe the Pyramid of the Sun at the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico. They’ve also used it to look deep into volcanoes that may be about to erupt. And now, physicists from the University of Texas at Austin are setting up detectors at one of the pyramids of La Milpa.

Muons aren’t exactly like X-rays. They don’t provide the same level of detail, and it can take weeks to gather enough muons to produce a good picture. Even so, they provide a way to probe the hidden past - with the help of exploding stars.

WV Broadband Project Nears Completion, Fiber-Optic Cable Installed Many Public Facilities

Frontier Communications is wrapping up work on projects expanding high-speed Internet across the state.

The Charleston Gazette says a new state report shows 583 miles of fiber-optic cable has been installed to schools, libraries and other public facilities. Seven miles of cable remains to be installed.

Frontier also is installing 85 miles of fiber-optic cable to link West Virginia University and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank. Six miles of cable remain to be installed.

The work is part of the state’s $126.3 million federal stimulus project to expand broadband service.

The state has until September to spend the stimulus funds. State officials expect about $4 million won’t be spent.