Astronomy_News_20_07_2020

[Laintal Sibornal]

Astronomy_News_20_07_2020
This months research Papers 20_07_2020
RASNZ_20_07_2020

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Astronomy in New Zealand - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5889909863/
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https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
Astronomy in Wellington
https://www.facebook.com/groups/11451597655/
Blogger Posts
http://laintal.blogspot.com/

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Research papers


Relaying Swarms of Low-Mass Interstellar Probes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11554

Effect of Sea-ice Drift on the Onset of Snowball Climate on Rapidly Rotating Aqua-planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11179

Regional study of Europa's photometry
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11445

A playable package for modeling interstellar chemistry
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11294

Estimating survival probability using the terrestrial extinction history for the search for extraterrestrial life
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.09904

Ancient Australian Rocks and the Search for Life on Mars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06656

A pole-to-equator ocean overturning circulation on Enceladus
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06173

The role of clouds on the depletion of methane and water dominance
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06562

Predicting the long-term stability of compact multiplanet systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06521

Habitability Models for Planetary Sciences
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.05491

Water transport throughout the TRAPPIST-1 system
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.05366

The Dynamic Proto-atmospheres around Low-Mass Planets with Eccentric Orbits
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.04398

Atmospheric Erosion by Giant Impacts onto Terrestrial Planets A Scaling Law
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.04321

Unexpected Circular Radio Objects at High Galactic Latitude
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.14805

A review of possible planetary atmospheres in the TRAPPIST-1 system
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03334

Terrestrial Planets Comparative Climatology (TPCC) mission concept
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03049

Worlds without Moons Exomoon Constraints for Compact Planetary Systems
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa6bf2

Human Assisted Science at Venus Venus Exploration in the New Human Spaceflight Age
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.04900

Tidal Currents Detected in Kraken Mare Straits from Cassini VIMS Sun Glitter Observations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.00804

The Venus Life Equation
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.00105

planetary atmospheres and their link to the stellar environment
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.16650

Dyson Spheres
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.16734

JWST Transit Spectra for Cloudy Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.00109

Ocean Worlds Exploration and the Search for Life
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.15803




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Interesting News items

Native South Americans were early inhabitants of Polynesia
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01983-5

Did ancient Americans settle in Polynesia? The evidence doesn’t stack up
https://theconversation.com/did-ancient-americans-settle-in-polynesia-the-evidence-doesnt-stack-up-142383

Wai-iti stargazing site receives international Dark Sky Park recognition
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/back-your-backyard/122070233/waiiti-stargazing-site-receives-international-dark-sky-park-recognition

Oumuamua
https://spaceq.ca/oumuamua-the-mysterious-visitor-to-our-solar-system/

Venus
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7689



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Updates from Andrew B,


Jupiter.

Imaged: Friday 31st May 2020. Clyde Foster.

Imaged: Sunday 2nd June 2020. JUNO Spacecraft.

The Great Red Spot, a couple of large white anticyclonic storms and a brand new storm known as Clyde's Spot, in the dead centre, seen during the Perijove 27 JUNO Spacecraft pass.

Perijove is the closest point to Jupiter in a Jovecentric (Jupiter centred) orbit.

Citizen scientist, Kevin M Gill, created the main image using data from the JUNO spacecraft's JunoCam instrument. This view is a map projection that combines five JunoCam images. I had a go at enlargening and enhancing a crop of Clyde's Spot.

The monochrome image was created by Clyde Foster in the Methane Band with the small inset at lower right showing the route that the fast moving JUNO spacecraft took as it passed Perijove from North to South at a speed of about 217,200 KPH / 135,000 MPH or 177.33 times faster than the speed of sound through normal air pressure.

Clyde's Spot appeared in Jupiter's atmosphere and was subsequently discovered by the South African astronomer Clyde Foster, whilst imaging Jupiter from his telescope in Centurion, South Africa. The storm was certainly brand new as only a few hours earlier, a team of astronomers in Australia also saw this side of Jupiter and the storm was not present then.

Another enormous piece of sheer dumb luck was that the jovecentric orbiting JUNO spacecraft was rapidly approaching Jupiter for the 27th perijove on the Sunday 2nd June 2020, only two days later (in a 53.5 day Jovecentric orbit) and that Clive's Spot was to be very well placed for close observations, including those from the JUNOCAM.

Clyde's Spot is an outburst, a rising column bursting out from under the highest cloud decks, the frozen Ammonia Cirrus at Jupiter's tropopause (the boundary of Jupiter's troposphere and stratosphere), within the South Temperate Belt, where temperatures are about minus 147 Celsius / minus 233 Fahrenheit.

Unlike the Great Red Spot and the other large white ovals, Clyde's Spot appears to be a cyclonic, low pressure storm. It is highly likely that there is hugely energetic lightning and giant hail asscociated with Clyde's Spot. It has been postulated that within some of Jupiter's, Saturn's and Neptune's gigantic storms that some hailstones could be up to at least the size of cars and thunderclaps so loud that if Earth thunderstorms had lightning so powerful that could create thunder that would demolish entire cities, and could be heard from hundreds of kilometres / miles away, for example: Jovian thunderstorm over London, UK, could be heard from Oslo, Norway or Rome, Italy or Madrid, Spain!!!!

The Great Red Spot is a high pressure, anticyclonic storm in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. The wind speeds at the centre are more or less zero, but around the edge, blow at about 530 KPH / 330 MPH. The centre of the Great Red Spot is about 8 KM / 5 miles higher than the edges. The depth of the Great Red Spot is at least 400 KM / 250 miles & possibly very much deeper than that, maybe 1,000 KM / 621 miles deep according to some recent research.

The Great Red Spot is shrinking. In January 1800, it was about 40,000 KM / 25,000 miles long, or about three times wider than the Earth.

Forward 204 years to January 2004, it has shrunk to only about half the length to 20,000 KM / 12,500 miles long and by April 2007 had shrunk further to 16,350 KM / 10,160 miles long.

By January 2040, the Great Red Spot may be circular, rather than oval, and by January 2150, may be gone completely (will not be around then).

Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.86 years or 11 years & 315 days at an average distance of 778.57 million KM / 483.78 million miles from the Sun. Jupiter rotates on it's axis once every 9 hours & 56 minutes, the shortest day of any of the planets in our solar system.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, 142,984 KM / 88,846 miles wide through the equator (11.21 times wider than the Earth) and 133,692 KM / 83,082 miles through the poles (10.25 times wider than the Earth). Jupiter is also the most massive planet in our solar system with a mass of 317.8 times that of the Earth or about 1.898.2 trillion trillion tons (1,898.2 followed by twenty two zeros) and a mean global density of 1.326 g/cm3 (grams per cubic centimetre). Jupiter's rapid rotation causes the equator to bulge out and the polar regions to flatten, hense the somewhat oval shape of Jupiter.

Our own Earth with a diameter of 12,742 KM / 7,917 miles, with a mass of 5,972.2 billion trillion tons (5,972.2 followed by twenty zeros) and a mean global density of 5.517 g/cm3.

Jupiter is a gas giant, mostly composed of compressed hydrogen and helium, with new evidence pointing at a dense core of rock and metal roughly 15 times the mass of the Earth at the centre. About the inner two thirds of Jupiter appears to be composed of Metallic Hydrogen, liquid hydrogen under so much pressure, that the regular diatomic hydrogen H2 (two atoms consisting on one Proton with one electron each) are squashed together so hard that the compressed hydrogen acts as liquid metal as is conductive. Within Jupiter to put it simply, this huge layer of metallic hydrogen is convecting and is generating Jupiter's gigantic magnetosphere, with traps particles from the Sun creating belts of very powerful radiation.

Jupiter's atmosphere is about 89% Hydrogen (including a very small amount of Deuterium / Heavy Hydrogen which is one proton and one neutron in the atomic nucleus and one electron), 11% Helium and a tiny fraction of 1% contains methane, water vapour, ammonia, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Two of Jupiter's large Galilean moons, Io and Europa orbit within one of these, hense radiation hardened spacecraft are needed to approach these two fascinating and very different moons (Io, highly volcanic and Europa with an ice crust over potential; oceans).

Both Io and Europa have been successfully approached by Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Galileo, these were radiation hardened as the earlier Pioneer 10 way back on Monday 3rd December 1973 was nearly fried by the trapped radiation near Io. It was by sheer luck Pioneer 10 survived but this finding meant all future spacecraft closely approaching Jupiter and the inner moons (inside the orbit of the giant moon Ganymede) would be radiation hardened including the current JUNO spacecraft.

Ganymede (Jupiter's and the Solar System's largest and most massive moon) is sometimes inside and at times outside of intense radiation and only the very large Callisto (Jupiter's second largest and the Solar System's third largest moon) out of the very large moons orbits permanently outside of dangerous radiation. All of the four smaller inner moons (Thebe, Amalthea, Adrastea and Metis from outside in) are all within intense trapped radiation. Jupiter's vastly extended family of outer moons (most of which are very small and are likely captured asteroids and comets) are all outside of the radiation belts.

Text: Andrew R Brown.

JunoCam.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SWRI / Malin Space Science Systems. JUNO spacecraft. Kevin M Gill.

Clyde Foster . Methane band image.





Progression with the Psyche spacecraft is going very well.

Asteroid 16 Psyche.

A possible exposed or partially exposed former protoplanet / giant asteroid core. The only such object known in our solar system.

Discovered in Naples, Italy by the astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on the night of: Wednesday 17th March 1852.

The name Psyche comes from the female character Psyche from the Roman 2nd Century love story Psyche & Cupid. The attached painting of Psyche & Cupid (Psyche the lady on the left. Cupid was male with wings) was painted in 1798 in Paris, France by Francois Gérard. The number 16 in front of the name means that 16 Psyche was the 16th asteroid to have it's orbit calculated and in this case was also the 16th asteroid discovered.

As a side note Cupid also has an asteroid within the Asteroid Belt named after him. A small 7 KM / 4.3 mile wide silicate rock asteroid 798 Cupido. This small asteroid was not discovered until: Thursday 25th September 1913. Cupido was the original Latin name for Cupid. So out of the two, Psyche got a gigantic massive asteroid, almost a worldlet in it's own right named after her, where as Cupid got a rock smaller than some mountains named after him!!!!!

Average orbital distance from the Sun: 428.42 million KM / 266.21 million miles.

Orbital period around the Sun: 4 years & 356 days (4.997 Earth years).

Average orbital speed around the Sun: 17.34 KPS / 10.77 MPS or 62,424 KPH / 38,788 MPH.

Size: 279 x 232 x 189 KM / 173 x 144 x 117 miles. Median diameter: 226 KM / 140 miles.

Rotation period: 4 hours & 12 minutes (midnight to midnight).

Surface temperatures.
Maximum: 3 Celsius / 37 Fahrenheit.
Average: minus 110 Celsius / minus 166 Fahrenheit.
Minimum: minus 220 Celsius / minus 364 Fahrenheit.

Axial tilt: 89 degrees (almost on it's side).

Composition: Minimum 97% iron / nickel, with a little platinum, iridium, gold, silver & copper. with about 3% silicate rock, most likely Olivine aka Peridot & Quartz, maybe diamond with possible lead, uranium and thorium deposits. Surface composition: 90% metals & 10% silicate rock.

11th most massive known asteroid.

Current derived minimum mass: 22.93 thousand trillion tons (22.93 with fifteen zeros tons). True figure likely to be very much higher. I reckon the true figure is at least double that, seems extremely low for such a large metallic iron / nickel object I reckon it is at least around 45 thousand trillion tons, possibly more still.

To date, the best data we have about 16 Psyche comes from the European Southern Observatory in Chile, Very Large Telescope / Spectro Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument / SPHERE, Radar imagery from Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico & the Earth orbiting NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Two large craters near the south pole of 16 Psyche have already been identified and have been provisionaly named Meroe and Panthia, named after the twin witches in the Roman novel Metamorphoses.

Psyche spacecraft.
Launch: Thursday 18th August 2022 @ 19:02 HRS EDT. Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA. SpaceX Falcon 9. Pad 39A.
Should be one hell of a sight with the Sun having set just five minutes prior. I really do need to be there.

May 2023: Mars encounter to accelerate the Psyche spacecraft towards the asteroid belt, aiming at Main Belt Asteroid 16 Psyche.
The Psyche spacecraft will be fully tested, all instruments will be tested, the camera will take images of Mars. The High Gain Antenna will be put through it's paces for the first time since launch as the images of Mars are transmitted to Earth at high data rates. I am hoping the encounter will be timed so that Psyche gets to image the tiny 15 KM / 9 mile wide Mars moon Deimos in great detail as relatively little is known about it (the inner and larger 27 KM / 17 mile wide Mars moon Phobos gets all the attention from the Mars orbiters) and also a test of the instruments to observe an object with no atmosphere as will be the case at 16 Psyche. The Mars encounter will also reduce the journey time by about five years.

October 2025. Approach Phase to 16 Psyche. The Psyche spacecraft will be slowing down during the final approach. From October 2025 the Psyche spacecraft will be close enough to start obtaining good images and spectra. Also a search for any possible small moons orbiting 16 Psyche will be carried out. The distance will be reducing until orbital capture around the gigantic asteroid is achieved in early January 2026.

January 2026 to September 2027. Orbital mission will consist of four orbital phases, each phase closer to the asteroid.

The first phase (A) will have Psyche spacecraft orbiting about 1,000 KM / 621 miles above the surface. This will be the characterization phase. Generating a detailed photographic map of the asteroid.

The second phase (B) is orbiting closer, about 500 KM / 311 miles. This phase will be mostly concentrating on topography and shape studies. How lumpy or smooth is 16 Psyche and to get a more accurate shape profie and higher resolution images.

The third phase (C) is closer still, about 200 KM / 124 miles. This will be mostly concentrating on gravity studies using the radio signal from the High Gain Antenna. How is the mass distributed within 16 Psyche? Is it uniform (if so, than this object is largely intact) or is it variable, i.e is one area denser than another (if so, has this object been smashed apart then the pieces regrouped over time, leaving internal voids)? Also higher resolution images will be obtained.

The final phase (D) will have an orbit about 90 KM / 55 miles above the surface. This will be mostly concentrating on surface elements and compostion using the Neutron Gamma Ray Spectrometer. In short, Gamma Rays from deep space hits the surface of the asteroid and it is reflected back at different frequencies and liberates neutrons. Also much higher resolution images will be returned.

I am hoping that it may be reduced towards the end of this to only 20 KM / 12 miles as a mini phase (E), for super high resolution imagery (this could see features less than 2 metres / 6.5 feet in size), extremely fine gravitational data and very close proximal magnetic studies.

Interesting Asteroid 16 Psyche links:

https://psyche.asu.edu/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMknT8vKOL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aExTQGcIGKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JXq9779zwU

Text: Andrew R Brown.

NASA /JPL-Caltech / Arizona State University / Space Systems Loral / Maxar.

Peter Rubin.

European Southern Observatory, Very Large Telescope / Spectro Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument / SPHERE,

Arecibo Radio Telescope.


Thursday 9th July 2020.

Sol: 575.

Marsquakes that were detected by Mars InSight yestersol (Mars term for the previous Sol prior to local midnight, what we on Earth call yesterday).

Richter numbers are shown, these are about 1,609 KM / 1,000 miles to the east of the Mars InSight lander within Cerberus Fossae.

The position of the Mars Insight lander is shown on the left within the volcanic lava plains of Elysium Planitia, Elysium Quadrangle.

Image from the Instrument Context Camera pointing south showing the Wind & Thremal Shield covering the Siesmometer @ 16:00 Local Mars Standard Time within western Elysium Planitia. The fish eye lens gives a 120 degree wide view. The lowering sun in the martian afternoon is just out of view to the upper right.

The onboard weather station recorded an afternoon maximum temperature of minus 4 Celsius / 25 Fahrenheit with a morning low at sunrise of minus 88 Celsius / minus 126 Fahrenheit, with a pressure of 7.7 millibars. Wind from the WNW gusting upto 58 KPH / 36 MPH. Sunny with some elevated dust levels turning the sunshine hazy.

Text: Andrew R Brown.

IRIS / Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. Earth & Mars.

SEIS.

NASA / JPL-Caltech. Mars InSight.

Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport






Mars Perseverance Rover.

At long last, the encapsulated Mars Perseverance Rover has been hoisted to the top of the ULA / United Launch Alliance, Atlas 5 launch vehicle at Launch Complex 41. Canaveral USAF Station, Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA.

Preparations were slowed due to social distancing measures owing to the current Covid-19 (Wuhan Novel Coronavirus) pandemic and a faulty temperature sensor within the liquid oxygen tank aboard the Atlas 5 had to be replaced. A good sensor was sucessfully installed recently and now the actual Mars Perserverance Rover (with the experimental Mars Ingenuity Helicopter, remember the pressure of the martian atmosphere on the surface is about the same as that about 35 KM / 22 miles above sea level on Earth, so will be interesting to see how this works out) has been successfully lifted and installed on top of the Atlas 5 launch vehicle.

The original launch window has been moved sightly later and vastly extended, it now runs from: Friday 17th July 2020 to Sunday 30th August 2020, an unusually long window owing to the powerful launch vehicle and the fact the fuel margins were slightly relaxed to allow for a longer burn of the third stage that will hurl the Mars Perserverance Rover and it's Cruise Stage (the attached component that will ensure the spacecraft remains on the correct path and is also able to communicate with Earth during the trip to Mars, It will be jetissoned during the final minutes of approach before the encapsulated rover enters the martian atmosphere) at Mars, from low Earth orbit.

Mars Perserverance Rover will land on an ancient river delta within the Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle, in the northern hemisphere on Mars on: Thursday 18th February 2021.

I will compose an article about the landing site, it is absolutely fascinating and I really hope the landing will be successful. The Mars Perserverance Rover, the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter and all of the delivery systems, capsule, parachute and sky crane have all been thoroughly tested, tested again and retested, so I am very confident that this will go very well.

The parachute deployment and the final decent will all be recorded, the footage should be incredible.

I have attached a video of a test of the parachute, some 50 Kilometres / 31 miles above sea level when the system was tested using a small sounding rocket launched from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA on: Wednesday 4th October 2017. We should get the same sort of footage duting the descent to Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTAbj8aRVvg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95hMM2u6Fgw





Jupiter moon Ganymede.

Imaged: Thursday 26th December 2019 / Boxing Day 2019.

Only just released.

A very unusual view of the giant moon Ganymede, looking pretty well straight down onto the north pole of the giant moon, by the Jovecentric (Jupiter centred) orbiting JUNO spacecraft using the JIRAM / Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper, shortly prior to reaching Perijove (closest approach to Jupiter in a Jovecentric orbit). Here is seen mostly the sunlit northern hemisphere.

JIRAM / Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper is designed to image heat coming up from 50 to 70 KM / 31 to 43 miles below Jupiter's clouds and also Jovian aurorae. However, it has been effective at observing volcanoes erupting on the volcanic moon Io and also as here, infrared properties of ice on Ganymede. Ganymede has no real atmosphere to speak of, so plasma trapped in juoiter's gigantic magnetosphere, bombard the icy surface of the giant moon. Here infrared properties of the state of water ice on Ganymede's northern hemisphere. The colder polar region is seen to have amorphous ice, ice composed of microscopic ice crystals, where as towards the equator it appear more crystalline, larger ice crystals.

Mostly seen here is the Galileo Regio Quadrangle & the Marius Regio Quadrangle and the north polar Etana Quadrangle (which appears slightly brighter due to a thin 'frost'), on the anti Jupiter facing side on Ganymede.

From left to right images were obtained at 20 minute intervals from about 100,000 KM / 62,100 miles at closest approach. The view with the grid shows the orientation of Ganymede, with the bold white line showing the centre of the Jupiter facing side which was at the time also in the middle of the Ganymede night. From Jupiter it was a new Ganymede. The side permanently facing away from Jupiter was sunlit.

Ganymede orbits Jupiter once every 7 days, 3 hours & 43 minutes. The rotational period is the same, so Ganymede keeps the same face turned towards Jupiter as our own Moon does with Earth. The mean orbital distance is 1,070,400 KM / 664,718 miles from Jupiter.

Ganymede orbits Jupiter at an average a speed of 10.88 KPS / 6.76 MPS or 39,168 KPH / 24,323 MPH.

Ganymede is 5,269 KM / 3,273 miles in diameter & is the largest and most massive moon in the entire solar system. Ganymede is larger than the planets Mercury, Eris and Pluto, though has only about 45% of the mass of Mercury, but is approximately 12 times more massive than Pluto and 10 times more massive than Eris.

Ganymede has an average density of 1.94 grams per cubic centimetre, roughly 50% ice, 50% rock / metal. There is a fairly large iron core most likely 1,000 KM / 621 miles wide, with a silicate rich mantle and an ice crust with a postulated 800 KM / 497 mile deep subsurface salty ocean.

The average surface temperature on Ganymede is minus 163 Celsius / minus 261 Fahrenheit or 110 Kelvin. The minimum at the poles are around minus 210 Celsius / minus 364 Fahrenheit or 63 Kelvin. The ice surface is almost as hard as rock at these temperatures.

Ganymede has huge ridges and dark, cratered regions. There are cryovolcanic features, that erupted slushy ices. There is a frost cap around the north polar region.

Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system that generates its own global magnetosphere, with gravity data suggesting that Ganymede like Earth and the planet Mercury has a dual layered core, a solid iron inner core and a molten iron sulphide outer core.

Text: Andrew R Brown.

NASA / SWRI / Malin Space Science Systems. JUNO spacecraft.





Mars Perseverance Rover.

The ULA / United Launch Alliance, Atlas 5 (version Atlas V 541 with four solid boosters and one Centaur engine) launch vehicle at Launch Complex 41. Canaveral USAF Station, Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA, has been given final flight clearance after the latest readiness inspections. This is excellent news, the Atlas 5 has been deemed safe for launch on: Thursday 30th July 2020 @ 11:50 GMT / 12:50 BST.

The Mars Perseverance Rover launch will mark the 85th Atlas 5 mission since the inaugural launch in 2002 and the 7th in the 541 configuration.

Preparations were slowed due to social distancing measures owing to the current Covid-19 (Wuhan Novel Coronavirus) pandemic and a faulty temperature sensor within the liquid oxygen tank aboard the Atlas 5 had to be replaced. A good sensor was sucessfully installed recently and now the actual Mars Perserverance Rover (with the experimental Mars Ingenuity Helicopter, remember the pressure of the martian atmosphere on the surface is about the same as that about 35 KM / 22 miles above sea level on Earth, so will be interesting to see how this works out) has been successfully lifted and installed on top of the Atlas 5 launch vehicle.

The original launch window has been moved sightly later and vastly extended, it now runs from: Friday 17th July 2020 to Sunday 30th August 2020, an unusually long window owing to the powerful launch vehicle and the fact the fuel margins were slightly relaxed to allow for a longer burn of the third stage that will hurl the Mars Perserverance Rover and it's Cruise Stage (the attached component that will ensure the spacecraft remains on the correct path and is also able to communicate with Earth during the trip to Mars, It will be jetissoned during the final minutes of approach before the encapsulated rover enters the martian atmosphere) at Mars, from low Earth orbit.

Mars Perserverance Rover will land on an ancient river delta within the Jezero Crater, Syrtis Major Quadrangle, in the northern hemisphere on Mars on: Thursday 18th February 2021.

I will compose an article about the landing site, it is absolutely fascinating and I really hope the landing will be successful. The Mars Perserverance Rover, the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter and all of the delivery systems, capsule, parachute and sky crane have all been thoroughly tested, tested again and retested, so I am very confident that this will go very well.

The parachute deployment and the final decent will all be recorded, the footage should be incredible.

I have attached a video of a test of the parachute again (as it is so damn cool) @ 11:50 GMT / 12:50 BST., some 50 Kilometres / 31 miles above sea level when the system was tested using a small sounding rocket launched from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA on: Wednesday 4th October 2017. We should get the same sort of footage duting the descent to Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTAbj8aRVvg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95hMM2u6Fgw

Text: Andrew R Brown.



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RASNZ



Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand
eNewsletter: No. 234, 20 June 2020
Affiliated Societies are welcome to reproduce any item in this email newsletter or on the RASNZ website www.rasnz.org.nz in their own newsletters provided an acknowledgement of the source is also included.

Contents
 1. World Record Light
 2. JJ Eldridge Honoured
 3. Conference and AGM at Labour Weekend
 4. Existing Registrations for 2020 Conference
 5. Dark Sky Workshop - new date
 6. Students with a Passion for Astronomy (SWAPA) - Applications
 7. The Solar System in July
 8. Comet C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)
 9. Variable Star News
10. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition - Closes September 21
11. Stargazers Getaway September 18-20
12. Exoplanet Disappears
13. Population III Stars Not Found
14. New Study of Night Sky Pollution by Internet Satellites
15. Gifford-Eiby Lecture Fund
16. Kingdon-Tomlinson Fund
17. How to Join the RASNZ
  1. World Record Light
Astronomers! Participate in a World Record Event:
 
This is a free event where you will learn about reducing light pollution to improve environmental sustainability, contribute to citizen science and break a world record!
 
On Sunday, 21 June 2020, the shortest day of the year it being winter solstice, there is a great opportunity as a member of the astronomic community to participate in WORLD RECORD LIGHT.
 
You will first need to watch and complete a short lesson online about light pollution and answer multiple choice questions within a 24-hour period. If you go one step further and take a light reading outside (illustrated with a video) using the citizen science platform – Globe at Night - you will be in the running to win a prize.
 
The great news is that you can participate from any location, do it naked eye (you won’t need binoculars or a telescope) and do it no matter what the weather is on the day.
 
To break the world record, thousands of us (mainly from New Zealand and Australia) need to participate. The citizen science data you contribute through Globe at Night will be very valuable for environmental sustainability decisions to be made by regulators in New Zealand and Australia.
 
Astronz is this family friendly event’s ‘Gold Sponsor’, and is partnering the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance (ADSA) who are hosting WORLD RECORD LIGHT in order to:
 
* Raise awareness of light on the impacts on the environment;
* Contribute to a global map of light pollution; and
* Encourage everyone to reduce their light footprint.
 
For full details see: https://worldrecordlight.thinkific.com/pages/coming_soon
 
For practical questions on how to participate in WORLD RECORD LIGHT, contact AAS Member and Dark Sky Waiheke Island (a ‘Star Sponsor’ of this event) team member Kim Wesney at gamm...@xtra.co.nz
 
Don’t miss this opportunity to get in the record books and make a difference!
 
-- Nalayini Davies (nbr...@vinstar.co.nz)
  2. JJ Eldridge Honoured
The Astronomical Society of Australia has awarded its Anne Green Prize for a significant advance or accomplishment by a mid-career scientist to JJ Eldridge, University of Auckland, for the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis BPASS code.  This program is important, high-impact code applicable in diverse fields of research from high-redshift galaxies and reionisation to nearby galaxies and stellar evolution.
  3. Conference and AGM at Labour Weekend
Dear RASNZ Members and 2020 Conference Delegates,
 
RASNZ Council has set the date for the 2020 AGM and Conference for Labour Weekend (23-25 October 2020). Please pencil these new dates into your calendar, noting that these new arrangements are themselves subject to further postponement depending on what restrictions remain on our activities at that time. Council will make further announcements relating to the AGM and Conference as developments arise.
 
Yours,
Nicholas Rattenbury, President, RASNZ
  4. Existing Registrations for 2020 Conference
Those who paid their registration fees for the postponed conference but do not wish to attend the re-scheduled conference over Labour Weekend in October can request a full refund, by emailing the conference organisers (confe...@rasnz.org.nz) and providing your bank account details.
 
Registrants wishing to attend the October Conference need take no action, your registration will remain on record for the rescheduled conference, there being no change to the registration fees.
 
-- Glen Rowe, Chair, Standing Conference Committee
  5. Dark Sky Workshop - new date
A Dark Sky Workshop is planned to follow the re-scheduled RASNZ Conference as announced in the previous item.  The workshop will be held, subject to any restrictions that may be in place at the time, on the morning of Monday 26 October2020 (Labour Day).  Further details will be made available in due course.
 
-- Glen Rowe, Chair, Standing Conference Committee
  6. Students with a Passion for Astronomy (SWAPA) - Applications
The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ) offers 10 to 15 top secondary students who are NZ citizens and at secondary school anywhere in New Zealand scholarships to enable them to attend the RASNZ annual astronomy conference, which will take place this year in Wellington, Friday 23 (afternoon) to Sunday 25 October 2020 (about 4 pm) - provided Covid-19 doesn't affect our plans.
 
The scholarships comprise free registration for the conference (value $265), free travel from their home to Wellington*, free backpacker accommodation in Wellington for 23 and 24 October*, and a free banquet ticket for the conference banquet on Saturday 24 October (value $95). Students in years 13, 12 or 11 may apply.
  *Accommodation and travel only if required for non-Wellington residents
 
To be considered, students should email a short statement of no more than 300 words explaining why they would like to attend the conference and why they are interested in astronomy. This statement should be sent to RASNZ Immediate-Past President, John Drummond ( kiwiast...@gmail.com ) by Friday 7th August 2020, 8 pm. Include your name, gender, age, school, year of study at school in 2020, city, email address, telephone contact and science teacher's name, phone and email. For more detail see the RASNZ webpage -
https://www.rasnz.org.nz/groups-news-events/events/conference/conf-swapa2020
 
-- John Drummond
  7. The Solar System in July
Dates and times shown are NZST (UT + 12 hours).  Rise and Set times are for Wellington. They will vary by a few minutes elsewhere in NZ.  Data is adapted from that shown by GUIDE 9.1
 
THE SUN and PLANETS in July, Rise & Set, Magnitude & Constellation
           July 1     NZST               July 31    NZST
        Mag  Cons    Rise    Set     Mag  Cons    Rise    Set
SUN    -26.7  Gem   7.44am  5.04pm  -26.7  Cnc   7.27am  5.27pm
Merc     5.6  Gem   7.28am  5.19pm   -0.8  Gem   6.32am  4.03pm
Venus   -4.7  Tau   4.57am  3.01pm   -4.6  Tau   4.21am  2.10pm
Mars    -0.5  Psc  11.40pm 12.04pm   -1.1  Psc  11.01pm 10.46am
Jupiter -2.7  Sgr   5.58pm  8.50am   -2.7  Sgr   3.41pm  6.39am
Saturn   0.2  Cap   6.28pm  9.10am    0.1  Sgr   4.19pm  7.05am
Uranus   5.8  Ari   2.57am  1.26pm    5.8  Ari   1.02am 11.26am
Neptune  7.9  Aqr  10.48am 11.28am    7.8  Aqr   8.48pm  9.30am
Pluto   14.4  Sgr   5.56pm  8.54am   14.5  Sgr   3.54pm  6.54am
 
               July 1  NZST                July 31  NZST
Twilights    morning     evening        morning     evening
Civil:    start 7.16am, end  5.33pm   start 7.00am, end  5.55pm
Nautical: start 6.42am, end  6.08pm   start 6.27am, end  6.28pm
Astro:    start 6.08am, end  6.42pm   start 5.54am, end  7.01pm
 
   July PHASES OF THE MOON, times NZ & UT
  Full Moon:     July  5 at  4.44pm (04:44 UT)
  Last quarter:  July 13 at 11.29am (Jul 12, 23:29 UT)
  New Moon:      July 21 at  5.33am (Jul 20, 17:33 UT)
  First quarter: July 28 at 12.33am (Jul 27, 12:33 UT)
 
A slight partial penumbral eclipse of the moon on July 5 is not visible from NZ.
 
PLANETS in JULY
 
MERCURY is at inferior conjunction with the Sun at about 3pm on July 1.
 
After conjunction Mercury becomes a morning object, rising shortly before the Sun.  By mid-month Mercury will rise some 85 minutes earlier than the Sun, but the planet will be only 4.5° above the horizon 45 minutes before sunrise, making it a difficult object at magnitude 0.8. The planet is stationary on the 12th, as a result the interval between Mercury's rise and the Sun's diminishes during the rest of the month.
 
On the morning of the 19th, the moon, a very thin crescent, will be 6° to the left of Mercury.
 
VENUS will be a brilliant morning object to the northeast easily visible from well before dawn.  On the morning of the 17th the crescent moon will be about 6° to the left of the planet.
 
MARS, in Pisces, rises shortly before midnight during June, brightening a little as the month progresses.  The best time for observing Mars will be an hour or so before sunrise.  On the morning of the 12th, Mars, magnitude -0.7, will be 1.5° from the moon.
 
JUPITER and SATURN continue to move in tandem during July.  They are 6° apart on the 1st and just over 7.5° apart on the 31st, both at present moving in an apparent retrograde sense as the Earth overtakes them.  Jupiter is at opposition on the 14th, Saturn on the 23rd.
 
By the end of July, the two planets rise an hour or two before sunset.  Since they also set after sunrise, they will be easily visible all night.
 
On June 6, the moon, just past full, will be 2° from Jupiter shortly before dawn.  Later, in the evening, the moon will be a similar distance from Saturn.
 
PLUTO starts July less than a degree from Jupiter but the latter pulls away from Pluto during the rest of July so they are 3° on the 31st.
 
URANUS moves further up into the morning sky during July, rising about 1am on the 31st.
 
NEPTUNE will be in the late evening sky, rising about 9pm on the 31st
 
 
POSSIBLE BINOCULAR ASTEROIDS in JULY
 
                   July 1 NZST          July 30 NZST
                Mag  Cons  transit    Mag  Cons  transit
(1)  Ceres      8.6   Aqr  .4.59am    8.0   Aqr  2.59am
(4)  Vesta      8.1   Gem  12.34pm    8.3   Gem 11.33pm
(7)  Iris       8.9   Sgr  12.07am    9.6   Sgr  9.42pm
(532) Herculina 9.3   Sgr  12.30am   10.1   Sgr 10.07pm
 
CERES rises at 9.45 pm on the 1st and 7.34 pm on the 31st. So it becomes well placed for viewing mid to late evening during the month.
 
VESTA is in conjunction with the Sun early in July.  It is behind the Sun, as "seen" from the Earth for just over 24 hours on the 5th and 6th NZ time.  After conjunction Vesta becomes a morning object, but will be too close to the Sun for observation during the rest of July.
 
IRIS fades a little during July, following opposition at the end of June
 
HERCULINA is less than 6° from Iris at the beginning of July.
 
-- Brian Loader
  8. Comet C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)
This comet was initially classed as an asteroid in a long-period orbit.  It began showing comet characteristics at the beginning of the year and is now brightening much more than earlier predicted. It is visible in binoculars.
 
Below are daily positions of C/2019 U6 at 6:30 p.m. NZST.  m1 is the total magnitude, the magnitude of a star defocused to the comet's size. The magnitudes have been added from Daniel Green's prediction in Electronic Telegram No. 4774, May 14.  An m1 fainter than 3 is not easily seen by eye.
 
June/R.A.(2000)Dec.    m1    July  R.A.(2000)Dec.    m1
July h   m     °  '                h   m     °  ' 
20  09 06.5  -10 44   5.8     05  10 55.9  +01 26   5.9
21  09 13.8  -10 01           06  11 02.9  +02 15
22  09 21.1  -09 17           07  11 09.7  +03 05
23  09 28.4  -08 32           08  11 16.5  +03 53
24  09 35.8  -07 45           09  11 23.2  +04 40
 
25  09 43.2  -06 58   5.7     10  11 29.7  +05 27   6.2
26  09 50.6  -06 09           11  11 36.2  +06 12
27  09 58.0  -05 20           12  11 42.5  +06 56
28  10 05.4  -04 30           13  11 48.7  +07 40
29  10 12.8  -03 39           14  11 54.9  +08 21
 
30  10 20.1  -02 49   5.8     15  12 00.9  +09 02   6.4
01  10 27.4  -01 57           16  12 06.7  +09 41
02  10 34.6  -01 06           17  12 12.5  +10 19
03  10 41.8  -00 15           18  12 18.2  +10 56
04  10 48.9  +00 35           19  12 23.8  +11 31
 
(To get the ephemeris columns to line up properly use Courier New typeface.)
 
The comet passed 0.9142 A.U., 137 million km, from the Sun, a bit less than Earth's distance, on June 18.8 UT.  It will at its closest to Earth, 0.827 AU, 124 million km, on June 30.  C/2019 U6 last visited the Sun 10,500 years ago.  The tweaks to its orbit made by the gravitational pull of the planets have shortened the orbital period to 5300 years, according to calculations by Syuichi Nakano.
  9. Variable Star News
Variable Stars South (VSS)
 
AAVSO arranged an internet video seminar (Zoom NZ Sunday 7th June 10:00 am) with Stan Walker of VSS presenting PowerPoint slides in a talk on “Miras from an Astrophysical Standpoint”. Mira stars are generally characterised as very red in colour, low in temperature (3000°K) and having very long periodic cycles of light variation. Stan focussed on two southern hemisphere Miras which are rather special in exhibiting dual maxima. The two stars featured were BH Crucis and R Carinae, both southern hemisphere variables which have been studied for a number of years. The first was discovered by Auckland astronomer Ronald Welch in October 1964 and the second has been monitored for many years and has a large data set of visual observations covering about 130 years.
 
After describing the behaviour of these two stars Stan outlined the observing techniques - colour measurements and spectroscopy - required to answer some outstanding questions on the mechanism of light variation. There was good discussion about these techniques and a number of people are proposing to use them to follow the stars through complete cycles. Mira have long periods, typically 200 to 550 days, so this is a relatively long term project.
 
The talk by Stan Walker was originally scheduled for the VSS Symposium 6 scheduled for Easter at Parkes. The Zoom seminar was attended by about 35 people from around the world and capably chaired by Richard Roberts, leader of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO} Long-Period Variable Star Section (LPV) who set up the meeting. Discussion on the talk is on the AAVSO LPV Section pages. Stan Walker’s talk is available on a You Tube post with this link   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f3V8MA__oQ
 
VSS is working on hosting some other speakers who were lined up for VSSS6 and sessions will be advised on the VSS Google group. More internet seminars are planned by AAVSO special interest groups on a weekly cycle. In addition AAVSO CHOICE courses for the rest of the year will be free.
 
-- Alan Baldwin
  10. New Zealand Astrophotography Competition - Closes September 21
Entries are sought for the 2020 New Zealand Astrophotography competition.
The competition is fully endorsed by the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand and is the nation's largest astrophotography competition.
 
The competition cut-off date is the 21st of September and the competition awards will be announced at the annual Burbidge dinner which is the Auckland Astronomical Society's premier annual event, keep an eye out on the society website for details on the forthcoming Burbidge dinner.
 
You can find the rules and entry forms on the AAS website at https://www.astronomy.org.nz/new/public/default.aspx
 
-- From Jonathan Green's posting nnzastronomers Yahoo group
  11. Stargazers Getaway September 18-20
Stargazers Getaway 2020 at Camp Iona on Friday September 18th to Sunday 20th. This is New Moon, so we are targeting this weekend for dark skies!  Camp Iona is near Herbert, south of Oamaru.
 
For details see
https://www.facebook.com/events/943327669369996/
  12. Exoplanet Disappears
What astronomers thought was a planet beyond our solar system, has now seemingly vanished from sight. Astronomers now suggest that a full-grown planet never existed in the first place. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope had instead observed an expanding cloud of very fine dust particles caused by a titanic collision between two icy asteroid-sized bodies orbiting the bright star Fomalhaut, about 25 light-years from Earth.
 
"The Fomalhaut system is the ultimate test lab for all of our ideas about how exoplanets and star systems evolve," said George Rieke of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. "We do have evidence of such collisions in other systems, but none of this magnitude has ever been observed. This is a blueprint for how planets destroy each other."
 
The object was previously believed to be a planet, called Fomalhaut b, and was first announced in 2008 based on data taken in 2004 and 2006. It was clearly visible in several years of Hubble observations that revealed it as a moving dot. Unlike other directly imaged exoplanets, nagging puzzles with Fomalhaut b arose early on. The object was unusually bright in visible light, but did not have any detectable infrared heat signature. Astronomers proposed that the added brightness came from a huge shell or ring of dust encircling the object that may have been collision-related. Also, early Hubble observations suggested the object might not be following an elliptical orbit, as planets usually do.
 
"These collisions are exceedingly rare and so this is a big deal that we actually get to see one," said András Gáspár of the University of Arizona. "We believe that we were at the right place at the right time to have witnessed such an unlikely event with the Hubble Space Telescope."
 
"Our study, which analysed all available archival Hubble data on Fomalhaut b, including the most recent images taken by Hubble, revealed several characteristics that together paint a picture that the planet-sized object may never have existed in the first place," said Gáspár.
 
Hubble images from 2014 showed the object had vanished, to the disbelief of the astronomers. Adding to the mystery, earlier images showed the object to continuously fade over time. "Clearly, Fomalhaut b was doing things a bona fide planet should not be doing," said Gáspár.
 
The resulting interpretation is that Fomalhaut b is not a planet, but a slowly expanding cloud blasted into space as a result of a collision between two large bodies. Researchers believe the collision occurred not too long prior to the first observations taken in 2004. By now the debris cloud, consisting of dust particles around 1 micron (1/50th the diameter of a human hair), is below Hubble's detection limit. The dust cloud is estimated to have expanded by now to a size larger than the orbit of Earth around our Sun.
 
Equally confounding is that the object is not on an elliptical orbit, as expected for planets, but on an escape trajectory, or hyperbolic path. "A recently created massive dust cloud, experiencing considerable radiative forces from the central star Fomalhaut, would be placed on such a trajectory" Gáspár said, "Our model is naturally able to explain all independent observable parameters of the system: its expansion rate, its fading and its trajectory."
 
Because Fomalhaut b is presently inside a vast ring of icy debris encircling the star, the colliding bodies were likely a mixture of ice and dust, like the cometary bodies that exist in the Kuiper belt on the outer fringe of our solar system. Gáspár and Rieke estimate that each of these comet-like bodies measured about 200 km across. The also suggest that the Fomalhaut system may experience one of these collision events only every 200 000 years.
 
Gáspár, Rieke, and other astronomers will also be observing the Fomalhaut system with the upcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2021.
----
The team's paper "New HST data and modelling reveal a massive planetesimal collision around Fomalhaut" was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 20 April 2020.  See https://www.pnas.org/content/117/18/9712
 
See the original HST press release with images at https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-09
 
-- Forwarded by Karen Pollard.
  13. Population III Stars Not Found
New results from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope suggest the formation of the first stars and galaxies in the early Universe took place sooner than previously thought. A European team of astronomers have found no evidence of the first generation of stars, known as Population III stars, as far back as when the Universe was just 500 million years old.
 
The exploration of the very first galaxies remains a significant challenge in modern astronomy. We do not know when or how the first stars and galaxies in the Universe formed. These questions can be addressed with the Hubble Space Telescope through deep imaging observations. Hubble allows astronomers to view the Universe back to within 500 million years of the Big Bang.
 
A team of European researchers, led by Rachana Bhatawdekar of the European Space Agency, set out to study the first generation of stars in the early Universe. Known as Population III stars, these stars were forged from the primordial material that emerged from the Big Bang. Population III stars must have been made solely out of hydrogen, helium and lithium, the only elements that existed before processes in the cores of these stars could create heavier elements, such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and iron.
 
Bhatawdekar and her team probed the early Universe from about 500 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang by studying the cluster MACSJ0416 and its parallel field with the Hubble Space Telescope (with supporting data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory). "We found no evidence of these first-generation Population III stars in this cosmic time interval" said Bhatawdekar of the new results.
 
The result was achieved using the Hubble’s Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, as part of the Hubble Frontier Fields programme. This programme (which observed six distant galaxy clusters from 2012 to 2017) produced the deepest observations ever made of galaxy clusters and the  galaxies located behind them which were magnified by the gravitational lensing effect, thereby revealing galaxies 10 to 100 times fainter than any previously observed. The masses of foreground galaxy clusters are large enough to bend and magnify the light from the more distant objects behind them. This allows Hubble to use these cosmic magnifying glasses to study objects that are beyond its nominal operational capabilities.
 
Bhatawdekar and her team developed a new technique that removes the light from the bright foreground galaxies that constitute these gravitational lenses. This allowed them to discover galaxies with lower masses than ever previously observed with Hubble, at a distance corresponding to when the Universe was less than a billion years old. At this point in cosmic time, the lack of evidence for exotic stellar populations and the identification of many low-mass galaxies supports the suggestion that these galaxies are the most likely candidates for the reionisation of the Universe. This period of reionisation in the early Universe is when the neutral intergalactic medium was ionised by the first stars and galaxies.
 
“These results have profound astrophysical consequences as they show that galaxies must have formed much earlier than we thought,” said Bhatawdekar. “This also strongly supports the idea that low-mass/faint galaxies in the early Universe are responsible for reionisation.”
These results also suggest that the earliest formation of stars and galaxies occurred much earlier than can be probed with the Hubble Space Telescope. This leaves an exciting area of further research for the upcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope — to study the Universe’s earliest galaxies.
 
These results are based on a previous 2019 paper by Bhatawdekar et al., and a paper that will appear in an upcoming issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). These results are also being presented at a press conference during the 236th meeting of American Astronomical Society.
----
The name Population III arose because astronomers had already classified the stars of the Milky Way as Population I (stars like the Sun, which are rich in heavier elements) and Population II (older stars with a low heavy-element content, found in the Milky Way bulge and halo, and in globular star clusters).
 
See the original press release at https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-34
See also http://www.spacescoop.org/en/scoops/2020/cosmic-paleontology/
 
-- From the HST press release forwarded by Karen Pollard.
  14. New Study of Night Sky Pollution by Internet Satellites
Astronomers have recently raised concerns about the impact of satellite mega-constellations on scientific research. To better understand the effect these constellations could have on astronomical observations, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) commissioned a scientific study of their impact, focusing on observations with ESO telescopes in the visible and infrared but also considering other observatories. The study, which considers a total of 18 representative satellite constellations under development by SpaceX, Amazon, OneWeb and others, together amounting to over 26 thousand satellites, has now been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
 
The study finds that large telescopes like ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and ESO's upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be "moderately affected" by the constellations under development. The effect is more pronounced for long exposures (of about 1000 s), up to 3% of which could be ruined during twilight, the time between dawn and sunrise and between sunset and dusk. Shorter exposures would be less impacted, with fewer than 0.5% of observations of this type affected. Observations conducted at other times during the night would also be less affected, as the satellites would be in the shadow of the Earth and therefore not illuminated. Depending on the science case, the impacts could be lessened by making changes to the operating schedules of ESO telescopes, though these changes come at a cost. On the industry side, an effective step to mitigate impacts would be to darken the satellites. 
 
The study also finds that the greatest impact could be on wide-field surveys, in particular those done with large telescopes. For example, up to 30% to 50% of exposures with the US National Science Foundation's Vera C. Rubin Observatory (not an ESO facility) would be "severely affected”, depending on the time of year, the time of night, and the simplifying assumptions of the study. Mitigation techniques that could be applied on ESO telescopes would not work for this observatory although other strategies are being actively explored. Further studies are required to fully understand the scientific implications of this loss of observational data and complexities in their analysis. Wide-field survey telescopes like the Rubin Observatory can scan large parts of the sky quickly, making them crucial to spot short-lived phenomena like supernovae or potentially dangerous asteroids. Because of their unique capability to generate very large data sets and to find observation targets for many other observatories, astronomy communities and funding agencies in Europe and elsewhere have ranked wide-field survey telescopes as a top priority for future developments in astronomy.
 
Professional and amateur astronomers alike have also raised concerns about how satellite mega-constellations could impact the pristine views of the night sky. The study shows that about 1600 satellites from the constellations will be above the horizon of an observatory at mid-latitude, most of which will be low in the sky — within 30 degrees of the horizon. Above this — the part of the sky where most astronomical observations take place — there will be about 250 constellation satellites at any given time. While they are all illuminated by the Sun at sunset and sunrise, more and more get into the shadow of the Earth toward the middle of the night. The ESO study assumes a brightness for all of these satellites. With this assumption, up to about 100 satellites could be bright enough to be visible with the naked eye during twilight hours, about 10 of which would be higher than 30 degrees of elevation. All these numbers plummet as the night gets darker and the satellites fall into the shadow of the Earth. Overall, these new satellite constellations would about double the number of satellites visible in the night sky to the naked eye above 30 degrees.
 
These numbers do not include the trains of satellites visible immediately after launch. Whilst spectacular and bright, they are short lived and visible only briefly after sunset or before sunrise, and — at any given time — only from a very limited area on Earth.
 
The ESO study uses simplifications and assumptions to obtain conservative estimates of the effects, which may be smaller in reality than calculated in the paper. More sophisticated modelling will be necessary to more precisely quantify the actual impacts. While the focus is on ESO telescopes, the results apply to similar non-ESO telescopes that also operate in the visible and infrared, with similar instrumentation and science cases.
 
Satellite constellations will also have an impact on radio, millimetre and submillimetre observatories, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). This impact will be considered in further studies.
 
ESO, together with other observatories, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the UK Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), and other societies, is taking measures to raise the awareness of this issue in global fora such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the European Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF). This is being done while exploring with the space companies practical solutions that can safeguard the large-scale investments made in cutting-edge ground-based astronomy facilities. ESO supports the development of regulatory frameworks that will ultimately ensure the harmonious coexistence of highly promising technological advancements in low Earth orbit with the conditions that enable humankind to continue its observation and understanding of the Universe.
 
See the original press release at https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2004/
 
For the scientific paper see
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2004/eso2004a.pdf
 
-- From the above press release forwarded by Karen Pollard.
  15. Gifford-Eiby Lecture Fund
The RASNZ administers the Gifford-Eiby Memorial Lectureship Fund to
assist Affiliated Societies with travel costs of getting a lecturer
or instructor to their meetings.  Details are in RASNZ By-Laws Section
H and at http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/ge-fund
The application form is at
http://rasnz.org.nz/Downloadable/RASNZ/GE_Application2019.pdf
  17. Kingdon-Tomlinson Fund
The RASNZ is responsible for recommending to the trustees of the Kingdon
Tomlinson Fund that grants be made for astronomical projects. The grants may be to any person or persons, or organisations, requiring funding for any projects or ventures that promote the progress of astronomy in New Zealand. The deadline for this round of the Kingdon-Tomlinson Grants is 1st November 2020. Full details are set down in the RASNZ By-Laws, Section J. Information on the K-T Fund is at
http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/kt-fund
Send applications to the RASNZ Executive Secretary at rasnz.s...@gmail.com.
The application form at
http://rasnz.org.nz/Downloadable/RASNZ/KT_Application2019.pdf
  17. How to Join the RASNZ
RASNZ membership is open to all individuals with an interest in
astronomy in New Zealand. Information about the society and its
objects can be found at
http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/membership-benefits
 
A membership form can be either obtained from trea...@rasnz.co.nz or
by completing the online application form found at
http://rasnz.org.nz/rasnz/membership-application
Basic membership for the 2020 year starts at $40 for an ordinary
member, which includes an electronic subscription to our journal
'Southern Stars'.
 
=============== Alan Gilmore               Phone: 03 680 6817
P.O. Box 57                alan.g...@canterbury.ac.nz
Lake Tekapo 7945
New Zealand






---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June Celestial Calendar by Dave Mitsky



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor Planet Occultation Updates:


This email describes updates for minor planet occultations for July 2020.
If you do not wish to receive these updates please advise
the Occultation Section.

You can view updated paths and other details at:
http://www.occultations.org.nz/

Minor Planet Occultation Updates:
================================

Events of particular ease or importance below are marked: *****

Jul 1 (155) SCYLLA: Star Mag 11.9, Max dur 2.7 sec, Mag Drop 4.73
Across northern Australia from Cardwell across northern Queensland and
The Northern Territory to Adelaide River.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200701_155_65330_u.htm

***Jul 1 (544) JETTA: Star Mag 7.2, Max dur 5.2 sec, Mag Drop 6
A narrow path across the north of the South Island of New Zealand, from
Blenheim to Collingwood.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200701_544_67032_u.htm

Jul 1 (512) TAURINENSIS: Star Mag 11.5, Max dur 1 sec, Mag Drop 2.47
Across northern Australia from Ayr across northern Queensland central
Northern Territory and northern Western Australia to Port Headland.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200701_512_72990_u.htm

Jul 1 (846) LIPPERTA: Star Mag 10.98, Max dur 4.4 sec, Mag Drop 3.89
Across north-western Australia from north-eastern Northern Territory to
Wyndham, Broome and (possibly just off the coast of) Port Headland in
north-western Western Australia.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200701_846_65334_u.htm

Jul 3 (102) MIRIAM: Star Mag 12.34, Max dur 4.2 sec, Mag Drop 1.31
Across Australia from Brisbane across south-eastern Queensland, western
New South Wales and south-eastern South Australia to Adelaide.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200703_102_65354_u.htm

***Jul 3 (453) TEA: Star Mag 10.4, Max dur 3.4 sec, Mag Drop 2.28
Across New Zealand, from Tokomara across the North Island of to just
south of Auckland and across Australia from near Coffs Harbour across
north-eastern New South Wales, south-western Queensland, southern
Northern Territory and into northern Western Australia near Halls Creek
at decreasing elevation and into evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200703_453_67206_u.htm

*****Jul 3 (128618) 2004QH25: Star Mag 6.1, Max dur 1.5 sec, Mag Drop 11.25
A narrow path of significant uncertainty across northern Australia from
Brisbane across south-eastern to north-western Queensland, near Mt Isa,
and across northern Northern Territory and northern Western Australia to
Wyndham (and just north of New Zealand ).  The one sigma limit includes
the Queensland coast from the New South Wales border to Bundaberg
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200703_128618_72994_u.htm

Jul 3 (1977) SHURA: Star Mag 11.55, Max dur 2.6 sec, Mag Drop 4.06
A narrow path across Western Australia from the south-east to Dampier.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200703_1977_65352_u.htm

Jul 4 (56) MELETE: Star Mag 11.88, Max dur 19.4 sec, Mag Drop 0.25
A fairly wide path across the South Island of New Zealand from Oamaruto
Haast, including most of the South Island from Christchurch to Dunedin.
(It also crosses Tasmania, but at very low elevation and in evening
twilight )
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200704_56_65360_u.htm

Jul 6 (388) CHARYBDIS: Star Mag 10.45, Max dur 54.9 sec, Mag Drop 3.37
Across north-eastern Australia from near Innisfail in evening twilight
across northern Queensland, south-eastern Northern Territory and
southern Western Australia by sunset.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200706_388_65372_u.htm

Jul 6 (1243) PAMELA: Star Mag 12.04, Max dur 6 sec, Mag Drop 2.17
Across the South Island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Fox, and
across south-western Victoria at low elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200706_1243_65374_u.htm

Jul 6 (530) TURANDOT: Star Mag 11.74, Max dur 12.4 sec, Mag Drop 1.53
Across Australia, directly along the New South Wales - Queensland
border, across central South Australia and into southern Western
Australia at decreasing elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200706_530_65378_u.htm

***Jul 6 (604) TEKMESSA: Star Mag 11.54, Max dur 4.8 sec, Mag Drop 3.27
Across the North Island of New Zealand, across Auckland, and across
Australia from near Sydney across central New South Wales, central South
Australia just north of Port Augusta and central Western Australia to
just south of Exmouth.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200706_604_65376_u.htm

Jul 7 (818) KAPTEYNIA: Star Mag 11.7, Max dur 4.3 sec, Mag Drop 2.2
Across Australia from near Ingham across northern and western Queensland
and central and south-western South Australia.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200707_818_73004_u.htm

Jul 7 (484) PITTSBURGHIA: Star Mag 11.5, Max dur 3.8 sec, Mag Drop 2.45
Across north-western Tasmania, west of Devonport.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200707_484_73002_u.htm

Jul 7 (326) TAMARA: Star Mag 11.11, Max dur 4.5 sec, Mag Drop 3
Across the North Island of New Zealand from Hicks Bay to New Plymouth.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200707_326_65388_u.htm

Jul 8 (302) CLARISSA: Star Mag 12.47, Max dur 3.2 sec, Mag Drop 1.91
Across northern Australia from near Cooktown across northern Queensland,
central Northern Territory and northern Western Australia to north of
Carnarvon.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200708_302_65398_u.htm

Jul 8 (136) AUSTRIA: Star Mag 10.61, Max dur 6 sec, Mag Drop 1.96
Across Australia from Brisbane across southern Queensland and northern
South Australia at decreasing elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200708_136_65396_u.htm

Jul 8 (1240) CENTENARIA: Star Mag 11.4, Max dur 2.4 sec, Mag Drop 4.95
Across southern Australia from roughly near Maitland across central New
South Wales and South Australia and southern Western Australia to Kalbarri.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200708_1240_73008_u.htm

Jul 8 (117) LOMIA: Star Mag 12.17, Max dur 14.9 sec, Mag Drop 1.02
A broad path across southern New Zealand, from roughly Milton to Te
Anau, and across Australia from Taree across north-eastern New South
Wales and central Queensland to Normanton in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200708_117_65392_u.htm

Jul 9 (789) LENA: Star Mag 9.1, Max dur 4.4 sec, Mag Drop 5.92
Across southern New South Wales and into central South Australia at very
low elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200709_789_67208_u.htm

Jul 10 (221) EOS: Star Mag 12.33, Max dur 14.2 sec, Mag Drop 0.54
Across the North Island of New Zealand a just south of Auckland.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200710_221_65418_u.htm

Jul 10 (490) VERITAS: Star Mag 11.26, Max dur 9 sec, Mag Drop 1.82
Across eastern Australia along the New South Wales - Queensland border
and into northern South Australia at decreasing elevation and evening
twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200710_490_65414_u.htm

Jul 10 (221) EOS: Star Mag 11.07, Max dur 14.2 sec, Mag Drop 1.22
Across Australia from near Mackay across central Queensland, northern
South Australia and central Western Australia to near Kalbarri, at
decreasing elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200710_221_65420_u.htm

Jul 11 (803) PICKA: Star Mag 12.26, Max dur 4.9 sec, Mag Drop 1.64
Across the South Island of New Zealand, from Blenheim to Karamea, and
across south-eastern Australia from Orbost across Victoria slightly
north of Melbourne and south-eastern South Australia to Adelaide, at
decreasing elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200711_803_65428_u.htm

Jul 11 (546) HERODIAS: Star Mag 11.82, Max dur 7.8 sec, Mag Drop 2.43
Across northern Australia from Rockhampton across northern Queensland
and The Northern Territory to just north of Wyndham in northern Western
Australia.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200711_546_65430_u.htm

Jul 14 (696) LEONORA: Star Mag 10.65, Max dur 12.6 sec, Mag Drop 5.34
Across Western Australia from just north of Perth to Wyndham, in late
evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200714_696_65450_u.htm

Jul 14 (385) ILMATAR: Star Mag 11.46, Max dur 6.6 sec, Mag Drop 0.94
Across Australia, from Bowen across Queensland, northern South Australia
and southern Western Australia to Albany.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200714_385_65458_u.htm

Jul 14 (100) HEKATE: Star Mag 12.46, Max dur 16.5 sec, Mag Drop 0.52
Across Australia from Townsville across Queensland and western South
Australia to Esperance in southern Western Australia.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200714_100_65454_u.htm

Jul 14 (432) PYTHIA: Star Mag 10.3, Max dur 6.1 sec, Mag Drop 1.62
Across Western Australia from Kununurra across eastern Western Australia
to east of Esperance.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200714_432_67212_u.htm

Jul 14 (337) DEVOSA: Star Mag 11.69, Max dur 5.2 sec, Mag Drop 1.21
Across Australia, from Bowen across northern Queensland, southern
Northern Territory and southern Western Australia to near Geraldton.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200714_337_65456_u.htm

Jul 15 (449) HAMBURGA: Star Mag 12.12, Max dur 10.4 sec, Mag Drop 1.96
Across Australia from south of Proserpine across central Queensland, The
Northern Territory and Western Australia to Port Headland.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200715_449_65468_u.htm

Jul 16 (893) LEOPOLDINA: Star Mag 9.76, Max dur 6.2 sec, Mag Drop 3.83
Across south-eastern Australia from Eden in south-eastern New South
Wales across eastern Victoria to near Wonthaggi.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200716_893_65482_u.htm

Jul 16 (803) PICKA: Star Mag 12.1, Max dur 4.8 sec, Mag Drop 1.74
Across the South Island of New Zealand, from (roughly) Kaikoura to
Greymouth, and grazing the northern coast of Tasmania.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200716_803_65478_u.htm

Jul 16 (89) JULIA: Star Mag 12.42, Max dur 8.7 sec, Mag Drop 0.55
Across eastern Australia from Brisbane across southern Queensland and
into central South Australia in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200716_89_65476_u.htm

Jul 16 (64) ANGELINA: Star Mag 12.09, Max dur 6.2 sec, Mag Drop 0.68
Across northern Australia, from Cape York across northern Northern
Territory and Western Australia to Derby.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200716_64_65480_u.htm

Jul 17 (597) BANDUSIA: Star Mag 11.4, Max dur 6.7 sec, Mag Drop 1.89
Across the North Island of New Zealand, from Masterton, a little north
of Wellington, to Levin, possibly including the coast between Wanganui
and Opunake.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200717_597_73014_u.htm

Jul 18 (891) GUNHILD: Star Mag 12.17, Max dur 5.9 sec, Mag Drop 2.35
Across the South Island of New Zealand, from roughly Oamaru to Manapouri.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200718_891_65496_u.htm

Jul 18 (1484) POSTREMA: Star Mag 12.38, Max dur 4.8 sec, Mag Drop 2.39
Across New Zealand from Wairoa to Wellington, and across much of the
South Island from Kaikourato Te Anau, passing near Christchurch.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200718_1484_65500_u.htm

Jul 18 (337) DEVOSA: Star Mag 12.32, Max dur 5.4 sec, Mag Drop 0.86
Across southern Australia, from near Batemans Bay across southern New
South Wales (just south of Canberra), northern Victoria, south-eastern
South Australia near Adelaide, and southern Western Australia to Moora.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200718_337_65498_u.htm

Jul 19 (521) BRIXIA: Star Mag 12.21, Max dur 9.5 sec, Mag Drop 1.25
Across south-eastern Australia from Gladstone across southern Queensland
and south-eastern South Australia to Streaky Bay.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200719_521_65504_u.htm

Jul 19 (818) KAPTEYNIA: Star Mag 11.66, Max dur 4.9 sec, Mag Drop 2.38
Across Australia from Mackay across central Queensland, northern South
Australia and southern Western Australia to Bunbury.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200719_818_65502_u.htm

Jul 19 (102) MIRIAM: Star Mag 11.99, Max dur 5.5 sec, Mag Drop 1.38
Across Australia from Proserpine across central Queensland,
north-western South Australia and along the southern coast of Western
Australia including Esperance.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200719_102_65506_u.htm

Jul 19 (1091) SPIRAEA: Star Mag 10.2, Max dur 3.9 sec, Mag Drop 6.6
Across Australia from near Bundaberg across southern Queensland, central
South Australia and into southern Western Australia towards Perth at low
and decreasing elevation.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200719_1091_67220_u.htm

Jul 20 (337) DEVOSA: Star Mag 11.49, Max dur 5.5 sec, Mag Drop 1.42
Across Australia, from Cape York across northern Northern Territory and
central Western Australia to Kalbarri.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200720_337_65514_u.htm

Jul 20 (454) MATHESIS: Star Mag 12.12, Max dur 7.8 sec, Mag Drop 1.03
Across the South Island of New Zealand from Kaikoura to Westport.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200720_454_65512_u.htm

Jul 21 (336) LACADIERA: Star Mag 12.36, Max dur 8.9 sec, Mag Drop 0.54
Across the North Island of New Zealand, from Tokomara to New Plymouth,
and across Tasmania from Bicheno to Strahan.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200721_336_65526_u.htm

Jul 21 (2892) FILIPENKO: Star Mag 8.64, Max dur 5.1 sec, Mag Drop 6.4
Across northern Australia from Bowen across northern Queensland, central
Northern Territory and northern Western Australia to Broome.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200721_2892_65528_u.htm

Jul 22 (4715) 1989TS1: Star Mag 11.65, Max dur 8.5 sec, Mag Drop 5.77
A fairly narrow path of significant uncertainty across Australia from
Sarina across central to south-west Queensland and central South
Australia to near Ceduna.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200722_4715_65536_u.htm

Jul 22 (769) TATJANA: Star Mag 11.89, Max dur 71 sec, Mag Drop 1.64
Across northern Australia, from Cooktown across the Cape York Peninsula.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200722_769_65534_u.htm

Jul 22 (2219) MANNUCCI: Star Mag 10.3, Max dur 3.2 sec, Mag Drop 4.85
Across the North Island of New Zealand from Hicks Bay to Auckland.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200722_2219_67222_u.htm

Jul 23 (22) KALLIOPE: Star Mag 9.97, Max dur 29.5 sec, Mag Drop 1.56
A broad path across Australia, from western South Australia,
south-western Northern Territory and north-eastern Western Australia to
Wyndham.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200723_22_65550_u.htm

Jul 23 (521) BRIXIA: Star Mag 12.17, Max dur 10.3 sec, Mag Drop 1.33
Across Australia, from Hervey Bay across southern Queensland, The
Northern Territory and central Western Australia to Exmouth.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200723_521_65546_u.htm

Jul 23 (1381) DANUBIA: Star Mag 11.3, Max dur 2.2 sec, Mag Drop 4.02
Across the South Island of New Zealand, from Waipara to Gerymouth, and
across south-eastern Australia from near Sydney into central New South
Wales at low elevation and evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200723_1381_73018_u.htm

Jul 24 (360) CARLOVA: Star Mag 9.4, Max dur 9.3 sec, Mag Drop 3.53
Across New Zealand, including most of the North Island north of
Auckland, and into eastern Australia somewhere near Sydney, at low
elevation and in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200724_360_67224_u.htm

Jul 24 (375) URSULA: Star Mag 12.03, Max dur 35 sec, Mag Drop 0.8
A broad path including most of the South Island of of New Zealand.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200724_375_65560_u.htm

***Jul 24 (259) ALETHEIA: Star Mag 11.08, Max dur 15.6 sec, Mag Drop 1.15
A broad path across south-eastern Australia from Tweed Heads across
eastern New South Wales and central Victoria to (directly over)
Melbourne, possibly including Sydney and Canberra.  The north-eastern
New South Wales section is in morning twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200724_259_65564_u.htm

Jul 25 (580) SELENE: Star Mag 11.03, Max dur 6.9 sec, Mag Drop 4.74
Across south-eastern Australia from Victor Harbour across south-eastern
South Australia and north-western Victoria including Echuca into
south-eastern New South Wales in morning twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200725_580_65574_u.htm

Jul 25 (385) ILMATAR: Star Mag 12.34, Max dur 7 sec, Mag Drop 0.57
Across south-western Western Australia from Esperance to near Kalbarri.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200725_385_65572_u.htm

Jul 25 (521) BRIXIA: Star Mag 11.1, Max dur 10.8 sec, Mag Drop 2.22
A broad path across south-eastern Australia, from the mid southern New
South Wales coast across south-eastern New South Wales, northern
Victoria crossing Echuca and across south-eastern South Australia
possibly including Adelaide to Kangaroo Island, and across south-western
Western Australia to Bunbury in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200725_521_65570_u.htm

Jul 26 (348) MAY: Star Mag 10.61, Max dur 2.8 sec, Mag Drop 4.54
Across Australia, grazing the southern Western Australia coast from
Albany to the South Australia border, across central South Australia and
across southern Queensland to Hervey Bay in morning twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200726_348_65586_u.htm

Jul 27 (1269) ROLLANDIA: Star Mag 11.71, Max dur 4.4 sec, Mag Drop 3.74
Across northern Australia from just north of Broome across northern
Western Australia, central Northern Territory and northern Queensland to
Mackay.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200727_1269_65598_u.htm

***Jul 28 (846) LIPPERTA: Star Mag 10.8, Max dur 4 sec, Mag Drop 3.86
Across New Zealand, crossing Wellington, Picton and Karamea, and across
south-eastern Australia from Bairnsdale across Victoria including
Melbourne and across south-eastern South Australia a bit south of
Adelaide, at fairly low elevation and in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200728_846_65604_u.htm

Jul 28 (302) CLARISSA: Star Mag 12.48, Max dur 3.9 sec, Mag Drop 2.24
Across south-eastern Australia, from Eden in south-eastern New South
Wales across Victoria to Melbourne and then Portland.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200728_302_65606_u.htm

Jul 29 (818) KAPTEYNIA: Star Mag 12.16, Max dur 6.1 sec, Mag Drop 2.09
Across the North Island of New Zealand, from Waipukurau to Bulls, and
possibly crossing Collingwood in the South Island, across northern
Tasmania, roughly along the north coast, and across southern Western
Australia near Albany.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200729_818_65616_u.htm

Jul 30 (648) PIPPA: Star Mag 11.71, Max dur 4.8 sec, Mag Drop 3.42
Across Australia, across southern Queensland just on the New South Wales
border, across northern South Australia and into central Western
Australia to near Carnarvon.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_648_65628_u.htm

Jul 30 (999) ZACHIA: Star Mag 10.7, Max dur 2.7 sec, Mag Drop 2.9
W path across Australia, from Gympie across southern Queensland, central
South Australia and southern Western Australia, possibly crossing
Esperance and Albany.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_999_73026_u.htm

Jul 30 (1751) HERGET: Star Mag 7.3, Max dur 1.3 sec, Mag Drop 8.3
Narrow path across Australia, from near Bowen across central Queensland
at low elevation, across southern Northern Territory and central Western
Australia to Geraldton.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_1751_73028_u.htm

Jul 30 (129) ANTIGONE: Star Mag 11.54, Max dur 14.1 sec, Mag Drop 0.27
Across Australia, into northern New South Wales in evening twilight.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_129_65624_u.htm

Jul 30 (1243) PAMELA: Star Mag 12.45, Max dur 6.4 sec, Mag Drop 1.83
Across Australia from Grafton across northern New South Wales, southern
South Australia a little north of Port Augusta, and along the southern
Western Australia coast, possibly including Esperance and Albany.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_1243_65636_u.htm

Jul 30 (336) LACADIERA: Star Mag 12.37, Max dur 9.5 sec, Mag Drop 0.59
Across Australia, from Ingham across northern Queensland, central
Northern Territory and Western Australia to near Carnarvon.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_336_65634_u.htm

Jul 30 (503) EVELYN: Star Mag 7.1, Max dur 2.2 sec, Mag Drop 7.61
Along a path across the south Island of New Zealand, from near Blenheim
to Karamea, and into south-eastern New South Wales just before sunrise.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200730_503_67034_u.htm

Jul 31 (4449) SOBINOV: Star Mag 9.6, Max dur 4.4 sec, Mag Drop 6.98
A narrow path across the North Island of New Zealand, from Napier to
Opunake, and across southern Tasmania including Hobart.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200731_4449_67232_u.htm

Jul 31 (699) HELA: Star Mag 11.6, Max dur 5.3 sec, Mag Drop 1.86
Across Australia, from eastern Victoria across northern Victoria at low
elevation, across southern South Australia possibly crossing Claire and
across central Western Australia to near Karratha.
Details:
http://www.occultations.org.nz//planet/2020/updates/200731_699_73032_u.htm

Note: for some events there will be an additional last minute update so
check
for one, if you can, on the day of the event or in the days leading up
to it.
You may need to click "Reload" or "Refresh" in your browser to see the
updated
page.

Please report all attempts at observation to Director Occsec at the address
below. (PLEASE report observations on a copy of the report available
from our
website).

John Sunderland

---------------------------------------------
RASNZ Occultation Section
P.O.Box 3181 / Wellington, 6140 / New Zealand
---------------------------------------------
WEBSITE: http://www.occultations.org.nz/
Email: Dire...@occultations.org.nz





---------------------------------------------------------------

Further links and discussion can be found at the groups/links below

Astronomy in New Zealand - Groups.io
https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
Astronomy in New Zealand - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5889909863/
Astronomy in Wellington
https://www.facebook.com/groups/11451597655/
Blogger Posts
http://laintal.blogspot.com/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/Laintal

Groups.io

Astronomy in New Zealand
https://groups.io/g/AstronomyNZ
Astro...@groups.io

Wellington Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/WellingtonAstronomers
Wellington...@groups.io

AucklandAstronomers
https://groups.io/g/AucklandAstronomers
AucklandA...@groups.io

North Island Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/NorthIslandAstronomers
NorthIsland...@groups.io

South Island Astronomers
https://groups.io/g/SouthIslandAstronomers
SouthIsland...@groups.io

NZAstrochat
https://groups.io/g/NZAstrochat
NZAst...@groups.io

NZ Photographers And Observers
https://groups.io/g/NZPhotographers
NZPhoto...@groups.io

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Please note:

My standard caveat that these are the views of a learned amateur, not a professional in the sector, applies as always.
The above post/email/update represents my own words, views, research and opinions, unless stated otherwise the above work
represents my own writing. I’ll give credit or thanks if I have used or represented other people’s words and/or opinions.

The links and references listed below represent the work and research of the respective author’s.
Questions and constructive criticism are always welcome, however I don’t believe anything written here by myself is any reason for impolite behaviour.

Thanks for your time and I hope you have enjoyed reading.
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