Special Meeting Notice:

Monday, February 5, 2007 at the Jones Observatory; at 7:00 P.M., there will be a Special BAS joint meeting with the Chattanooga Hiking Club. The topics will include: A Brief Introduction to Astronomy; How to Navigate Using the Stars; historical examples such as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Underground Railroad, etc. Presented by Dr. John Mannone. BAS members are urged to attend and support this outreach!

MEETING NOTICE :

The regular meeting of the BARNARD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY will be held Thursday, February 8th at Jones Observatory on Brainerd Rd. The business meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. followed by the program at 8:30. Refreshments will be served.

PROGRAM:

“An Introduction to Solar Astronomy”, presented by Dr. John Mannone

The Barnard STAR is the official publication of the Barnard Astronomical Society.

OFFICERS

President………………………………………...…..Tom Adkins
Vice-President……………………………………….Bill Seymour
Secretary………………………………………….Gary Caldwell
Treasurer……………………………………………..David Witt
STAR Editor……………………………………….Steve Ramey
Webmaster…………………………………………….Rod Ruch
Database Manager………………………………....Bill Seymour
Star Party Chairman………………………………Victor Rogers

January Minutes

Minutes of January 11 meeting of the BAS

A short business meeting was held following the program. There were eleven members and guests present. Reading of the minutes for the November and December meetings was postponed until the February meeting No treasurer's report was presented.

Old Business

There will be a special joint meeting on 5 February in conjunction with the Chattanooga Hikers Club. The program will be presented by John Mannone.

There will be a Star Party at Camp Columbus on February 17.

The observatory will have its grand reopening January 21

New Business

Poetry Under the Stars will likely be held at the John B. Patten Recreational Center in Tiftonia.

The BAS has been asked to participate in the Chattanooga Science Fair's awards program. A motion was made and seconded to participate. The amount of the award is yet to be determined.

Program (excerpts)

“Geometry is not Destiny-the Shape of the Universe” by Dr. Robert Marlowe
(I am in way over my head! sec)

Cosmology has gone through several periods of revision. The "old" cosmology was from 1916 to about 1970 which was the period of the "Cosmological Constant" introduced by Albert Einstein to make his Theory of General Relativity "fit" the known data. When Edwin Hubble discovered the universe was expanding, Einstein removed the "cosmological constant" from his theory of general relativity.

The period from 1970 to about 1977 was the period where Inflation and Dark Matter were invoked. It was thought at that time that the universe would eventually collapse upon itself. Even though the data indicated that the galaxies were moving away from one another the theory was that "dark matter" would exert enough gravitational force to eventually halt the expansion. In 1998 data from supernova observations and WMAP data indicated that the universe was expanding at a ever increasing rate. What was causing this ever increasing expansion? W hat governs the expansion?

The expansion of the universe is governed by two parameters: 1) the universe will collapse or 2) expand forever. Critical density is the dividing line between expanding or collapsing. Critical density (omega) = actual density/critical density. If omega is >1 the universe will collapse, if <1 it will expand. Critical density is 5 hydrogen atoms / cubic meter or about 9 x 10-27 grams per cubic meter. (I am now drowning!)

If the universe is flat it is at critical density. Two independent teams came to the same conclusion that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Enter "Dark Energy"! Quantum mechanics requires the presence of "Dark Energy" if the universe is expanding. The Cosmological Constant is back! We understand only about 4% of the universe.

THE UNIVERSE IS FLAT!

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Caldwell, Secretary

REMINDER - Your annual BAS dues of are now due on the anniversary of your membership in accordance with the adopted amendment to the by-laws. The due date appears below your name on the address on the front of this newsletter. If your expiration date says “Overdue” or if you don’t agree with the date shown, contact David Witt to resolve discrepancies. The current dues rates are as follows: REGULAR $15.00, REGULAR ASSOCIATE $7.00, JUNIOR $8.00, JUNIOR ASSOCIATE $5.00. Your Sky & Telescope or Astronomy subscription will continue to be handled as in the past. When you receive your subscription reminder card, submit it to:

David Witt
4503 Cove Lane
Chattanooga, TN 37415-2306

Along with the group subscription rate of $32.95 for Sky and Telescope, or $34.00 for Astronomy. Note the increased rate for Astronomy. This was effective July 31, 2005

DEADLINE - All articles and other materials for publication in the next STAR are due no later than Wednesday, Februarey 28st . The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or stramey@catt.com and attach a file or mail to:

Steve Ramey
109 Sioux Trail
Ringgold GA 30736

PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO ACCEPTABLE.

DIRECTIONS TO ORION ACRES

FROM NORTH HAMILTON COUNTY:
From 27 (corridor J) take hwy. 111 to Dunlap, continue through the Sequatchie Valley up the next mountain (Cagle Mountain). When you reach the summit about 5 miles turn LEFT onto hwy. 399 (sign reads 'to Savage Gulf State Park' Stay on 399 until it ends, which will be in Grundy Co. Now make a LEFT onto hwy. 108 South. This goes thru Palmer TN. Continue on 108 up to a higher elevation. When this levels off, turn RIGHT onto Palmer Fire Tower Rd. This is a large open area with possibly trucks loaded with timber for the paper mills. Orion Acres will be on the RIGHT about 8 tenths mile. A sign will be posted at 7pm on Saturday May 7th.

FROM INTERSTATE 24 (to Nashville):
Go to the Dunlap/Whitwell exit (#155). This is hwy. 28. Exit right and keep on 28 for about 11 miles, passing Hardee’s on your left. Continue through the stoplight and take the next LEFT on Hwy. 108 North. Continue another 11 or so miles. You will see 'Grundy County' sign. Take the next left. This is Palmer Fire Tower Rd. Go 8 tenths of a mile and Orion Acres is on the RIGHT. There will be a sign posted at 7pm on Saturday, May 7th.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

February Programs

Monday, February 5, 2007 at the Jones Observatory; 7:00 P.M., A special BAS joint meeting with Chattanooga Hiking Club; A Brief Introduction to Astronomy; How to Navigate Using the Stars; Historical examples such as the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Underground Railroad, etc. Presented by Dr. John Mannone

BAS members are urged to attend and support this outreach!

Thursday, February 8, 2007at the Jones Observatory, the regular monthly BAS Meeting. Business Session and Refreshments--7:30 P.M., Program—8:30 P.M., “An Introduction to Solar Astronomy”, presented by Dr. John Mannone

Looking Ahead

March 8, 2007: Program at The Jones Observatory; “An Introduction to Radio Astronomy”, presented by Dr. David Fields, Tamke-Allan Observatory (TAO)

April 12, 2007: Program at The Jones Observatory; “A Tour of The Lowell Observatory”, presented by Robert Burns

BAS Community Outreach to a Neighborhood Association in Chattanooga

On Thursday, January 25, 2007 at The Jones Observatory, Tom Adkins and Bill Seymour gave a program on Basic Concepts in Astronomy to 18 members of the 21st Century Neighborhood Association. These persons represent the residential areas for several square miles surrounding the observatory in Brainerd. The group also participated later in the evening in a planetarium show and telescope observing session. Dr. Robert Marlowe and Jack Pitkin from UTC assisted.

In an important signal that the new BAS outreach is beginning to attract some attention in the community, several young men and women (in their 20’s and 30’s) expressed an interest in attending BAS meeting in the future.

From this point forward it will be up to BAS members to do several things to retain these new persons that we may attract: a) Recognize visitors and be friendly b) Improve the flow and efficiency of our business meetings—a sore spot with some former members who have dropped out. c) Schedule interesting programs.

Another College Requests BAS Assistance in The Field Training of Astronomy Students

On Friday, January 19, 2007, an acquaintance of mine, Dr. Michael Krepps who teaches astronomy at Lee University in Cleveland, asked me about the possibility of bringing his students to Orion Acres on field trips, beginning in the Fall of 2007. He said that, although they have good equipment (Schmidt Casseigrain reflectors in the 10-12 inch range), their experiences in field viewing and training have thus far been limited to school parking lots and nearby Bradley County sites. Beyond looking at the moon and four of the most visible planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), their deep space observing experience has been largely unsatisfactory due to light pollution. We agreed that they need not only a good dark sky site such as Orion Acres, but also assistance from an experienced group such as BAS in finding their way around the deep sky. The astronomy program at Lee University would be very appreciative for this partnership and viewing opportunity.

By Bill Seymour

In Memoriam

The BAS extends its deepest sympathy to long-time member David Witt in the death of his mother, Evelyn Jenkins Witt, who died on January 22, 2007 after an extended illness.

BAS HELP AND TELESCOPES NEEDED FOR BOY SCOUT STAR PARTY AT CAMP COLUMBUS ON SATURDAY NIGHT, FEB 17th.

The Boy Scouts have asked the BAS to provide them with astronomical viewing at an event they will be having at Camp Columbus in Hixson on Saturday night, February 17th. Volunteers are asked to bring and operate telescopes so the Scouts can see what ever astronomical objects present themselves.

From what I am told there good places to set up telescopes, where you can see most of the sky. This will be one small part of an outdoor camping event the Scouts are having over that weekend. Folks from the astronomy club do not need to register like the Scouts, we just need to show up that night Feb. 17th.

They want astronomy to be one of a mix of activities that weekend. It is expected that there will be between 200 and 300 Boy Scouts there, so this is a tremendous BAS astronomy outreach opportunity.

We are hoping for good weather, but the star party will be weather permitting. I recommend arrival before sun down to set up. The star party is scheduled to last till 11 PM or there about. This is a great opportunity for astronomy outreach to young people in our community, and a chance to make a good impression regarding our astronomy club. Hope to see you there. -- David Witt

Directions to Camp Columbus

8601 Camp Columbus Rd
Hixson, TN 37343
(423) 842-7011:

From the North:

Take HWY 27 south to Sequoyah Access Rd. Turn left on Sequoyah Access Rd. 2.4 miles to Dallas Hollow Rd. Turn right on Dallas Hollow Rd. 2.1 miles to Hixson Pike. Turn Right on Hixson Pike 0.3 miles to Camp Columbus Rd. Turn left on Camp Columbus Rd. Follow Camp Columbus Rd. to the entrance Camp Columbus.

From the South:

Take Hwy 153 to Hixson Pike . Turn right on Hixson Pike 7.7 miles to Camp Columbus Rd. Turn right on Camp Columbus Rd. Follow Camp Columbus Rd to the entrance to Camp Columbus

Items of Note:

Camp Columbus is a gated campground. The electronic gate should be open for us to arrive, and will be opened for us to leave. If the gate should be closed, try calling 580-3493, or 802-5852, or 842-7011.

A Note about the Special Joint Meeting

All BAS members are invited to attend a special joint meeting of the BAS with the Chattanooga Hiking Club on next Monday night, February 5th, at 7 PM at the Jones Observatory. The program will be presented by John Mannone and will be called "Wilderness Astronomy", and will feature tips on finding directions by the stars. This program should be of mutual interest to both the Hiking Club and the astronomy club. Jack Pitkin, manager of the Jones Observatory from UTC, will also be on hand to give a planetarium show for the hiking club (and any interested astronomy club members), and telescope viewing though the observatory telescopes is planned if weather permits. Jack should also be able to discuss the recent repairs to the Jones Observatory if there is interest.

When the Hiking Club asked me to set up this astronomy program at the Observatory, it occurred to me that outdoor activities are central to both our clubs. There might be some members of the Hiking Club with significant interest in astronomy and what the BAS has to offer. Some of them might even want to join the BAS, so making this a "joint meeting", with opportunity for "meet and greet" seemed in order. (Some BAS members might also be interested in hiking.) This is a great opportunity to meet some new people with interest in the outdoors, and strong potential interest in astronomy.

Please note that the BAS will NOT have a business meeting at the Monday joint meeting, although the Hiking Club will, since it is their regular meeting night. The BAS will have its regular meeting on Thursday night, February 8th, and have our business meeting then. So the BAS will have two meetings in one week, a special one on Monday, and the regular one on Thursday night. The special meeting on Monday night will start at 7 PM, which is thirty minutes earlier than our regular meetings start.

Hope to see you there, and clear skies!

David Witt

March Star Party Event:

The Tennessee Spring Star Party 2007 (TSSP 07) will be March 16th through 18th, Friday and Saturday nights, at Fall Creek Falls State Park, on new moon weekend. This will be the 3rd time this star party has been held and past years have been very successful, with people from all over the Southeast attending, but mostly from Knoxville and Nashville. It would be great to see a higher attendance from Chattanooga this year. This is a free event with no registration needed. This event is sponsored by the Cumberland Astronomical Society and Astronomy in the Parks Society, also by Dyer Observatory (Vanderbilt), and Fall Creek Falls State Park. Please note that there is officially no camping on the observing field, but special rate packages are available at the inn, which is within walking distance. The website for more information is:
http://personal.bna.bellsouth.net/s/p/spsmith/default.htm

Please note that the Tennessee Spring Star Party 2007 is not organized by the BAS, nor are we involved in any official capacity, but it is felt that this will be of interest to BAS members. Fall Creek Falls State Park where the event is held is an easy drive from Chattanooga. This first rate dark sky star party is a Friday and Saturday night event with speakers, vendors, a swap shop, and dark sky observing. It is a good chance to meet a lot of folks who share our hobby from across the Southeast. There is no cost just to attend and observe. BAS members may wish to consider attending this event.

BAS Science Fair Award

BAS members,

I am happy to report that Dr. Tom Murphy has agreed to donate $150 to the BAS to fund a BAS Chattanooga Regional Science and Engineering Fair Award in the amount of $50 each year for the next 3 years. A check for $150 is in the mail to me, and this is from the Science Fair Award from the BAS he won about 20 years ago. I told him that he can expect the BAS to match his annual amount up to $50, per our vote at the last meeting. That means we will be able to give a total of $100 for the BAS Science Fair Award this year, and I fully expect the BAS to continue putting in the same amount in future years. So we should be able to fund a $100 award for the next 3 years.

I spoke with the lady over the science fair. We need to decide for sure if we want to do a cash prize or a savings bond. A cash prize may mean more to the students. We also need to decide if we want to make the award for just Astronomy/Space Science or Astronomy/Space Science/Physics. Sometimes there is not an entry directly related to astronomy. We also need to decide if we want to just make the award for the senior division, or split the amount of the award between the junior and senior divisions. The science fair is in March, and I will need to send our money to the fair after the February meeting. Please think about this, and let's decide on these details at the February business meeting.

I think it says a lot about Tom that he wants to invest in the community he grew up in, as well as the BAS. Also, Tom does not want his name associated with the award officially, so it will just be the BAS Science Award.

In addition to rewarding young science talent, the hope is that some bright young person who wins this award may decide to attend a BAS meeting and perhaps join. To this end, it would be good to have a hand out or brochure about the BAS to give the winner along with the award.

David Witt

NSN Event Log Jan 11, 2007
Cosmology

by John C. Mannone

This report is somewhat protracted because it will serve as a newsletter article for us and perhaps others. The topic is on the frontiers of physics.

The BAS business meeting was conducted for the 13 of us after the program. Our speaker and a new member (welcome Joe D'Agistino) were given the Jan/Feb issue of the Night Sky magazine. I am thankful for the recognition the club president gave me in my work as Night Sky Coordinator. I am delighted that our small club was one of the top ten clubs in the country with respect to the logging of NSN events in 2006.

We discussed our growing outreach efforts in which NSN resources will prove to be valuable: a local hiking club program (Feb 5), my solar radio astronomy lecture next BAS meeting (Feb 8), a star party for UTC astronomy students (Feb 15), the Boy Scout Camporee (Feb 17), area Amateur Radio groups, and Poetry Under the Stars event sometime in the spring.

Also, BAS donations/participation in the area Science Fair were discussed.

Our Vice President, Bill Seymour, has aggressively pursued and succeeded in producing a varied program for the Barnard Astronomical Society club meetings. We again are delighted with our guest speaker, Dr. Robert Marlowe, Physics Department Chair at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His cosmological talk was entitled, "Geometry is Not Our Destiny." This report is a condensation of that lecture and additional sources addressing the last hundred years of cosmological research.

The Cosmological Constant- A Primer

General Relativity (1917), predicated on Special Relativity (1905), has enjoyed enormous success with the well-known result that the nature (curvature) of space directly depends on the distribution of matter and energy in the universe, which begs the dynamic nature of the universe. This infamous finding would impeach the popular belief in a static universe. Einstein had introduced a fudge factor to offset the effect of gravity and thus sustain a static universe. It was called the cosmological constant. Through the 100-inch telescope on Mt. Wilson, Hubble (1930) measured Doppler shifts in spectra of distant galaxies experimentally verifying the expanding void. The "Hubble flow" would appear to carry galaxies over cosmic distances, supporting the notion of an expanding universe. Of course, this is what led to Einstein's expletive recusing the cosmological constant, "this is the greatest blunder of my life;" i.e., Einstein would have predicted what Hubble saw and perhaps would have been eligible for another Nobel Prize in Physics, but only speculatively. Astronomical work wasn't considered eligible for the Nobel Prize in Physics until 1953, ironically, months after Hubble's death (see Wikipedia, Edwin Powell Hubble). As an aside, Einstein's earlier award in1921 was for his 1905 work on the Photoelectric Effect, elucidating the photonic nature of light.

Standard models of the Big Bang were formulated in the 40's and 50's. The expanding universe could have different fates depending on just how much matter is in the universe (critical density).

Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose (1969), working on the premise of Einstein's General Relativity theory, proved that not only did matter and energy come into existence at the Big Bang, but also, space and time (Spacetime Theorem); all originating from the same singularity.

But the models had what seemed insurmountable challenges in the 70's, namely, the horizon, flatness, and magnetic monopole problems. They arise from the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation; a geometry issue leading to the requirement of an early universe being at exactly at critical density within one part in million billion, 10-15; and the prediction (elementary particle theories) of the never-observed stable magnetic knots expected to be formed in hot primordial plasma of the early universe; respectively (see Wikipedia for more discussion, Big Bang).

These objections were resolved by invoking an Inflationary model proposed by Alan Guth (1981) (see Wikipedia for more discussion, Cosmic Inflation). The universe ("space" between matter) is thought to have grown 50 orders of magnitude, from 10-25 to 1025 meters in the imperceptibly small increment of time from 10-35 to 10-32 second after the Big Bang. That corresponds to an average expansion speed of 1057 meters/sec. The speed limit of light (c = 3 x 108 meters/second), only applies to matter and energy.

But the behavior of galaxies and stars was inconsistent with the amount of matter and energy that could be seen. Fritz Zwicky had predicted "Dark Matter" (~1930). But more recently, the prestigious award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Bruce Medal, was awarded to Vera Rubin in 2003. Her seminal work supported the existence of dark matter because the spiral galaxy rotation curves showed non-Newtonian behavior. (She did her dissertation under Nobel Laureate, George Gamow, at my alma mater, Georgetown University, but a couple of decades before I got my Master's there in Theoretical/Physical Chemistry) (See Bruce Medalists for more discussion, Vera Cooper Rubin).

Dark matter seems to be ubiquitous; it outweighs regular matter (baryonic) by a factor of 4, yet all of this matter combined falls short and only accounts for 27% of all matter and energy required for the critical density. The surprising result points to the existence of an unknown energy source called Dark Energy.

Cosmology took on a decisive paradigm shift when two independent teams of supernova hunters explored the curvature of spacetime (1998). Visit the High-Z SN Search website). Their results corroborate an accelerating universe. Further support comes from a study of the anisotropy of the CMB. The 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics was shared by John Mather and George Smoot for their discovery of this anisotropy.

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WAMP, 2003) (see Wikipedia for more discussion, WAMP, but the NASA November 2006 report is more detailed, New Three Year Results on the Oldest Light in the Universe ). WAMP shows irregularities in the order of 10 ppm (probe sensitivity 20 micro Kelvin) and this supports the finding of matter clumping in the early universe and is consistent with the existence of dark energy.

It will take four years to construct and a few more to collect data, but in the coming years the Supernova Acceleration Probe (see the SNAP website), a 1.8-meter reflecting telescope fitted with a billion-pixel CCD camera, will measure thousands of distant supernovae to elucidate the curvature of the universe.

It is ironic that Einstein's original blunder may have been correct, albeit for different reasons. The cosmological constant now reappears, but on the other side of the General Relativity tensor equation. It represents an energy density associated with the vacuum of space that will drive the curvature and the acceleration.

Such a mysterious universe we live in that despite all we know about matter and energy, it only amounts to about 4%. The other 96% is all about what we don't know- dark matter and dark energy!

For more information, an easy reading reference devoid of the detail in the Wikipedia references cited above, look at Primack, Joel R. "Gravitation." World Book Online Reference Center. 2004. World Book, Inc.
http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar233440.

Or click on this link, Gravitation, as well as the SNAP website mentioned above. Under the Mission tab, I highly recommend their brochure entitled, "Dark Energy in the Accelerating Universe."