Targets in Scorpius (also Messier 22)

I got out for the first time since March 25. Nominally clear-ish, everything was faint with city lights and water in the air. Aside from Scorpius, Sagittarius, and the Big Dipper, I counted about 80 stars.

[Posted to The Sky Searchers astronomy discussion board.]

Telescope: Explore Scientific 102 mm doublet refractor on Twilight-I Alt-Az manual mount. Eyepieces: Meade 5000 82-degree 14mm and TeleVue 7mm Series 1. 

2234 - Zuben el Genubi

2339 NGC 6231

0006 Lesath and Shaula

0009 Messier 7 Ptolemy's Cluster

0017 Messier 80 - 47X

0022 Messier 80 - 94X 

0026 Messier 4 - no joy. 

0032 Messier 22 in Sagittarius

0039 Messier 6 Butterfly Cluster

The tube was wet. So, I packed everything up and put it all on the porch in case I can go out again later this morning before sunrise.

Thanks and Clear Skies,

Mike M.

Commentary: 

Zuben el Genubi. Claw of the South. Also now designated Alpha Librae because of the Roman compulsion for Twelves which added Libra to their zodiac and made the Scorpion fold up his claws. In a small telescope, this is an easy double star: two Main Sequence F stars about 76 light years from Earth. For myself, I learned of it at a show at the Hayden Planetarium in the summer of 1969. The other claw is Zuben al Schamali and I never get tired of saying their names.

NGC 6231.  An open cluster of about 100 stars mostly traveling together, though of the easily spotted bright pair one is only 15 ly from Earth and not in the group. 

"The original New General Catalogue was compiled during the 1880s by John Louis Emil Dreyer using observations from William Herschel and his son John, among others. ...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_General_Catalogue#Index_Catalogue

"This cluster is estimated to be about 2–7 million years old,^[2][3] and is approaching the Solar System at 22 km/s. The cluster and association lie in the neighboring Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. Zeta¹ Scorpii (spectral type O8 and magnitude 4.71.^[7]) is the brightest star in the association, and one of the most radiant stars known in the galaxy.^[8] NGC 6231 was used to measure the binary fraction of B-type stars: 52%±8%, indicating that B-type stars are commonly found in binary systems, but not as commonly as in O-type stars.^[3]

NGC 6231 also includes three Wolf-Rayet stars: HD 151932, HD 152270,^[9] and HD 152408.^[10]". Wolf-Rayet stars are considered unstable and likely to  go nova at any time. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6231. 

Lesath and Shaula are the two stars in the Sting. 

Messier 7. Noted by Claudius Ptolemy in the 1st century of our era, it is visible to the naked eye, even in the city under forgiving skies, though not so tonight. It is to the left (East) of Lesath and Shaula. It is an open cluster of about 80 stars, with 20 to 30 easy to tally.

Messier 80 - A globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars packed into a sphere 95 light years in diameter. It is 32,000 light years from Earth. Globular clusters like this orbit the plane of the Milky Way. Current theory is that the disk (as with all "Grand Design" disk galaxies) condensed out of the halo of globular clusters. The Milky Way has about 125 of them now, likely many more earlier, and other galaxies have significantly more globular clusters. In a small telescope, it looks like a roundish patch of lighter gray. It is in the more or less open area between the eastern claw star "Graffias" (gripper) beta Scorpii and Antares in the center of the body. It is fairly easy to find, even on a bad night.

Messier 4 -- No joy. Technically brighter than Messier 80, it is much larger so its light is spread out and it is not always easy to find. I was told, "Messier 4 does not respond well to light pollution." 

Messier 22 -- Big, bright and easy to find in a small telescope, it looks like a dandelion gone to seed. You cannot miss it. It is above the "knob" in the "top" of the "Teapot" which everyone else calls Sagittarius. Just over 10,000 light years away it is one of the "closer" globular clusters. It contains at least 72,000 stars and likely twice that many, as well as several to many black holes swallowing stars. For myself, M22 is the Bay Shore Highway around Traverse City, Michigan. Tourist shops sell M22 decals. We have ours. I also have an M22 coffee cup. 

Messier 6 - The Butterfly Cluster. Maybe more than 30 of the 120 stars are easy to see at 47X with a 4-inch telescope in the city. Likely 1590 light years from us, it is about 12 ly in diameter. It is only 94 million years old and so it has highly metallic stars with abundant elements more complex than helium. 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Solar Imaging 

Amateur Astronomy for Pay 

Measuring Your Universe: Alan Hirschfeld's Astronomy Activity Manual 

The Perfect Machine 

Book Review - Writing for Their Lives: America’s Pioneering Female Science Journalists

 

Writing for Their Lives: America's
Pioneering Female Science Journalists
by Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette
MIT Press, 2023.

Written from access to archives of memoranda and correspondences among the editors and journalists, this book is a case of special pleading. Every rejection is laid at the feet of the Science Service management, though the author also grants that the founders were egalitarian in their evaluation of writers and the works which they submitted for publication. In fact, Science Service stands out as evidence of a paradigm shift in western culture from tradition and privilege to merit and meritocracy. 

It is certainly true that even into the 21st century, men who hold power discriminate against women who do not. That is the definition of sexism. And it applies to racism, or any other “ism.” The problem is not prejudice but prejudice with power. At Science Service that prejudice never existed though it remained  very real (even rampant) in the wider world. 

Jane Stafford  was granted a special award for medical writing by the American Society for the Control of Cancer and correspondence across December 1937 and January 1938 reveals that she could not accept the award in person because women were not allowed to enter the Harvard Club. And the ASCC and Harvard were among many others that had no intention of changing their by-laws lest a roomful of men feel uncomfortable in the presence of a woman. (page vii-viii) 

“As novelist Josephine Tey’s fictional historian reminds us, ‘Truth isn’t in accounts but in account books.’ Hidden within the Science Service records at the Smithsonian Institution Archives were sufficient examples of ‘account books’ (budgets, financial reports, pay lists, rejection slips to stringers, carbon copies, memos, and handwritten notes in letter margins) to shed light on workplace interactions, the writing process, and reactions to success, rejection or criticism.” (WFTL, page xii)

It is easy for us to accept that such rooms should be more-or-less 50-50. I believe that because most women are smarter than most men, the populations of academic societies will be shifted toward the women, if not within this generation then by the end of this century. A century ago, that hypothesis would have been dismissed on metaphysical grounds: men are essentially different from women—different from each other in their Aristotelean essences. 

The question that Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette does not ask is why does not everyone else in the world see the same obvious truth that she does? In fact, at least one other person does: 

https://www.mpg.de/female-pioneers-of-science/caroline-herschel

'Caroline Herschel's legacy is undoubtedly lasting'

Astronomer Sherry Suyu from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics on comet-hunter Caroline Herschel, the first salaried female astronomer

[Q] Obviously, much has improved for women in science since the 18th Century. In your view and your experience, what do you regard as changes that have happened in terms of women in science?    

[A] The situation of course has improved in contrast to Caroline's time. In many areas, women and men now enjoy equal opportunities and there have been many positive changes. But there are still fewer women in STEM at higher levels – mainly I think because it is difficult to combine a professional career in science with having children. I think that employers should provide more support for women, so they can combine having a family with having a career. Scientists are evaluated by productivity. In that sense, when women start a family, their productivity is seen to decline as women who have families often take a break from their careers, hoping to return after a few years. But in reality, it's not that easy to continue with the same level of work productivity as before while rearing children. This means that in career terms, women still tend to be punished for having a family. Also, ironically, the time in women's lives when they want to have children and the time when they really want to work hard on their careers often coincides, when women are in their 30s. I think this should be reflected by family friendly initiatives in the workplace - women shouldn't have to choose between a family and a career.

https://www.mpg.de/frauen-in-der-forschung/caroline-herschel

https://www.mpg.de/female-pioneers-of-science/caroline-herschel

Das Gespräch führte Tanja Rahneberg Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

That program would allow women to work from home at the highest levels of management while men report to work to carry out the various tasks. Of course such generalizations must also acknowledge the Non-Binary Alphabet of Choices. Reconciling all of them equitably is a complex mathematical problem. However, if we only consider each person to be an individual, then the math is much easier. 

As for broad social change, during the late Middle Ages, English women who were shoemakers were called Shuster, bakers Baxter, brewers Brewster, and weavers Webster. It was a time of changes.

“The 1820s was the last decade in which no college for women existed. The first of its kind, Mount Holyoke, was founded not too far from Amherst in 1836. … Yet the very existence of Mount Holyoke (following a new array of academies providing high-school education for girls, and opening up posts for women teachers) must have shifted ideas for women’s futures.” (page 29) Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds by Lyndall Gordon, Viking, 2010.

Writers and their Beats Today

How much were the writers actually paid for their stories? How much did Science Service charge? We follow Hallie Hershberger in sales and advertising but never learn what the numbers were. There is very little mention of money, except as for example, Emma Reh in Mexico wrote to the home office for advances which were denied. Reh then sold her stories to other news outlets and even to other news reporters. LaFollette’s tone is that Emma Reh was not given everything that the author wants her to have had. I see Emma Reh as a very successful freelancer (“stringer” in journalism) who traveled to archaeological digs in Mexico and sold her reports. Ultimately, Emma Reh failed to deliver the book she promised. The economic problems at that time (the 1920s and 30s) were not hers alone. Failures happen and Reh accomplished much. 

“We were founded as an independent nonprofit in 1921 by newspaper magnate E.W. Scripps and zoologist W.E. Ritter, who wanted to improve the quality and accuracy of science journalism. We remain true to that mission today.” —  https://www.sciencenews.org/about-science-news (Accessed 6-June-2026.)

Science Service writer Gabriele Rabel reported from Germany from 1932 to 1938. LaFollette writes: “[Science Service editor, Frank] Thone expressed hope that ‘the financial sky will clear,’ but informed Rabel on March 6, 1933, that ‘in view of the monetary crisis which has suddenly developed in this country, it would be well if you did not send us any more manuscripts until further notice.” 

LaFollette seemed not to understand the Great Depression of the 1930s. The rolling bank failures began in Detroit on February 14, 1933. Michigan Governor William Comstock  declared a banking holiday. The proclamation had been signed at 1:00 AM, published, and delivered to bankers when they arrived for the start of the business day. Two weeks later, outgoing President  Herbert Hoover hesitated to declare a national bank holiday, so the newly-inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt did just that on March 6, 1933. The flow of money in the United States stopped. 

They resumed eventually with many banks closed permanently and others reorganized and the dollar redefined from 1/20 of an ounce of gold to 1/32. Dollars were 60% smaller and there were more of them to go around. When LaFollette tallies payments made from 1928 though 1954 for 1 or 2 cents per word or $3 to $6 per article (p. 105-106) or editors paid $2600, $3640, $3900, or topped at $10,000 for the publisher 1927-1928 (p. 186) when dollars were much larger, the reader would have been helped with some standards of value against a market basket or comparable wages for clericals and college graduates. 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

She’s Such a Geek!   

The Art of Finance 

The Madame Curie Complex 

The Science of Liberty 

InnoTech Austin 2026

I checked out a book of essays by Kurt Vonnegut from my local library. Speaking at college graduation ceremonies through the 1990s, Kurt Vonnegut said that you need about fifty people in your life, not “electronic ghosts” but real people. So, I had an additional reason to attend InnoTech Austin. I had not been to an InnoTech conference in too many years. (See “Previously” below.) Celebrating the start of its third decade, this year’s convention was for computer security professionals. I had a great time meeting people and their companies, and talking with them about their products and services. 

This year’s host was The HT Group, a recruiting,
staffing, and management consulting agency.
They had three tables. 

"In one focused day, Austin InnoTech creates an environment where education, innovation, peer-to-peer networking, and the latest technology and business solutions are all available specifically for IT & security professionals."

Entering the hall, the first people I met were Hannah Webster
and Will Arnett from Alias Digital Forensics.

Among the team sent by Genius Road of Dallas was
Associate Account Manager, Catherine Diaz.

To encourage circulation, there was a “Passport” game.
Completed itineraries were dropped into box from which
randomly selected winners were dawn.

Loren Woeber, VP at WiCyS: Women in Cyber Security
greeted many interested visitors.

Diane Kenyon and Jazmen Wright from 
Austin Women in Technology
 staffed a table at the Entrance. 

Red Hat was a major sponsor.
They handed out red leis that were popular. 

They say, "Apex sits at the center
of retail investing infrastructure,
supporting millions of accounts across hundreds of clients.
We see what investors buy, sell, and hold—in real time,
across four generational cohorts." Apex FinTech Solutions
cites $265 Billion in assets under custody,
over 40 million brokerage accounts plus another
119 million cost-based accounts. 

There was a lot of active listening.

Contrary to the assertion of Google's AI Overview, the 
conference was held at the PALMER EVENT CENTER at
Barton Springs Road and Riverside Drive.

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

InnoTech Austin 2015  

BSides Austin 2023 

Austin Astro Public Star Party

ArmadilloCon 47 Part 3 

(ISC)^2 Holiday Dinner 2018 

This Island Earth

Although some scholars find the roots of science fiction in ancient myths and fantastic poems such as A True Story by Lucian of Samosata, the fact is that science fiction depends on science which did not exist before the Enlightenment of the 18th century. The word “scientist” was invented by William Whewell in a moment of argument with Samuel Taylor Coleridge at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science on 24 June 1833. Coleridge insisted that these people did not deserve the title “natural philosophers” and Whewell replied with a parallel to art and artists: “We are scientists.” The first issue of Scientific American was published on 28 August 1845.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often cited but her own three versions tell only of Victor Frankenstein's explorations of medieval paradigms and the narrator is emphatic in not revealing his methods, lest they be duplicated with inevitably horrible consequences. Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg insisted in To Understand the World, that science depends on experiments which are purposefully unnatural arrangements to isolate the essential distinguishing actions of objects. Considering that thesis, we must grant that Victor Frankenstein pursued science, not mysticism. 

Jules Verne and H. G. Wells are commonly credited as the first narrators of adventures based on new scientific theories and their applications. Prior to them, John Leonard Riddell, chief melter at the New Orleans Mint, and a professor of chemistry at the New Orleans Medical College (which became Tulane University), published Orrin Lindsey's Plan of Aerial Navigation in 1847. Presaging the “golden age” of science fiction before the 1960s, the trip to the Moon is supported by laborious footnotes providing calculations, even for recycling breathable air by the same chemical methods used today. Riddell’s explanation of anti-gravity drive is necessarily sketchy though no more so than our faster-than-light warp drives. At a lecture at Michigan State University about 1976 or so, Gene Roddenberry said that when they need gravity on board a starship, they flip the gravity switch to On. 

In the book and movie, The Right Stuff, a news reporter first asks, “Do you know what makes these birds fly?” and an Air Force pilot starts to say, “Why the aerodynamics alone would take…” and he is cut off. “Funding,” is the reply. “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” Every pilot at Pancho’s cantina knew exactly what was said. Later, the line is repeated by an astronaut arguing with a NASA administrator: “… and to the American people, we’re Buck Rogers.” 

This Island Earth is a 1955 American science fiction film 

produced by William Alland, directed by Joseph M. Newman 

and Jack Arnold, and starring Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, and Rex Reason.

The 1952 novel by [Raymond F.] Jones was originally serialized 

in the science fiction magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories as three 

related novelettes: "The Alien Machine" (June 1949), 

"The Shroud of Secrecy" (December 1949), and "The Greater Conflict"

(February 1950). Jones had taken the novel title from a line
in Robert Graves' poem "Darien":

It is a poet's privilege and fate
To fall enamoured of the one Muse
Who variously haunts this island earth

-Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Island_Earth

This Island Earth (NASA)
one of hundreds of science and
engineering titles de-acquisitioned by
the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

"This Island Earth. Edited by Oran W. Nicks. NASA SP-250. Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Division, Office of Technology Utilization, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1970. x+182 pages. For sale by Superintendent of Documents, $6.00 (Library of Congress Catalog Card no. 73-608969).  Reviewed by Julian R. Goldsmith, University of Chicago, The Journal of Geology, Volume 80 Number 3, May 1972. Also reviewed in Science News, Vol.117, P. 348, 1980, among other citations.

Previously on Necessary Facts

From Texas to the Moon with John Leonard Riddell 

Fantastic Voyages: Teaching Science with Science Fiction 

Monsters from the Id 

Psychohistory from Asimov’s Foundation to Big Data