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News From LI Science Center

Summer Apprenticeships

Teens are invited to apply to join the staff of the Long Island Science Center as volunteer interns during July and August 2008.

"Work behind the scenes, design and build exhibits and assist staff with
programs."

For more info and an application, call 208-8000.

Sunday Science and Summer Science

Through the end of June, the Long Island Science Center offers a Sunday Science program where families can enjoy hands-on science activities with special themes that change weekly.

Families can make math and science a part of their summer at the Long Island Science Center every Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00am to 4:00pm with special themes changing weekly.

The Long Island Science Center is located at 11 West Main Street, Riverhead.

Brookhaven Lab Open to Public on Summer Sundays

The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory will again open its doors to the public this summer, every Sunday from July 20 through August 17.

The Laboratory will feature a different tour on each of five Sundays. Both adults and children can enjoy a variety of entertaining activities, including the Whiz Bang Science Show and the Brain Teasers exhibit each week.

Summer Sundays are offered free of charge, and no reservations are needed. Visitors may arrive any time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The Whiz Bang Science Show will be staged at 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. each Sunday. All visitors age 16 and over must bring a photo ID.

The full Summer Sundays schedule follows:

July 20 — National Synchrotron Light Source
See the brightest light on Long Island and one of the most intense sources of light in the world. Find out how synchrotron light is used to look into all kinds of materials, from moon rocks to computer chips.

July 27 — Science Learning Center
Play with science, no matter what your age. Have fun testing your hands-on science skills. Enjoy a science magician's tricks.

August 3 — National Weather Service
Come to the weather forecasting center for the entire New York metropolitan area. Track storms, big or small. Learn about hurricane preparedness. Witness a 3:30 p.m. weather-balloon launch.

August 10 — Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Visit a new center where studies of the ultra-small may lead to ultra-big discoveries in many areas, from energy to electronics. See the high-tech tools used to explore the nanoscale. This tour is appropriate for adults and children over 10 years old.

August 17 — Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
Enter the underground tunnel that holds twin accelerators. Learn how gold ions are smashed together to recreate the temperature and energy density of the early universe. This tour is appropriate for adults and children over 10 years old.

The Laboratory is located 1.5 miles north of Long Island Expressway Exit 68. For more information, call 631 344-2651, or visit the Brookhaven Lab website: www.bnl.gov.

Double Deception

by David van Popering

July 2008

The giant twin suns of Tatooine slowly disappear behind a distant dune range. Luke stands watching them for a few moments, then reluctantly enters the doomed entrance to the homestead...

This scene from Star Wars showed those of us here on Earth the strange yet somewhat familiar world of Luke Skywalker. A world filled with household robots and talking androids, fantastic ships, and in this scene, a world with two suns. Much of the technology remains in the realm of science fiction. The binary suns, as strange as they seem, are really out there.

A binary star is actually a pair of stars that orbits around a common center of gravity. They are, in a sense, connected.

There are so many multiple stars systems that it has allowed astronomers to determine the masses of stars and provided a wealth of information on the density, atmosphere, and evolution of stars. They are also extremely useful as distance indicators, allowing astronomers to measure the distance to the clusters and galaxies. The study of binary stars has helped change our understanding of the scale of the Universe.

Many stars, like our Sun, were formed in open clusters which eventually drifted apart, leaving each star alone. Many more are born in twos, threes, and fours and remain that way for a very long time.

As many as there are, no one imagined such a thing existed, even when they looked right at them. Early astronomers, after years of scanning and studying the night sky with the earliest telescopes, thought binary or multiple stars were a chance alignment of stars and nothing more. The discovery that they are actually close, orbiting stars was made in the late 1700s by William Herschel and his wife Caroline also served as his full-time assistant. They catalogued so many that they knew there couldn't be that many "chance alignments." After observing them for decades and noting their motions, they determined these aligned stars were multiple star systems.

How many binary stars are there? It's difficult to be precise, but of the stars nearest to the Sun, about half are known to be in multiple systems.

Real or Illusion?

Binary stars can be of two fundamental types: Visual Binaries and Optical Doubles.

Visual Binaries are those you can see. Sometimes you don't even need a telescope. Usually they do appear as a single point of light, but using a telescope, you can "split" them so you can see the separate stars.

Optical Doubles are stars that appear to lie close together, but in fact are not at all. They only appear to us from our earthly observation to be close together. One of the stars in the pair is actually behind the first star and very far away. The stars of an optical double are not gravitationally bound.

Hint: Can't remember a visual from an optical? I think of the phrase "optical illusion." Optical Binaries are illusions and not real binary pairs.

There is another type which is important, called the spectroscopic binary. The spectroscopic binaries are those which are very close together and cannot be "split" with an optical telescope. The individual stars are each identified by their own light. All the chemical elements are revealed, like a unique fingerprint, through a spectroscope (a machine which analyzes light). Each star is made up of a combination of elements in differing amounts; one might have more carbon or helium than another. Through analyzing the light, astrophysicists can determine the light coming from individual stars, which to our eyes seem to shine as one.

Since it is the Visual Binaries which you can enjoy from your own dark back yard, or better yet, from Custer, here are a couple to start you off with, and we're more than happy to help you find them from the Custer Institute some dark Saturday evening.

What We Thought We Knew

To start with, many of the stars you already know are really binaries and in some cases, multiple star systems. The first one might come as a bit of a surprise: Polaris, the North Star, is a triple star system. That's right, the North Star is really three stars! One of its stellar companions is clearly visible with a telescope, but the other hugs Polaris so tightly that it has never been directly observed until 2006 with the Hubble Space Telescope. If you come to Custer, I can show you Polaris and one of it's companions.

Alberio is one of the summertime showpieces. This beautiful double is one of my favorite objects to share with our Custer visitors. (Alberio and its companion are found in the head of Cygnus the swan who flies along the milky white backdrop of our galaxy. "The Northern Cross" is the more easily found asterism within Cygnus, and if thats what you can find, then look to the foot of the cross to find Alberio.)

Alberio is one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky and probably the finest for small telescopes. The primary member, Alberio A, is a golden yellow. Alberio B, the smaller of the two is a hot blue-white star and they complete an orbit about once every 600 years. These two stars are just over 400 billion miles apart. At least 55 solar systems could be lined-up edge-to-edge, across the space that separates these stars! But wait, there's more! Spectroscopic analysis has revealed that the yellow star is also a very close double itself--a triple star system!

Here is how Alberio will appear to you when see from Custer:

There is more going on down at Custer than looking for double stars. Check the Custer web site for the latest updates and additions! Remember, Custer is open to the public every Saturday evening from dusk to midnight and you can call 765-2626 for more information.

Clear Skies,

David van Popering

Coming Up

Saturday, July 5, 2008.
Concert: Homegrown String Band
Suggested donation $15. An exceptional evening of bluegrass music and dance.

Saturday, July 12, 2008.
Open Mic Night
Free.

Afternoon StarLab shows are being planned as well as other summer programs, so be sure to check the website for the latest info.

Download the current sky map!
http://skymaps.com/downloads.html