FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER 2005
INDEX: MEETINGS, OTHER NEWS, CONTACTS
JANUARY
COMMITTEE MEETING
The Wadhurst Astronomical Society's new committee had their first meeting
in Frant on Monday 10th January 2005.
The members attending were:
Tim
Bance
Chairman
Ian
Reeves
Secretary
Treasurer
Jason Gardner
Michael
Harte
Publicity and Web-site
Geoff
Rathbone
Newsletter Editor
Joan
Grace
Mike
Wyles
With
apologies from Ian King and John Vale-Taylor.
Tim took the Chair and then Ian Reeves, the retiring Treasurer stated the
accounts were in a healthy state as he handed over to Jason Gardner our new
Treasurer.
The shape of the Society was discussed and It was felt that more accent
should be devoted to practical observing and observing evenings should be
considered.
The Chairman made an interesting suggestion that we might approach either
Greenwich or Herstmonceux Observatories to try and organise a Society evening. Members would be expected to make their own travel
arrangements if a visit could be arranged.
Monthly sky notes had been enjoyed by members in the past and should be
reintroduced.
The next Committee meeting is to take place at the Abergavenny Arms,
Frant, on Monday 11th April 2005 at 8.00 pm.
JANUARY
MEETING
The
Sun
Talk
given by Peter Gill on Wednesday 19th January 2005
Peter
Gill is a member of the Astronomical Society in Eastbourne where he lives, and
we are grateful to Ian Reeves who brought him to the meeting and to Larry Mowat
who kindly took him back. Peter
doesn't drive and he wanted to show two 16 mm film clips and couldn't have
brought his projector on the train.
Peter
began by bringing apologies from Norman Walker, an honorary member of Eastbourne
Astronomical Society, who should have been speaking to us at the December
meeting, but missed the date owing to a wall chart malfunction...
Several
slides introduced us to the Sun beginning with the core composed of Hydrogen and
helium at enormous pressure. The
core's mass is 60% of the Sun's total mass with a temperature of 15 million
degrees Kelvin. The nuclear
reaction inside the Sun takes place outside the core in an area called the
Radiative zone. The high-energy
radiation then gradually diffuses outwards to an area called the Convection Zone
just beneath the surface. A photon
takes approximately 2 million years on average after being created in the
Radiative Zone to find its way to the surface before being radiated out into
space.
We
were shown a slide of the Sun indicating that it is like a huge gong, with the
surface oscillating with a period of five minutes with many harmonics.
Observing these oscillations have helped solar astronomers to predict the
mechanics of the Sun's interior.
Peter
then came to Sun's surface with its sunspots.
He said that writings from China and Korea dating back thousands of years
showed that observers had been aware of large sunspots just by eye, although
they firmly believed that these spots were objects passing in front of the Sun.
It was stressed at this point very strongly that one should never look at the
sun without proper protection such as Mylar filter, a Herschel wedge or by
viewing the projected image on a suitable screen.
We
were shown a very early photograph of a sunspot taken in 1870 by L. M.
Ruggerford, which filled the screen and was so clear we could see remarkable
detail both at the edge of a large spot and the surrounding area.
On
the 20th of January 1926 a photograph was taken of a huge bipolar group of
sunspots, and it was recorded that 3 days later an enormous solar flare was
observed. Again in 1951 a detailed
photograph of a sunspot taken at Mount Wilson and covering an area of 4,865
square kilometres showed how gas flows out and then is convected back in again
directed by very strong magnetic fields.
The
surface of the sun, the photosphere, is made up of granules that exist for only
about 8 minutes each. These are
about 1,000 km across, and are separated by a dark area where cooler material is
falling back into the surface of the sun.
Peter
explained that early solar astronomers determined by sunspot observations that
the Sun rotates fastest at the equator and slower the higher the latitude.
There
is an eleven-year cycle of sunspot activity.
We were shown the butterfly diagram of sunspot appearance where the first
spots after a quiet period occur in the upper latitudes in both hemispheres.
As the cycle progresses, they appear in latitudes closer to the equator. Despite the eleven-year cycle, there was a period between
1650 and 1700 called the Maunder Minimum when there were virtually no sunspots.
At this time it was also noted that the earth as a whole cooled.
Peter
Gill then told us about the first discovery of prominences during solar
eclipses, although at the time astronomers didn't know whether they were on the
moon or actually on the Sun. Solar
astronomers later used an occulting disk to blank out the photosphere and were
then able to observe the prominences at the edge of the disk, thus confirming
that they were part of the Sun. Peter
then showed several slides of the Sun's surface taken in hydrogen-alpha light
and calcium light and indicated the existence of flares adjacent to sunspots
throwing off material into space.
We
then came to some quite remarkable 16 mm film made in 1940s with an excellent
sound track shown on Peter's projector with prominences speeded up 720 times to
show their movement. These reached
30,000 miles in height and travelled at 20 miles per second. Now it was possible to see how the prominences actually
formed from a condensation area above sunspots.
This area, sometimes difficult to see, suddenly develops into an arch
beneath it from where material falls into the sunspots and not as it often
appears, as though they start from the spots.
Other
flares ejected material into space, falling back again unless the material
reached escape velocity and was expelled out into space.
A
second film made in early 1960s showed more of the photosphere and some amazing
pictures of eruptions in the area of a sunspot with a resulting huge ripple
flowing outwards across the surface of the sun rather like a stone thrown into a
pond.
Finally Peter projected some slides of his early drawings of sunspots
showing great detail, together with handwritten observation data.
He had devised a projection grid onto which he could track sunspots
projected through his telescope. From
this he had been able to see the variable rotation of the Sun's latitudes.
It was an excellent talk and we felt privileged to have seen the rare 16
mm films.
NEXT
MEETINGS
The next meeting of the Society is on Wednesday 16th of February 2005
beginning at 7.30 pm and is called "Telescope Viewing from Uplands"
and starting from the Drama Studio.
It is an open evening when observing techniques and problems can be discussed.
It is hope to be a practical evening with the chance to observe from
the grounds of the college providing the night sky is clear.
Members are invited to bring along their telescopes and other
astronomical equipment together with any photographs they think others would
find interesting.
Early
information of the meetings in March and April:
Wednesday 16th March the speaker will be Greg Smye-Rumsby, whose talk is
called "The Craig Telescope at Wandsworth".
Wednesday 20th April the talk given by John Murrel is called
"Virtual Observatories - Fireside Astronomy".
SUBSCRIPTION
RENEWAL REMINDER
Member's
subscriptions for the current season were due from the beginning of November
2004.
Subs for the current session 2004/2005 are now due:
Single membership £15
Joint membership
£20
Our new Treasurer would be delighted to receive a cheque made payable to W.A.S. and addressed to him, Jason Gardner at: 67 Woodside Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN14 8PY, or cheque/cash at the next meeting.
OTHER NOTES
February
Night Sky
We
can still enjoy Winter's more brilliant constellations. Orion still dominates the south-western sky with its bright
Belt and hanging Sword. The Sword
and Belt are surrounded by three brilliant stars, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and
Rigel. Draw a line south-eastward
through the three stars of the Belt to see Sirius, the brightest star. Sirius is known as the Dog Star because it lies in the
constellation of Canis Major, the larger of Orion's two dogs.
Even
in light polluted skies, one can see the almost equilateral Winter Triangle
formed by Sirius, Betelgeuse and Procyon, which is in Canis Minor.
Two
beautiful star clusters can be found in Gemini, near its border with Taurus, and
both with the background of the Milky Way.
The pair make a remarkable contrast.
M35 is filled with blue-white stars that flash like diamonds.
The other star cluster, NGC 2158, is much fainter and with yellow and red
stars. One explanation for the
difference is that the latter cluster is six times further away.
Of
local events, Comet Machholz may well be visible to the naked eye.
It is swiftly moving north through Cassiopeia into Cepheus.
The moonless beginning of the month offers the best time to see it.
I have seen it through binoculars and then once having determined where
it is can just make it out with the naked eye.
Saturn
is visible all night in Gemini. We
are learning more about this huge planet and its moons from the Cassini-Huygens
mission, which is returning splendid photographs. Five of its moons should be visible around it; while Titan,
its biggest, is further away but should be identifiable. Saturn's rings are as wide open as we will ever see them.
Jupiter rises before midnight in Virgo.
Three of its four giant moons are close to it, while the fourth, Io, is
lost in the vastness of Jupiter. The
other planets are not easily visible.
Adrian
Berry writes in the Telegraph about the tortured galaxy Markarian 766, some 170
million light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenice.
Observed
by Europe's XMM Newton X-ray satellite, a new illustration of how matter behaves
in the vicinity of giant black holes with a clarity never revealed before.
Using
the same technique as the radar guns used by the police to trap speeding
motorists, the satellites detectors calculated how fast matter surrounding the
black hole was travelling. It was
racing round the hole at about 20,000 miles per second.
Since
nearly all galaxies in the universe have black holes in the centres, we can
deduce from this observation that they are surrounded by furiously spinning,
nearly circular bands of matter. Seemingly
empty Coma Berenice swarms with galaxies. The
brightest is the Black Eye Galaxy (M64), 12 million light-years away, which in
appearance more resembles an open, hungry mouth.
Another,
one of the most famous galaxies in the sky is NGC 4565, a classic "edge
on" spiral galaxy.
Welcome
to a new member
We would like to welcome a new member to the Society.
He is Colin Hobday who lives in Ticehurst and we hope he finds plenty of
interest within the society.
Murray
Barber
Society member and former Chairman, Murray Barber has now moved to
Kimworthy in Devon where he and Valerie, his wife are setting out on a new
adventure by offering astronomically related holidays in a part of the country
with the darkest skies they could find after a good deal of research.
They have taken over a site which already has two chalets, and Murray
with his colleague Tony Gibbons are in the process of building and equiping the
first of their proposed on-site observatories.
They have a new web site which can be found at:
For the time being, Valerie is staying behind at Sevenoaks so that Helen,
their daughter can complete her A-levels, and hopes to attend the Society
meetings in the meantime.
Chairman
Tim Bance
01732 832745
Secretary
Ian Reeves
01892 784255
Treasurer
Jason Gardner
01892 528799
Publicity
&
Web site
Michael Harte
01892 783292
Editor
Geoff Rathbone
01959 524727