San Diego Astronomy Association - SDAA Diego Astronomy Association 2012 11

San DiegoAstronomy AssociationCelebrating Over 40 Years of Astronomical Outreach

Observatory (619) 766-9118http://www.sdaa.org

A Non-Profit Educational AssociationP.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215

November 2012

SDAA Business MeetingNext meeting will be held at:3838 Camino del Rio North

Suite 300San Diego, CA 92108

November 13th at 7pmNext Program Meeting

November 28, 2012 at 7pmMission Trails Regional Park

Visitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSNovember 2012, Vol XLX, Issue 11Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy Association$2.50 an issue/$30.00 yearIncorporated in California in 1963First Light for the New Lipp...............1October Minutes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2November Program Meeting..................4November Calendar............................5SDAA Contac t s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6ASIG Galler y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Annua l Banque t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Tierra del Sol... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10A n n u a l B B Q. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1We b O n l y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -A C o s m i c Te a s e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

First Light for the new LippBy Edward Rumsey

If you have not been to the Lipp Telescope recently, you really owe yourself a trip to TDS to take a look. In the past, the Lipp has suffered from a rough surface and had it’s turned down edge masked off. The SDAA Board of Directors with input from some of the membership took the bold initiative to invest nearly $7,300 for the improvement of the optics. SDAA hired Paul Jones, owner of Star Instruments, to test and refigure the optics. Paul is one of, if not the premier Ritchey-Chretien optical system manufacturers. Upon receipt, Paul was able to confirm the condition of the primary mirror and informed us that the secondary was beyond repair. Paul took a liking to SDAA and offered to provide a secondary mirror as a donation to the association. In the process of correcting the optics, the focal ratio was increased from an f7.4 to f8.2. For those that like statistics, peak to valley (98%) is 0.2371 waves – better than quarter wave, and an RMS of 0.0461 waves. Final coatings were applied by Paul Zacharias, owner of Spectrum Coatings. He applied his premium MAX – “R” EAL coating system which resulted in a greater than 97% reflectivity across the entire visible spectrum. SDAA took delivery of the new optics on September 25th and commenced instal-lation under the supervision of Jim Traweek, Observatory Director, on Friday the 28th. Complications were encountered due to the increased focal length and new spider spacers were required. Bill Griffith and Brian McFarland, both exceptional machinists, went to work on the new parts Saturday morning and made delivery late that afternoon. The new parts were perfectly machined and went in without the expected complications. Rough collimation was performed throughout the remainder of the evening with the first pleasing views being delivered Sunday morning, September 30th. Bad seeing and a full moon precluded completion of the collimation process. Weather and poor seeing washed out the following weekend. Fine collimation was performed on the evening of October 12th. First Light was celebrated on October 13th at the SDAA Bar-B-Que. SDAA as-sociates, family, and friends, served as the the optical inspectors. The lines at the Lipp Telescope did not diminish until after 10 pm with most members marveling over the improvements. The evaluators were ecstatic with the results and the following assess-ments were obtained from them. Early in the evening the scope was trained to the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (M13). While still a bit early, the object showed off the much improved focus. Stars were nearly pin points and depth was readily apparent. As twilight progressed the scope was slewed to The Swan (M17). This emission nebula was fantastic! Always a Lipp favorite, the increased detail was stunning. The additional nebulosity now fills the eye piece from edge to edge. The Ring Nebula (M57) was an-other pleaser showing hints of extended nebulosity found in long exposure photography. The Dumbbell Nebula (M27), returned a similar image. Views of the Veil Nebula (NGC 6960), were an absolute delight! While tracing the object has always been a treat, the increased light gathering (10%) and improved objects show off the individual filaments and gives a tremendous sense of depth. Many of the filaments look as if they were braided. (continued on page 4)

http://www.sdaa.org

San Diego Astronomy Association

Page 2 SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, NOVEMBER 2012

SDAA Board of Directors Monthly Business Meeting Minutes

October 9, 2012-Unapproved and Subject to Revision

1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following board members in attendance: Michael Vander Vorst, Presi-dent; Bill Carlson, Vice President; Ed Rumsey, Treasurer; Jeff Herman, Corresponding Secretary; Brian McFarland, Recording Secretary; Kin Searcy, Director; Paul “Moose” Pountney, Director; David Woods, Director. Member in attendance – Jim Traweek, Observatory Director.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. Approved.

3. Priority / Member Business. • The official installation of Dave Woods took place with a unanimous vote of the Board. Dave replaces Bob Austin as a Director. • The pad 25 leaseholder’s request to remove dilapidated deck and table from his newly acquired pad site was approved.

4. Standard Reports.

Treasurer’s Report. • The report is approved.• Michael V to call the Lucas scholarship point of contact regarding SDAA’s contribution on behalf of the Julian StarFest.• Paul P (Moose) and Ed R to get copies of the keys to the storage shed and observatory.

Membership Report. The Board approved a request to grant Timothy McQuien a Basic membership in the club and provide a loaner scope.

Site Maintenance Report. GFI outlets in bathroom have been installed; will look at bathroom light power. We need a new valve ass’y for the men’s head.

Observatory Report. The new mirrors are installed and collimation will occur Friday the 12th in preparation for the BBQ. Focal length went from F7.4 to 8.2. The Board approved $100 for the purchase of a variable polarizing moon filter.

Private Pad Report . • There are currently 3 unleased Private Pads and 2 people on the active waiting list in the process of choosing pads. Nobody is currently behind on their lease payments.• There are currently 2 people who would like to arrange a pad swap. One of the people would be giving up their pad and the other person would like to transfer their lease from their current pad to the new one (and put their current pad out to lease). There is currently no way to do this without the pad being returned to the waiting list and the owner who wants to upgrade putting their name on the waiting list. I’m trying to figure out a way to engineer this transfer without breaking the way we currently manage pads and without annoying the people currently on the waiting list.

Program Report. • Last month’s speaker has been rescheduled for November. • Jerry H had to cancel this month’s presentation so Kin S agreed to fill in with a Palomar talk.

Outreach Committee Report. • We now have all the star party coordinator positions filled. • Ed R to take over the loaner scope program.


Page 3SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, NOVEMBER 2012

AISIG Report. One more meeting this year – Oct. The topic will be calibration.

NASA/Roboscope. No report.

TDS Network. The network is up and running fine.

Newsletter Report. No report.

Website. • New Director Alpha David Wood information added to contact page. • There is a problem with the PayPal automatic return giving an error. Should have the problem resolved soon. • Godaddy, which hosts sdaa.org, was down for a day and provided a $6.99 credit for the temporary outage. • Removed the ability to sign up as an Associate member online since that requires an application to the Board. • The webmaster needs access to PayPal settings – Ed R will work on it.

Merchandise Report. Moose re-organizing the merchandise and funding mess as a result of his quick evacuation from TDS due to the Shockey fire.

Site Master Plan. Board tabled this.

Safety Documents. No Report. 5. Old Business. • Lipp refurbishment – see Observatory Report • October Barbeque – there will be a collection taken for the local victims of the Shockey Fire for which Michael V will make an announcement on the Yahoo website. • Nominating Committee – Mike Finch, Paul “Moose” Pountney, Jim Traweek, Kin Searcy, Michael Vander Vorst, and Dave Wood volunteered to serve on the Board. Still need a Vice President. Kin will approach one or two of the Star Party Coordinators about volunteering for this position. • Solar farm Tierra del Sol – the Boulevard Planning Committee voted it down. We will continue to monitor. • Call for any other Old Business - none

6. New Business. • Pad Lease– see Priority/Member Business report. • Call for other new business – none.

7. Adjournment. 8:55 pm.



Date: 28 November 2012Speaker: Jerome A. Orosz

Topic: Kepler Mission

Dr. Orosz grew up in Greeley, Colorado. Received undergraduate degrees in physics and math-ematics from the University of Northern Colorado, Master’s degree in physics from Ohio University, and Ph.D. degree in astronomy from Yale University. He has been at San Diego State University since 2002, where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Astronomy.

With the discovery of the first planet around another star in 1995, the search for “exoplanets” has grown considerably. The first explanets discovered were gas giant planets similar to Jupiter in our own solar system, but at much closer separations from their parent stars. Recently, more and more smaller expolanets in longer-period orbits have been discovered. Currently, the main focus has been on the search for Earth-sized planets in the so-called “habitable zones” of their parent stars. For nearly three years NASA’s Kepler mission has been monitoring about 156,000 stars in the constellations of Cygnus and Lyrae with the specific goal of characterizing the occur-rence rate of Earth-sized planets. He will give an overview of recent results, highlighting the contributions made at San Diego State University.

San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speakers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednesday of every month at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center. The Program meeting begins at 7:00 PM. Each attendee receives one free door prize ticket. After announcements and a small amount of business, the audience is treated to the featured presentation. At the close of the meeting the door prizes are presented. The event is open to the public. The Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center is at One Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego CA 92119. Call the park at 619-668-3281 for more information or visit http://www.mtrp.org. Please contact Bill Carlson ([email protected] or 425-736-8485) if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the Pro-gram Meetings.

November Program Meeting

First Light for the New Lipp cont.

As a collimation test, we trained the scope on the Double Double (Epsilon Lyrae). At lowest power (150X), we were able to easily separate the close components. An exceptional feat when you consider the 8.25” central obstruction! As another collimation test we turned to a portion of the Double Cluster, NGC’s 869 and 884. We were delighted to find pin point stars from edge to edge. Exactly what a Ritchey-Chretien was designed to return. Later Saturday night we went on a tour of the Herschel 400. Each of these objects was spectacular in the Lipp. We checked at least 15 of them and they were all easy to discern in the ocular. From the images returned by these objects, I would expect that nearly all New General Catalog (NGC) objects, not obstructed by the horizon, are observable in the Lipp. With the increased light gathering and finer focus, some of the Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (IC) will become available to us. As more than one of the observers remarked, “We have a brand new sky to explore.” Overall, my assessment is that the association has hit a home run in its efforts to improve the Lipp optics. Thank you to all involved.

Please find an opportunity to test the telescope yourself at one of the upcoming star parties. We would love to see you at the site and are confident that you will find the views much improved.



November 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Liberty Station

3

Military Family Nature Fair

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7 Stars in the Park

8 Doyle Elementary

9 San Pasqual

Union School Stars at Mission

Trails

10 Marcy Park

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SDAA Business Meeting

New Moon

14

Pacific View Charter School

15

Heise for Old Town Academy

16

Stars at Sycamore Canyon

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25

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28

SDAA Program Meeting

Full Moon

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SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Vice-President Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485Recording Secretary Brian McFarland [email protected] (619) 462-4483Treasurer Ed Rumsey [email protected] (858) 722-3846Corresponding Secretary Jeff Herman [email protected] (619) 846-4898Director Alpha Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808 Director Beta Paul “Moose” Pountney [email protected] (619) 201-5311Director Gamma Michael Finch [email protected] (760) 440-9650Director Delta Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974

CommitteesSite Maintenance Bill Quackenbush [email protected] (858) 395-1007Observatory Director Jim Traweek [email protected] (619) 207-7542Private Pads Mark Smith [email protected] (858) 484-0540Outreach Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974N. County Star Parties Doug McFarland [email protected] (760) 583-5436S. County Star Parties Benjamin Flores [email protected] (619) 885-1291E. County Star Parties Dave Decker [email protected] (619) 972-1003Central County Star Parties Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Camp with the Stars Doug McFarland [email protected] (760) 583-5436K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Newsletter Andrea Kuhl [email protected] (858) 547-9887New Member Mentor Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Webmaster Jeff Stevens [email protected] (858) 566-2261AISIG Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Site Acquisition -Vacant- [email protected] Field Trips Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485Grants/Fund Raising -Vacant- [email protected] Merchandising Paul “Moose” Pountney [email protected] (619)-201-5311 Publicity Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 565-4059Roboscope Director Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 565-4059Governing Documents TBATDS Network Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485Amateur Telescope Making Peter De Baan [email protected] (760) 745-0925

Have a great new piece of gear? Read an astronomy-related book that you think others should know about? How about a photograph of an SDAA Member in action? Or are you simply tired of seeing these Boxes in the Newsletter rather than something, well, interesting?

Join the campaign to rid the Newsletter of little boxes by sharing them with the membership. In return for your efforts, you will get your very own by line or pho-tograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just send your article or picture to [email protected].

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Andrea [email protected]

Assistant Editor: Rick ImbraContributing Writers

Edward Rumsey Alice Harvey Michael Vander Vorst

Dr. Marc J. Kuchner

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]=2


[email protected]

mailto:// [email protected]





AISIG Gallery Jim Thommes imaged NGC 7380, the Wizard in Cepheus, using an SBIG ST8300M CCD camera through an Explore Scientific MN 152 mounted an a Losmandy G11. He blended data from theWide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with his own 4.25 hours of data. “This publication makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.”

http://aisig.sdaa.org/



MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONSend dues and renewals to P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215. Include any renewal cards from Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine in which you wish to continue your subscription. The expiration date shown on your newsletter’s mailing label is the only notice that your membership in SDAA will expire. Dues are $60 for Contributing Memberships; $35 for Basic Membership; $60.00 for Private Pads; $5 for each Family membership. In addition to the club dues the annual rates for maga-zines available at the club discount are: Sky & Telescope $32.95 and Astronomy $34. Make checks payable to S.D. Astronomy Assn. PLEASE DO NOT send renewals directly to Sky Publishing. They return them to us for processing.

Vince Bert posted two narrowband (O III and Hα) images of the Sagittarius Triplet of three bright nebulae, (including the Trifid and Lagoon) and the Heart Nebula IC 1805. He imaged these from Arizona with an Alta U16M CCD through a Takahashi FSQ 106 refractor. He combined over 12 hours of narrowband data.



You are cordially invited to The San Diego Astronomy Association’s

Annual Banquet On

Saturday, January 26, 2013, 5:30 – 11:00 pm Handlery Hotel & Resort- 950 Hotel Circle North, San Diego, CA 92108

____________________________________________________________

Speaker: Dr. William Welsh, Associate Professor of Astronomy at San Diego State University will present on the Kepler Mission. His role is to carry out detailed modeling of the short-period planets that Kepler discovers in order to very accurately measure the physical characteristics of the planets and stars, including variations in the times of transits that would indicate the presence of an unseen second planet or moon.

Cocktail hour is from 5:30 to 6:45 and dinner 7:00.

Menu

Choice of Entrees:

Steak Chicken Vegetarian

SDAA Banquet Order Form Use this form or order online at http://sdaa.org/banquet.htm

Name______________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________ City, State, Zip______________________________________________ Telephone__________________________________________________ Email______________________________________________________ Dinner Selections (Enter number of each)Steak____ Chicken ____ Vegetarian ____ Check here if requiring

sugar free dessert____Number Attending ____ @ $45 each Total Payment included $ _________

*Make checks payable to SDAA Orders must be received no later than 01/22/2012NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR

Mail to:San Diego Astronomy AssociationP.O. Box 23215San Diego, CA 92193-3215



Remembering the Community of Tierra del SolBy Alice Harvey

9/25/12

For most members of the SDAA, “Tierra Del Sol” simply refers to our 10-acre dark sky site located in southeastern San Diego County. We don’t remember, or think about, the fact that there is a community called Tierra Del Sol we pass through on the way. That’s natural enough, given that it really only has about 8 or 10 houses in a stretch of road that’s not much more than a half-mile. But this is the community that gave our property its name. Tierra Del Sol – the land of the sun. The last week of September, Tierra Del Sol became the land of the 2012 brush fire in San Diego County. The SDAA Yahoo Group was awash with posts – questions, concerns, worry. Of course most of these focused (rightfully so) on the fate of our prop-erty. The short answer is, we got damn lucky. We’ve always known that we were in potential danger every year when it got hot and the Santa Ana’s started. We dodged it in 2007, when the Harris fire that started near Potrero burned mostly to the west. This year’s Shockey fire came way too close for comfort, with a westerly flow pushing it from the Campo Indian Reservation directly east toward Boulevard and Jewel Valley. Right in the middle of the path was Tierra Del Sol – both our property and the community. For some reason, the fire stayed north of the train tracks and our property was spared. Not so the Community of Tierra Del Sol. As I write this on September 25, I’m really not looking forward to making the drive out to the site this weekend. The fire is still far from contained as I type, but there is hope it will be controlled in the next 24-48 hours. But I have to go, and the only way in is right through the middle of the fire zone. I’ve been making the drive out to TDS (my “weekend home”) for over 8 years – I’ve probably averaged 2 weekends a month over that time. Although I don’t know any of my “neighbors” in Tierra Del Sol personally, I know their names from mailboxes, which properties have horses and which cattle, which houses are empty and which have people in them. That’s what’s really getting to me about this fire – knowing that this time, when I drive out, most of those houses and neighbors will be gone. Even though we’ve been lucky and our site didn’t burn, the area will never be the same. Tierra Del Sol was a little community that grew up over 100 years ago, mostly African-Americans who worked building the rail-road that goes through the area. Over time, it had changed from being a black community to a just little spot on the road with some empty shacks, a couple of fairly well-maintained properties, some with horses and some cattle (a big herd might have 20 head), and a few with visible signs of life. I only knew the people there by the names on their mailboxes. But I always noticed when something changed – like when the people right on the corner, just past “Geo. And Mary Stewart” finally moved that old empty bus off their property. Or when the pond was full after the spring rains and the sheep came down close to the road to drink from it. Somehow, the farm with 28 Clydesdales was spared. Like us, the fire just seemed to turn the corner at the right time. For me, Tierra Del Sol started at Somewhere Farm and the Clydesdales and ran to the train tracks. I yelled hello or good-bye out the truck window at the horses every time I drove by. In the spring, the foals would be in the last corral, after the road turned toward the west. Then it turned south again, and the first house and mailbox was “Geo. and Mary Stewart” - behind their gate there were always a couple trucks, a camper, and a flagpole with the American flag flying right in front of the house. Just past the Stewarts was a place that looked totally uninhabited, with numerous broken-down vehicles around it. That’s where the old bus used to be – it was up against the fence on the right side of the road. I guess that bus had been there for years, but just recently, maybe 3 or 4 months ago, the bus disappeared. At that corner the road turned south again, and on the right was the pond (though it was usually dried up, except in the spring). There was a big – maybe 3-feet wide – ball that looked like a huge soccer ball – we guessed that the bull we saw there at times liked to play with it. In the spring there might be some sheep drinking from the pond. There were a couple more really run down shacks on the right side of the road, then a couple that were fixed up, with signs of people. On the rare occasion when I left the site after dark (when the fog came in and closed down viewing early), I would see lights in the last one, and the trucks moved regularly. On the left were just two small houses. The guy who owned the first one had been doing quite a bit of work on his property over the last couple of years, hauling away junk, cutting down dead trees. The second one had been painted turquoise about 3 years ago – it was owned by a young man with a wife and baby who I happened to meet at the Lightening Brewery anniversary party SDAA has worked – we had scopes set up for solar viewing and he and his family came over and we got talking and it turned out that he owned that little house and was just starting to fix it up so they could spend more week-ends out there. He had painted and cleaned up the yard, and there were some kiddy toys in the yard and a tire swing.



Somewhere in this area was the coolest red truck mailbox. That was one of the first things I really remember seeing on my early drives out to the site, and once I saw that mailbox I knew I was almost to TDS. It seems like it was next on the right, between the last house and the train tracks, but right now I can’t remember – and it is probably gone anyway. Then came the train tracks and I was out of “downtown Tierra Del Sol”. The properties between “downtown” and our site were a little larger and looked more actively lived in. On the right were some horses – they only came near the road when hay had been put into the feeders. Further on was a nice large property with cattle, and across the road on the left were horses. Then I would make the final turn to the west and drive straight on (past the infamous donkeys) until the turn off north onto Tierra Del Luna and our property. What is the drive going to be like now? I can’t even imagine, and I know I won’t be ready for whatever I find. I’ve looked at the maps, and seen where the fire line falls. I’ve watched the reports on TV, scanned the Cal-Fire website about 20 times a day looking for updates, and followed the Yahoo posts. I heard the news report about the man who died in the fire – which house was he in? I’ll prob-ably never know. I have a feeling that once I get past the Clydesdales, and look, out of habit, for “Geo. and Mary Stewart” to see if their gate is open or not, then reality will crash in on me. And it’s not going to be pretty. So why am I going out this week? Of course, I want to check on our property and my pad. It’s going to need a lot of clean-up from ash and debris, I’m sure. We’re supposed to be putting the mirror back into the Lipp this weekend, to get it ready for the BBQ on Oc-tober 13. Something a couple of us have talked about is going around the area to see if we can help with anything. We have plenty of tools at the site, and there will be a lot of clean-up work to be done. The Community of Tierra Del Sol, though small and largely unno-ticed as we drive through (“don’t blink, or you’ll miss it”), has become a part of my life over the past few years. I hope there’s something I can do to honor that. If not, it’s going to become a damn hard drive to make.

We Had a Great Barbeque at TDS

By Michael Vander Vorst

Thanks to all of you who made the banquet such a great success. You not only brought side dishes to share, but graciously helped set up and clean up. We served over 100 people, mostly members and family, but also people from the community, and happily, three Cal Fire firefighters. Sitting on the patio and looking North, we could see the aftermath of the Shockey fire and be thankful that our site was saved. The day was pleasant and several members set up solar scopes for all of us to enjoy. The night was cool and clear and we shared views of the heavens on each others scopes, and on our newly refurbished 22-inch club scope.

See you again next year.



Note: The food donations collected at the BBQ were distributed to two families the next day!



A Cosmic Tease:Trials of the Herschel Space Telescope Science Teams

By Dr. Marc J. Kuchner

Vast fields of marble-sized chunks of ice and rock spun slowly in the darkness this week, and I sat in the back of a grey conference room with white plastic tables spread with papers and laptops. I was sitting in on a meeting of an international team of astronomers gathered to analyze data from the Herschel Infrared Observatory. This telescope, sometimes just called Herschel, orbits the Sun about a million miles from the Earth. The meeting began with dinner at Karl’s house. Karl charred chorizo on the backyard grill while the airplanes dribbled into Dulles airport. Our colleagues arrived, jetlagged and yawning, from Germany, Sweden, and Spain, and we sat on Karl’s couches catching up on the latest gossip. The unemployment level in Spain is about twenty percent, so research funding there is hard to come by these days. That’s not nice to hear. But it cheered us up to be with old friends. The meeting commenced the next morning, as the vast fields of ice and rock continued to spin—shards glinting in the starlight. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe they didn’t exist at all. You see, this team is looking at a series of images of stars taken by a device called a bolometer that is blind to ordinary starlight. Instead, the bolometer inside Herschel senses infrared light, a kind of light that we would probably refer to as heat if we could feel it. But the idea of pointing the bolometer at the stars was not to collect ordinary starlight. It was to measure heat coming from the vicinity of these stars, like an infrared security camera, in case there was something else to be found lurking nearby. And lo and behold, for a handful of stars, the bolometer measurements were off the charts! Maybe something was orbiting these stars. From the details of the bolometer readings—which channels lit up and so on—you would guess that this stuff took the form of majestic fields or rings of icy and rocky particles. It would be a new kind of disk, a discovery worth writing home to Madrid about. There are several teams of astronomers analyzing data from the Herschel Space Telescope. They call themselves by oddly inappropri-ate sounding acronyms: GASPS, DUNES, DEBRIS. For the time being, the scientists on these teams are the only ones with access to the Herschel data. But in January, all the data these teams are working on will suddenly be released to the public. So they are all under pressure to finish their work by then. The team whose meeting I was sitting in on would like to publish a paper about the new disks by then. But it’s not so simple. The stars that this team had measured were relatively nearby as stars go, less than a few hundred light years. But the universe is big, and full of galax-ies of all kinds—a sea of galaxies starting from maybe a hundred thousand light years away, and stretching on and on. Maybe one of those background galaxies was lined up with each of the stars that had lit up the bolometer—fooling us into thinking they were seeing disks around these stars. The team argued and paced, and then broke for lunch. We marched to the cafeteria through the rain. Meanwhile, vast fields of marble-sized chunks of ice and rock spun slowly in the darkness. Or maybe they didn’t. What else did Herschel recently uncover? Find out at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comet-ocean.

Dr. Marc J. Kuchner is an astrophysicist at the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA’s Astrophysics Division works on big questions about the origin and evolution of the universe, galaxies, and planetary systems. Explore more at http://www.science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/.

Samuel Pierpoint Langley, who developed the bolometer in 1878. His instrument detects a broad range of infrared wavelengths, sensitive to differences in temperature of one hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius (0.00001 C). In 1961, Frank Low developed the germanium bolometer, which is hundreds of times more sensitive than previous detectors and capable of detecting far-infrared radia-tion.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comet-ocean

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comet-ocean

http://www.science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/