FS Aur Video

As you all know I have been helping Dr Vitaly Neustroev with his research on FS Aur. This is a very erratic variable star that can vary in magnitude by up to 0.2m over an hour, has a number of interacting periodic cycles, and goes into outburst every 13-15 days.

Whilst this video doesn’t really do justice to all the hardwork and the more subtle variations, it none the less is a bit of fun to show you what we have been looking at.

The timescale is a very rough 1 sec = ~2 days.


Enjoy!!!!

Astroswanny

Carnival of Space 188.

Image Credit: incasinoout777 at Goodtime webshots (Ferris Wheel in an earthquake).

The inexorable subduction of the pacific plate regularly brings earthquakes to Japan. We often pause briefly to admire the readiness and civil defense response that shows their preparation and courage to deal with such events.

Today the world stops to catch its breath and stand with Japan in the face of this monster earthquake and tsunami. It brings the realization to all of us, the tenuous hold we have on life, on this our "third rock from the sun".

Plate tectonics allow life to exist, brings us our rich volcanic soils, and yet can take life with such savagery that stuns us, and causes us to ponder.

To the people of Japan, and all our friends in the astronomy community in Japan -
我々の思いはあなた達と共にあります

Welcome to this week's Carnival of Space #188.

I am constantly amazed that up to 60-90% of traffic to my own blog comes from mobile devices, in the spirit of that, today I will provide a QR Scan code to each of the Home Pages of our intrepid bloggers. Download your preferred QR Scan code app from your handheld device provider and away you go.

So here we go its Carnival Time!!!!
In keeping with the reflective tone, Steve Tilford's personal tribute on the passing of his friend and mentor Dr Jim Elliot, covers his life, his philosophy and great discoveries (eg. he was on the team that discovered the rings of Uranus). Steve's detailed coverage has collected some thoughts and reflections from other scientists about the legacy Dr Jim has left us all. Read it, and ask yourself the question - what legacy will I leave?



Steve's Astro Corner QR Scan Code.



Vega 0.0 also takes some time to reflect - on pioneer astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander's work and covers "método Argelander"(Argelander method) for observing variable stars. This article is in Spanish, which gives you a second reason to try out online translation tools this week.



Vega 0.0 Blog QR Scan Code.




Chandra Blog this week features a stunning image of NGC 4151, a spiral galaxy with an actively growing supermassive black hole at its center. The structure has been dubbed "The Eye of Sauron" by astronomers due to its resemblance to the character in "The Lord of the Rings" movies. The image is a composite of X-ray, Ha and Radio spectrum. Read the amazing story of how this image was compiled.



Chandra Blog's QR Scan Code.



Next Big Future reports this week on Russia's plans for a megawatt nuclear space reactor and using it for space tugs and Mars missions. Brian continues the "powering up" theme with VASIMR's plans for the next 5-10 years and getting up to 1-6 megawatt missions.

Sounds like they'll have enough power budget for blutooth .......everything is better with Blu......(yes, yes we know)[Bigbang Theory].

Brian also updates us on details of the minimag Orion for near term interstellar missions. The full paper is available for free online.



Next Big Future QR Scan Code.


AstroBlogger reports on the post paper forensics of claims that fossil bacteria have been found in a meteorite. It's just magnesium sulfate nanobelts folks.




AstroBlogger QR Scan Code.



TheSpacewriter continues on the meteorite story and takes on the journalistic ethics of those who ran with the meteorite-life story last week and didn't bother to check the facts. Carolyn is much more qualified than I am to say what you can and can't do in 72 point font.



TheSpaceWriter QR Scan Code



At Cheap Astronomy, Steve takes us to places far, far away and talks in one of his well respected podcasts about about dwarf galaxies - large and small.



Cheap Astronomy QR Scan Code.



At WeirdWarp, Chris tries to lift the self esteem of asteroids by suggesting more useful things for them to do than killing dinosaurs. Arriving on an asteroid second after someones been there for a fit-out seems perfectly logical. Think big people!

Maybe we CAN send the telephone sanitizers first. [Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy].



WeirdWarp QR Scan Code



Now you might think that Asteroids have a self esteem problem, but what about Ceres. Astropixie puts Ceres "on the couch" for a session on why Pluto had it coming!! [Warning: contains astronomy terms that might not be suitable for astronomers young enough to not know what a ...hmm ..."two body problem" is"].



Astropixie QR Scancode.



As opposed to being demoted, what if you never made it in the first place? A brown dwarf, about 75 light-years from Earth, has hit a new low. In fact, its temperature is so low that it is about the same temperature as the cup of tea sitting on Ian's desk. Discovery News asks the question: Stellar-Failure or just misunderstood?



DiscoveryNews QR Scan Code.



Nancy, Senior editor of Universe Today features an article on the Catalin Fus image of STS-133 mission to the ISS passing infront of the sun past the currently active sunspot region.



Universe Today QR Scan Code.



So, as we bring the Carnival of Space 188 to a conclusion, mindful of the powerful forces at work on our planet, in our galaxies, and yes even in our failed stars, lets use this time of confronting disaster for personal relfection on the legacies that have been left by others and the ones we might leave.

I leave you with a lovely image of M106 taken by John Nunn this week on my telescope.






Astroswanny's AARTScope Scan Code.




The Carnival of Space is a community of interest blog carnival bringing together the best and brightest Astronomy & Space Blogs at a single point in space and time (commonly referred to as a web address) each week. Previous episodes can be found here. If you run an astronomy or space science blog you can contact carnivalofspace@gmail.com to be added to the editorial circulation list.

Pirates in Space!!!!

In a week where my son was playing Pirates of the Carribean on Cello in his orchestra, what better thing to do than join Dr Marleen Bryan on her popular “Space Pirates” radio show.

I shared a most enjoyable 45 minutes, on the popular Astronomy.fm radio show covering topics as diverse as Social Media in Astronomy, Variable star photometery, the GRAS telescopes and specifically - variable star FS Aur.

Astronomy FM is a great community numbering several thousand people, and have great podcasts and regular live broadcasts, and great astrophotography competitions.

As an online amateur astronomer, Astronomy.FM is part of the inner circle of great resources available.

If you would like to catch up on the podcast click here.

Peter Lake

Open Season on FS Aur !!!!

Like duck hunting, Variable Stars have their "Seasons" also. A season being where the variable star in question is in the optimal position for "shooting with CCDs" ie observable for most of the night. FS Aur is a Cataclysmic Variable rising in the early evening, and in the current northern winter, its visable for a good 6-7 hours a night. Thus its "in season".

FS Aur is one of the strangest and complex objects in the extensive variable star family. (See also Steve's excellent article elsewhere in today's Carnival of Space.) It is thought to be a magnetic white dwarf binary CV with a third object acting on it in a circumbinary orbit. (Tovmassian et al., 2010)

Now its in season - astronomers want answers. When they want answers they often leverage the collective effort of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), to muscle up some more observations and data.

FS Aur has a number of photometric and spectroscopic cycles going on. On top of this it goes into outburst about every 12-15 days. The outburst period is so short (2-3 days) it has been regularly missed in the past - so this season Dr Neustroev has rallied a special effort. For the first time, members of the AAVSO will map the entire 15 day outburst cycle, several, hopefully a good number of times.

Dr Vitaly Neustroev is the University Researcher (Yliopistotutkija) at the University of Oulu, Finland and he is a key reseacher on FS Aur, working hard to better understand its erratic behaviour. Visit the observing campaign page here, and also follow on (Twitter).

I like following Cataclysmic Variables, after catching Simostronomy fever, and I have been a regular on FS Aur since Dr Neustroev's call to action.

During the past few weeks FS Aur has been dancing away with a little periodic wobble at about 15.9 with the odd subtle change in brightness, then on the 22nd it went really dull to 16.2 then literally within 24-36 hours it popped to Magnitude 14.3 on the 24th, and then grew to about 14.035 throughout the day.

In my image from the 24th, FS Aur can be seen in the Green annulus.

Now take a look at this image on the 22nd. FS Aur can hardly been seen. It is at magnitude 16.2 at its lowest point in its quiescent phase.

So what is going on with FS Aur - Dr Neustroev describes it this way:

“FS Aur is an extremely unusual cataclysmic variable renown for the presence of a variety of uncommon and largely incomprehensible periodic variabilities of brightness and radial velocity. The outlandish peculiarity of FS Aur is the existence of a very coherent photometric period of 205.5 min that exceeds the spectroscopic orbital period of 85.7 minutes by 2.4 times. Such a discrepancy in the photometric and spectroscopic periods is highly unusual for cataclysmic variables.

Based on the short orbital period, FS Aur has been classified as a SU UMa star. Nevertheless, long‐term monitoring of the system by several groups failed to detect any superoutburst in its light curve. The publicly available AAVSO light curve show instead a steady‐cyclic outburst pattern that is more similar to a SS Cyg–type dwarf nova light curve. However, this monitoring reveals an additional, discordant, and very long photometric period of ~900 days. We explain the latter by the result of eccentricity modulation of a close binary orbit induced by the presence of a third body on a circumbinary orbit (Tovmassian et al., 2010).”

So it is indeed a complex beast. This is a little time-series I ran when it was at quiescence.

When variables are in season you can get nice long lightcurves and do time-series analysis and this is very valuable data. Below is the light curve of FS Aur climbing to its peak during the 24th January. The light curve below spans almost continuous/contiguous 6 hours. It is very interesting as it shows quite clearly the erratic nature and massive forces involved in the outburst. (Each measurement is from a 120s image and with a precision of about 0.01-0.03mag.)

I have also submitted some color times-series in BVRI as this is also useful data, more so if I had got it at the peak of the outburst, alas due to weather I missed out. I'll have to wait another 13 days ;-).

Again, about 4hrs of continuous data can only only be gathered "in season".

So this is indeed a fascinating object and could indeed be a new class of object. Only time will tell. AAVSO members are playing an important role in gathering the data to refine the lightcurve. Once the observing campaign is complete we await with interest to see what the astronmers and astrophysicists can tell about what they have learned.

At AARTScope my mission is to "keep creating the sense of anticipation and discovery that keeps scientists asking questions" so if you are an AAVSO member and would like to join the campaign, please do.

Unlike ducks, no variable stars are harmed during "peak season".

FS Aur in quiescence

Hi, here is my latest data of FS Aur in quiescence - it certainly has a nice little wobble going between 15.9 and 16.1.

This time series taken over 30 minutes with one additional measurement in a second run just before a 42mph wind gust closed the roof ;-(.

[Disclaimer: all data was submitted to AAVSO via standard process - this is just a nice little graphic from VPHOT].

Astroswanny.

What's up with Scheila (596)

URGENT UPDATE:2011/01/01 08:00 UT - Scheila dusts off tail after Christmas Show.
Scheila's tail appears to have disappeared! I have just emailed Ernesto to see if he is in a position to confirm. Joseph Brimacombe reported on the 30th that Scheila was sporting a nice tail but had to go to 5x1200 sec at f5, so clearly it has faded.



Travelling slighly faster and a little fainter that my last image on the 13th (OK I have been on holidays....slack I know) there is no evidence of a tail in todays image. This image is a stacked image of 6x300 Sec frame stacked for movement of the comet, even when I went to 10x300 sec, still no evidence of the tail.

Peter

UPDATE: 2010/12/23
UA Catalina Sky survey have formally released a statement on (596) Scheila after it's cometary outburst on the 11th (see history below). The statement covers a review of the circumstances of discovery, and for the first time some commentary on the spectra of follow-up observations. The statement suggests that the spectral analysis so far confirms that the outburst produced a dust tail indicating re-activation of a previously dead comet made up of largely carbonaceous material.

UPDATE: 2010/12/13 UT 23:40

As mentioned below here is the 8x300 binned 1x1.



UPDATE: 2010/12/13 UT 23:30
My latest image from 13/12/2010 shows Scheila in pretty much the same configuration as it has been for the past two days.



UPDATE: 2010/12/13 UT 13:30
Latest image on (596) Scheila is going out tonight as an exclusive for Doc Newstein at Ciel et Espace in France As soon as Frank posts it I'll post a link to it here. It is again a 5x300sec image binned 2x2 this time, I'll let you be the judge but I think the tail does look a little longer, but that could be a function of it being a little higher in the sky tonight. I have another 8 frames that I am yet to process binned 1x1 and I am going to put them into a little animation. Bonsoir amis astronomie en France!!!!

UPDATE: 2010/12/13 UT 04:30
Vishnu Reddy has been reviewing some of the historical spectral data for (596) Scheila and believes the spectrum is very similar to the Tagish Lake Meteorite, and consistent with a possible MBC (main belt comet).

UPDATE: 2010/12/13 UT 00:00
Wikipedia entry for Scheila (596) has just been updated with all the articles links prompting a massive traffic surge. I love Revolver Map!


UPDATE: 2010/12/12 UT 23:00
Mike Simonsen has done some research overnight on previous Catalina plates and identified that Scheila (596) started to get a little fuzzy around the 3rd of November. Mike also discusses previous examples of Main Belt Comets that behave as asteroids before springing into life. Mike is the Development Director at the AAVSO and runs Simostronomy Blog and writes for Universe Today.

UPDATE: 2010/12/12 UT 11:00 I have finished the color run....not much more to comment on, other than the subs were probably a little too short to get much more detail. Anyway we'll see what tomorrow brings in the way of commentary from the scientists.


UPDATE: 2010/12/12 UT 09:00 Ernesto is doing another run, and I have just started a 30min colour run now to see what color we can see. In the early preview image there doesn't seem to be much in the red spectrum, but as its only a 120 sec sub...there won't be alot there anyway. [Note: reversing the post order now for easy reading.]

UPDATE: 2010/12/12 UT 07:00
Here is my first image of Scheila (596), It is still very low to the horizion, I'll try for some color later in the evening. The image is quite noisy as it was only about 25 degrees above the horizion - a bit low for quality astrophotography.

It certainly has a good little tail going there.

UPDATE 2010/12/12 05:00 UT
Some good discussion now occuring on the MPML in Yahoo Groups. Some speculation on what may have caused the "tail" to develop. Marshall Eubanks has suggested it will take a little time to determine if it is a cometary outburst or dust raised by an asteroid collision. A "minor" collision should see the dust dissipate in a few weeks, if it is a cometary outburst it should last for a more prelonged period of time. Robert Matson had a quick look at known objects in the vacinity, the nearest object 2006 HV77, according to Robert is not close enough to be in consideration as a likely suspect. Dave Herald has suggested that the chances of two known objects colliding in the asteroid belt is about the same as two objects 100th the thickness of a human hair colliding on a footbal pitch.

But it does happen...... (although in fairness to Dave's math this was an Unknown VS Unknown collision).

Scheila should be visible from New Mexico in about an hour.

UPDATE 2010/12/12 03:00 UT
I should be ableto get some images myself myself once Scheila is above the horizion in New Mexico.

UPDATE 2010/12/12 02:00 UT
So it's official Steve Larson has observed a "spiral like" cometary outburst on Scheila (596) whilst reviewing Catalina Sky Survey photos overnight. This has just been announced in CBET 2583 on the IAU site.

Amateur astronomers are now pouncing on it for for quality images. Ernesto has posted an intial set of photos in his blog. They still seem fairly raw at this stage and I'm sure he will have a stunning processed version available shortly.


Scheila (596) is a main belt asteroid that was discovered in 1906. It is a bright slow moving main belter with a Perihelion of 2.4au (which means it comes nowhere near earth). Scheila is one of the most studied asteroids, regularly tracked for occulations with other stars, much is known about its rotational period and its lightcurve has been extensively studied.

So why is it listed on the Minor Planet's confirmation page with three comments in an hour?

Sailing along at Mag 13 most asteroids that bright get picked up by the surveys pretty quickly and are quickly eliminated as known objects by the hard-working staff and processes at the MPC. Something has prompted a number of quick follow-up observations.

Astronomers doing astrometery on asteroids report RA/DEC co-ordinates with a Universal time stamp from the registered observatory (which identifies LAT/LONG of Observer). The accuracy of the position measurements are called residuals which is an RMS differential to the predicted path. The Minor Planet Center would consider rms 0.2-0.6 arcsec quality data. I myself have had data rejected by MPC (rightly so) with residuals of 4 arcsecs - usually because I have done something stupid, such as reported the time incorrectly.

Asteroids studied since 1906 don't normally show up with dodgy arcsecs residuals, because the sum total of their "arc" in this this case a many opposition highly accurate orbit is well known. (One of the observer comments refered to residuals being a bit higher than expected).

So What's up? If it was "unknown newbie" reporting data perhaps we might dismiss it.

Turning to twitter...the constant source of live action - Ernesto Guido seems animated about something and he has done alot of quality work on asteroid and comet photography and according to his twitter feed he is about to post a most fascinating image. Ernesto does great work on photos of comets, and has photographed a number of outbursts recently.

Perhaps Scheila (596) has had a little global warming and popped an icy tail? Perhaps it has had a "fender bender" with another asteroid.

Hilarious Astronomy Gift Ideas...tis the season to be jolly!

Hi, some great and hilarious christmas Gift Ideas for the astronomers you love.

Why buy someone a gift card, or give them some cash to go buy what they want when you can show how much you love them by picking a unique, quirky, and funny astronomy related gift.

My personal favourite the Astronomer's beverage warmer! These are great!

Also there is a great range of "Pets are astronomers too". Featuring the very funny "Dogs were in space first" protest label. All dogs like to hunt, when they hunt they point, every astronomer dog needs to point very accurately....just like the master's telescope. SO on those cold nights out with the dog and the telescope imagine having your canine friend turned out in a coat with "pointing error of less than 1.2 Arcsecs", especially if you always wanted a dog called spot! ;-)



For something more serious, there's always the "my favourite glass" gift box to plonk your favourite plossal in. Also there are a great collection of astronomy journals with original artwork on the front (not shameless rip-offs of Hubble shots).


Finally there is as you would expect a full clothing range and the odd hilarious quirky item like the "Asteroid Hunter......not so keen on gathering" licence plates.

So merry christmas to all AARTScope visitors and friends, Grab a Hoodie, a beverage warmer, a coat for your dog and an observation log and have a great astronomy christmas.