MichianaSTEM Astro blog

Visitors to AstroFest simulate the varied periods of Venus and Earth in orbit.

There are a lot of transit of Venus attractions launching imminently. Please share the goodness.

• Transit of Venus (TROVE) Adventure is a family treasure hunt in Michiana.  Find ten clues across Michiana and receive protective solar shades for the family.  This has been well organized by Riverbend Community Math Center staff and volunteers, and brings several local institutions and businesses into the transit of Venus experience.
• Transit of Venus in Pastel, an art exhibit at Harris Branch Library, with artists reception May 2, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Historical artifacts on display at Harris Branch Library starting May 1.
• PHM Transit of Venus Art Contest throughout May at Penn Kingsmen Art Gallery.
• TROVE Art Exhibit at The Livery microbrewery in Benton Harbor, MI, with concurrent debut of Venusian Ale
• And lots more.  For local events see www.transitofvenus.org/trove.

Visitors to Union Station in South Bend learn about the transit of Venus at AstroFest

One way to take it all in on June 5 is the exclusive Transit of Venus Tour by motor coach. Get reservations now while space is still available.  Meanwhile, businesses are supporting the mood with food and beverages–at Victorian Pantry in Granger, Pizza Transit in Niles, Thyme of Grace in South Bend, and The Livery in Benton Harbor.

You don’t want to miss any more of the great happenings in our community.  Some of the best transit of Venus outreach I’ve seen yet occurred this past weekend at two AstroFest events held at Kennedy Primary Academy and at Union Station in South Bend. Thanks to the dedicated staff at Riverbend Community Math Center for their inventive lessons, led by Peggy Jones.  More families need that kind of experience to get the most value out of the June 5 spectacle.

Thanks to all who are putting in the labor to prepare our community and to give our regional audience an opportunity to participate a global sensation.

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Planetarian-March 2012

The Penn Symphonic Winds will perform John Philip Sousa’s Transit of Venus March tonight, March 8, at the Penn High School Center for Performing Arts.

See the updated article “Sousa on March 8″ at http://www.transitofvenus.org/misc/326-sousa-on-march-8 for details about the performance, for a video of the band rehearsing, and for a March 2012 Planetarian article for which the cover includes Sousa imagery.

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Black Drop Coffee

For people to value science they need to be comfortable talking about it, and what better way than over a cup of coffee? I encourage ye readers to support businesses that take a chance by supporting our astronomy interests. Victorian Pantry in Granger, IN, is now selling a Black Drop Coffee to commemorate the transit of Venus while acknowledging that visual anomaly called the “black drop” effect. Details are at http://www.transitofvenus.org/misc/334-black-drop-coffee.

I believe many ships can rise with the transit of Venus tide, whether they be education outreach efforts or business initiatives. Let’s start helping each other by patronizing purveyors of Black Drop Coffee, for their efforts to get the message out will certainly serve astronomy interests when June 5 arrives.  Besides, it’s good coffee with a cool label.

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2012 Science Alive! Highlight

Lots of great sciency stuff occurred at the 2012 Science: Alive!, but one activity that needs to be touted is the Transit of Venus Stained Glass Window Contest from the JINA/NDeRC team.  Families who passed by had a chance to learn a little about the transit of Venus, but were then invited to draw an image and some words that captured their understanding of the event.  If they did not complete their drawing on-site, the kids could take the stained glass window template home to learn more about the transit of Venus and to complete their art at home.

Stained Glass Windows

JINA and NDeRC are sponsoring a contest from the drawings done by the kids.  From home they could upload images of their handiwork, with results displayed on Flickr.  The contest rules are at http://trove.michianastem.org/images, with the February 18 deadline for images to be submitted.

The news item that has slipped under the radar is one of the prizes offered: an evening’s observation at the Observatory on top of Jordan Hall.  I’m wishing there were more time to spread the word about this outstanding opportunity through more of the Michiana community, but a deadline is necessary to keep the Science Alive participants from languishing and not turning in their work. Nonetheless, I thank those folks who agreed to host the time at the telescopes. Your generosity is inspiring, and I hope we can offer such an opportunity down the road for other outreach initiatives.

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Seminar to address extraterrestrials.

Start talking about extra-terrestrials and people often conjure up images of Steven Spielberg’s rendition of life beyond earth. However, the notion of ETs goes back centuries and is far more complex.  Once Copernicus displaced earth from the center of the universe, the possibility existed for a plurality of worlds.  A leading authority on the extra-terrestrial debate is Notre Dame Professor Emeritus Michael Crowe, whose publications on the ET topic helped earn him the 2010 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize from the History of Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Crowe’s book, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, Antiquity to 1915: A Source Book, is the basis for a seminar that Lee Minnerly will be teaching at the Newberry Library in Chicago on Saturdays from Feb. 25 through Mar 31 (six sessions).  Cost for the seminar is $170.00.    Details about the seminar, titled “Extraterrestrials in Western Thought from Copernicus to H. G. Wells”, are online.

With the multitude of new planets being discovered using the NASA Kepler spacecraft and other resources, the quest for answers about life elsewhere will surely gain more traction.

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Scene from Transit of Venus Video

The Transit of Venus video is a four-minute introduction to the celestial event, its historical significance, and the use of the transit method for discovering new planets. It is posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehHY9fTrb7Q) and will soon be available in full-dome video format for digital theaters.

Thanks to the Michiana folks who contributed to its success, especially James Summers, Doug Osthimer, Donnie Rogers, and Grass Roots Media. Patrick McPike of Chicago did the animation and video editing, while the band Transit of Venus Project out of New Zealand provided the music.

For information on Michiana events related to the transit of Venus, see www.transitofvenus.org/trove.

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A group of people interested in advocating the 2012 transit of Venus gathered at the PHM Digital Video Theater on November 9, 2011, to meet each other, to share ideas, and to promote Michiana as a hub for transit of Venus attractions. After I presented background information on the transit of Venus, we introduced each other and discussed possible roles or linkages between us. I was encouraged by the energy among us, and look forward to seeing some of the evening’s proposals come to fruition.

Transit of Venus Summit

I will later set up some means for us to communicate, with a next tentative meeting being Wednesday, January 11, at 7:00 p.m. at the same site.  In the interim, if others wish to join us as we make people aware of the 2012 transit and how it impacts their lives, feel free to contact me.  Among the affiliations that attendees cited, though they were not necessarily working in that capacity, were Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation; South Bend School Corporation; Joint Institute for Nuclear Physics; Notre Dame Physics Department Outreach; Southwestern Michigan College; WNDU; Michiana Astronomical Society; and YMCA AstroCamp.

More information about TROVE is at http://www.transitofvenus.org/education/80-trove/301-trove.

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Console of PHM Digital Video Theater

The local astronomy community got a significant boost this month as a Digistar 4 projection system was installed at the former PHM Planetarium in Bittersweet School. The new dual projectors eliminated 43 slide projectors and 90+ special effect projectors, and replaced them with more diverse digital imagery on the dome.  The PHM Digital Video Theater (DVT)–not to be confused with Notre Dame’s Digital Visualization Theater (DVT)–was upgraded as part of a capital improvement for PHM science labs.  The digital capability allows instruction in multiple disciplines, thereby expanding the venue’s potential.  Once new seats are installed, the PHM DVT will start presenting educational content to the school children in October 2011. Public programs will likely resume shortly thereafter.

Two Types of "Overhead Projectors"

During the 2008 presidential election, candidate John McCain criticized candidate Barack Obama for supporting proposed funding for an “overhead projector” for Adler Planetarium.  The attached image shows a real overhead projector still used in the classroom setting of the PHM dome during renovations, with one of the two new Digistar 4 projectors visible in the background (circled).

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In the Watertown Republican, Notre Dame astronomy instructor Brother Peter (John Fitzpatrick) described the value of the 19th century transits of Venus as the 1874 event approached:

Wonderful as are the discoveries that have been made in the science of astronomy within the present century, it is confidently believed by those who are capable of forming a judgment on the subject that if the operations to be carried out on the 8th of December next are successful it will be an event of greater importance to the science of astronomy than any that has ever taken place.
The interest taken by the learned of all nations – the talent, influence and wealth now being employed, exceeds that brought to bear upon any other scientific subject ever before sought after.

Unfortunately, the 1874 transit was not visible from Notre Dame.

To witness the phenomenon from campus, observers had to wait until December 6, 1882.  While astronomers deemed the transit method less essential by then, a transit of Venus could still draw an intrigued crowd.  Expectant observers gathered on campus in 1882, but clouds obscured the opening moments when Venus entered upon the sun.  Eventually the weather improved and all eyes viewed the celestial apparition and made their respective judgments on its significance.  The South Bend Tribune later reported:

Towards ten-o’clock the clouds cleared away, as if in answer to the prayers offered up all over the country last Sunday, and the sun came out bright as a day in June. Smoked glasses, opera glasses, blue and green spectacles, telescopes and spy glasses were leveled at the “orb of day” and there was for everybody a good view of the transit.

As the 2012 alignment approaches, the Transit of Venus Project is coordinating efforts to mark historical sites where transits of Venus have been witnessed in past centuries.  In his article detailing Notre Dame’s role in past transits of Venus, Robert Havlik, Notre Dame Librarian Emeritus, uncovered the approximate location from which the campus astronomy club anticipated seeing the transit.  In early December, 1882, the self-titled student group Bureau of Astronomy made the following announcement:

Bureau of Astronomy,
Notre Dame University, Dec.1, 1882.
At Notre Dame, Lat. 41d 42′ 12.” 7, Long. W. from Greenwich 86d 14′ 19″.3,
the transit of Venus across the solar disk will appear as follows:

DEC. 6TH, CIVIL TIME:

“First contact at 19 minutes past 8 a.m.
Internal contact at ingress at 20 minutes to 9 a.m.
Internal contact at egress at 2 2/3 min. past 2 p.m.
Last contact at 23 2/3 minutes past 2 p.m.

If their value is reliable, therein is the latitude and longitude at which crowds may have gathered to see the 1882 transit.  So where is the site, at Lat. 41d 42′ 12.” 7, Long. W. from Greenwich 86d 14′ 19″.3?

Possible 1882 Observation Site

Answer:  Just northeast of the Golden Dome, near St. Edward’s Hall.

The original portion of St. Edward’s Hall would have just opened earlier that year, 1882, as noted in the St. Edward’s Hall sign.

The 2012 transit of Venus creates an opportunity for University of Notre Dame to commemorate its participation in the 1882 transit of Venus.  The sleuthing of Robert Havlik suggests one possible site.

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Astro-Tec Dome Construction at PHM Planetarium

As renovation continues at the PHM Planetarium at Bittersweet School in Mishawaka, IN, a new dome from the manufacturer Astro-Tec is being installed. This is the same company that installed the original dome decades ago. The new dome features better seams that hide the ribbed structure and a more rigid framework.

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