1

CONSTELLATION Fall 2020, No. 2

Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society www.mapsplanetarium.org

Virtual Conference 2020 “Beyond the Dome”

Friday-Saturday, September 25-26, 2020

The MAPS Program Committee invites you all to a special virtual conference. This year, we will meet on Friday and Saturday, September 25-26, 2020. Conference sessions will take place on Friday afternoon, Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.

Our virtual conference will include as many of the traditional elements of a MAPS Conference as we can – including our annual Business Meeting, a “virtual banquet” (think: masquerade… or rather, mask-erade!), and presentations from delegates and sponsors. We are also working on a very special 2020 Margaret Noble Address! (See below on how you can participate.). A conference schedule is included on page 3.

There is no fee to attend the virtual conference, but we are asking all attendees to renew their MAPS membership for 2020. If you have already renewed, then you are all set! REGISTER ONLINE TODAY: mapsplanetarium.org/2020-maps-virtual-conference-register-and-participate/

Photo by John Meader

2

President’s Message CONTACT! MAPS Executive Committee

Officers

President April Whitt Fernbank Science Center Atlanta, GA april_whitt@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us 678-874-7148 President Elect Brian Koehler Treworgy Planetarium Mystic Seaport, CT brian.koehler@mysticseaport.org (860) 572-0711 x5150

Past President Kevin Williams Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, NY williakk@buffalostate.edu 716-878-5116 Secretary Amie Gallagher RVCC Planetarium Branchburg, NJ amie.gallagher@raritanval.edu 908-231-8805 Treasurer Talia Sepersky Museum of Science Boston, MA tsepersky@mos.org 617-589-0285

Board Members

Lee Ann Hennig Summerville, SC lahennig@verizon.net 703-597-9228 Paul J. Krupinski Mr. K.'s Mobile Dome Planetarium RMSC's Strasenburgh Planetarium Cheektowaga, NY mobiledome1993@earthlink.net 716-908-1341 Patty Seaton Howard B. Owens Science Center Lanham, MD pxts13@yahoo.com 301-805-9331

I didn’t see this coming - that six months after the Great Plague began, we’d still be juggling Zoom meetings, posting star talks online instead of in the dome and meeting virtually. So many of us still are domeless, because of various local and state restrictions. Others struggle with crowd size ordinances or how to clean theaters between programs. And here we are, still bringing the wonders of astronomy to audiences. Learning new technologies to spread the word. Sharing resources. Helping each other with new ideas. Fending off the annual “Mars looks as big as the full moon” hysteria. Preparing for a virtual conference at the end of September. Well done, each and every one! Your MAPS board has been in electronic contact, trying to work out the best ways forward. Brian Koehler and Kerri Kiker have done a great job putting together a virtual conference, fun twists along with the classic conference events. Please, please, please - take part in the Friday night banquet mask-arade, and the business meeting on Saturday. What will come from this current unpleasantness? We still have equinoxes and solstices, meteor showers and the occasional comet,* exciting spacecraft to follow, the wonder on people’s faces when they learn something new. Someone recently mentioned that the only thing we’re worse at than not murdering each other is predicting the future. But we live in hope. April Whitt, MAPS President

* Editor’s Note: See page 12!

3

Friday, September 25 1:00 PM –1:30PM “Zoom Room” open for social time 1:30 PM –1:45PM Welcome Remarks 1:45 PM –2:45PM Delegate Talks 2:45PM –3:30 PM Sponsor Presentations 3:30 PM –4:00 PM BREAK 4:00 PM –5:00 PM Delegate Talks 5:00 PM –6:00 PM MAPS Committee Meetings 6:00 PM –7:00 PM BREAK 7:00 PM –8:30 PM Banquet “Mask-erade”, Awards Ceremony,

and Margaret Noble Address

Saturday, September 26 10:00 AM –10:15 AM Welcome to Day 2 10:15 AM –11:00 AM Presentation about 2021 SEPA-MAPS-WAC Conference 11:00 AM –12:00 PM Workshop Block 12:00 PM –12:30 PM BREAK 12:30 PM –2:00 PM MAPS Business Meeting 2:00 PM –2:30 PM BREAK 2:30 PM –3:15PM Sponsor Presentations 3:15 PM –4:15PM Delegate Talks 4:15PM –4:30 PM Closing Remarks and Farewell

Participate in our 2020 Margaret Noble Address

You may recall that Michael McConville was slated to give our Margaret Noble Address at our 2020 conference. While we will get to hear from Michael in-person in 2021, he is also spearheading a very special keynote address for this virtual conference. We are asking everyone to pass along a short video clip (no more than a minute long) of you answering one of our three questions about the past, present, and the future of our planetarium community. You can answer one, two, or all three, just make sure they’re separate clips!

1. PAST: What was your first planetarium experience?

2. PRESENT: What new skills or insight have you gained in 2020?

3. FUTURE: What changes do you see in the planetarium community moving forward? Mike would love to incorporate some of your own thoughts and wisdom in the speech this year, so send those files – or a download link – to his email (mcconville.michael@gmail.com) before the end of the day on Monday, September 21, 2020. Many thanks in advance for your help!

Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society 2020 Virtual Conference Schedule

“Beyond the Dome” September25-26, 2020

4

SPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKS Reviewed by Francine Jackson

Space Exploration: A History in 100 Objects by Sten Odenwald, illustrated by Jesus Sotes, Vicente, New York, The Experiment, 2019, ISBN 978- 161519-614-2, hardbound, $25.00 US Reading astronomy history is always fascinating, as there seems to be something new within the pages of every book. In Space Exploration, the reader might learn a lot of fascinating historic events. Rather than just being about the subject, the author uses many inventions and sometimes unknown objects to directly introduce the various ages. The reader begins with what to many is an unknown drawing from way over 70,000 years ago; from there, we jump 40,000 years to an ancient lunar phase calendar engraved in bone. Each stop along the way is a two-page spread, containing an actual image of the object described. While many of the objects are known quite well, such as #11, the Antikythera mechanism, and #16, the Dresden codex, we also learn the history of the smoked-glass Sun viewer, #29, plus #39, the triode vacuum tube. Telescopes take a fair number of pages, from Galileo, to Herschel’s 40-foot masterpiece, the historic Leviathan of Parsonstown, the 100-inch Hooker telescope, and on to the Event Horizon, with its prized image of the supermassive black hole in M87. In addition, there is a plethora of information on varied inventions needed to leave the Earth, beginning with Robert Goddard’s rocket, the V-2, Sputnik, Vanguard, Luna-3, the Apollo program, and on to the 2018 Tesla Roadster. Each of the 100 various parts of this book contains a fascinating introduction in the history of space. Each section brings the reader a clear picture of how astronomy, space travel and computers got us to where we are today. Some of the inventions might bring us back many several years, such as the slide rule, the Hesselblad that took the Apollo 8 image of the Earth, or the Curiosity rover’s 7-minute martian landing. Others will have us looking ahead: 3-D printing on the Space Station, LIGO, and the information from Kepler still being researched. Space Exploration is divided into 100 separate descriptions, but the reader doesn’t really have to read this book in order, as every two-page description is fairly independent; however, reading it in order will give a very clear, and fascinating, chronological introduction to many interesting facets of astronomy.

Galaxies: Inside the Universe’s Star Cities by David J. Eicher, illustrated by Irene Laschi, New York: Clarkson Potter, 2020, ISBN 978-0-525--57431-6, hardbound, $30.00 US This is a beautiful book: The images of galaxies are unprecedented, showing the true beauty of our universe. The illustrations, also, are incredible, often complimenting the text as not often seen in books such as this. Even the cover is a thing of beauty, compared to the normal hard cover of a nonfiction book. The author begins with a “history” of galaxies, taking us back to 1923, and the events that occurred around Los Angeles at that time: Amelia Earhart was taking flying lessons; Walt Disney arrived with nothing in his pockets; Robert Millican, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, won a Noble prize for both measuring proton and electron charge and work on the photoelectric effect; and astronomer Edwin Hubble, using measurements determined by Henrietta Swan Leavitt, realized that a puffy nebula in the constellation Andromeda was actually a galaxy, like our own. This changed the face of the universe, from our single Milky Way to one of an untold size. From there we go outward to the Local Group, the band of galaxies near and dear to the Milky Way,

(Continued on page 13)

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Comet Neowise Finally a decent comet! It has been a long draught of bright comets since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 hasn’t it? Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) never became a blockbuster comet like Hale-Bopp but it certainly put on a pretty decent show don’t you think? It certainly generated a lot of pubic interest. Included here and on the front page are a few really gorgeous shots of the comet taken in July by John Meader under the dark skies of Maine.

13

Although there are a few that rival ours in size, such as Andromeda and M33, many of them are rather small, considered more “satellites” or “dwarf” galaxies. Counted among them are our two naked-eye southern companions, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, although the names of the close to four dozen others don’t roll off our tongues as easily, such as the Canis Major Dwarf, Barnard’s Galaxy, and IC 10. And, then it’s on to other clusters or superclusters of galaxies, most notably the Virgo supercluster, containing, with M87, possibly 1,500 separate galaxies. M87, of course, was in the news recently as having a “picture” of its massive black hole imaged, a body millions of time more massive than the Sun. M87 is also home to 12,000 globular clusters. But, there is much more, as we are shown galaxies shaped like rings, galaxies in a “train wreck” - is this the future of our eventual merger with Andromeda? - galaxies appearing to be symbiotically related, and others just too unique to be imagined, yet, here they are, a part of our universe. The only glitch that seemed to come up is that, when mentioning certain characteristics of galaxies, often that section ends with a list of similar ones, including those in catalogs not very common to the average reader, such as the Arp and ESO. But, that’s okay. There are sure to be many general readers who will pass over much of the words and enjoy the absolute beauty of the incredible, varied galaxies just overhead. Although many can never be seen visually, to know they are there, such wondrous creations, should be reason enough to want to learn more about them. And, in Galaxies, you will.

(Continued from page 4)

SPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKSSPACE & SKY BOOKS

14

Ninth Annual Joan and Arnold Seidel writing contest

Griffith Observatory runs a writing contest each year for articles about astronomy, astrophysics and space science. The Ninth Annual Joan and Arnold Seidel contest is open to any and all interested people (except Griffith Observatory employees). Rules of Participation

All articles must be postmarked by December 31, 2020 Articles must be 3500-5000 words in length, typewritten, in English, and submitted in Microsoft

Word “doc” form with standard academic formatting The author’s name should appear only on a cover sheet and not on the pages of the article itself A brief biographical sketch the author must accompany the essay separately At least two (2) camera-ready illustrations must be included BUT NOT embedded in the Word

document Brief descriptions and credit lines for each illustration are necessary. Images but be in TIFF or

JPG format at sufficient resolution. Print resolution is 300 pixels per inch, and an image intended to be printed at four inches should be at least 1200 pixels wide. Permissions, if necessary, must be supplied.

Previously published articles will not be accepted. Any number of articles may be submitted to the contest by one person, but only one prize will be

awarded to a winning author. Judging will be done by Griffith Observatory, and the decision of the judges is final. Each entry is judged anonymously so that the author’s identity is unknown to all of the judges. Awards are made on the basis of clarity, accuracy, style, reader interest in the subject, correct grammar, and originality in presentation and content. Failure to meet the requirements may disqualify an entry. Participants agree that all winning articles become property of Griffith Observatory and that the copyright of the article transfers to Griffith Observatory and the City of Los Angeles. Winning articles will be published in the Griffith Observer. Awards will be made by March 15, 2021, for the articles which best communicate to the average reader, material of current of historical interest in astronomy, astrophysics and space science. The cash amounts of the awards are:

First Prize $1000.00 Second Prize $350.00 Third Prize $200.00 Fourth Prize $150.00 Honorable Mention $50.00

Electronic mail submissions with the subject line “Seidel Griffith Observer Science Writing Contest Submission” are preferred. Postal mail submissions are also accepted, but a disc containing the articles and images must be provided. Address all articles to: Awards Committee c/o Griffith Observatory 2800 East Observatory Road Los Angeles, California 90027 213-473-0824 Observer.Contest@lacity.org