Aylesbury Astronomical Society

Registered Charity Number 276313


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Aylesbury Astronomical Society

AYLESBURY ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

For Heaven’s Sake! Aylesbury Astronomical Society Newsletter

DEC 11

Issue No. 524


Welcome to the official newsletter of the Aylesbury Astronomical Society. If some of the following is not clear, please contact the editor or member of the committee


See also www.aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk/ if you have access to the web




STOP PRESS!

There is no meeting on 2nd January 2012 as you will still be tired from all that first-footing etc. Instead the meeting is on 9th January at the Scout Hut


50th Anniversary of the AAS

2012 is the 50th anniversary of the AAS. If you have any past information about the society – anything at all, please contact Ian Macdonald at meetings or by email sandymacdee@btinternet.com. Ian is putting together a history for our 50th year. For example, if you were around when the dome blew off the observatory, a photo would be great


OBSERVING

Observing is from 8pm on Fridays 2nd & 16th Dec. (Dates selected to miss full moons.) In case of doubtful weather, please check with a committee member before attending


The Winchendon Observatory is available at any time to key holders. Keys are available from Steve Edwards, 01296 427098 or steven.l.edwards@ntlworld.com


We ask that you attend with at least one other person in case of mishap at the site and check clashes with visiting groups although helpers are welcome. Please record your visit in the log book provided


Please do not turn on the electricity in the observatory dome building where there is some problem with damp. The meeting hut and Meade telescope shed are all okay.


FORTHCOMING EVENTS

All at 7.30 pm at the Scout Hut, Oakfield Road, Aylesbury unless otherwise stated,


WHAT’S UP? December Night Sky

General view: Facing south, Ursa Minor with Polaris is directly over the back of your head. In line between Polaris and Orion lies Auriga, dominated by the bright yellow star Capella. Auriga means 'charioteer' and its stars form a shape that has been associated with the pointed helmet of a charioteer which is almost sitting on Taurus the bull. To the east (left) is the constellation of Gemini with the twins Castor and Pollux. In the middle should be Perseus with the triple star system of Algol. Continuing to the right, you will find the square of Pegasus with V-shape of Pisces below


The following shows the night sky at 22:00 on 15th


Orion will be due south around midnight. Above chart shows the position at 10pm in the middle of the month. Orion, easy to recognise, is useful to navigate the sky. The three stars of the belt point left to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky and a line from Rigel (bottom right) through Betelgeuse (top left) point to Castor and Pollux in Gemini


The Moon will be close to: 6th – Jupiter; 8th – Pleiades; 17th – Mars; 20th – Saturn; 22nd & 23rd – Mercury; 27th Venus


First Qtr. – 2nd – First quarter; 10th –Full; 18th – Last quarter; 24th New so there will be no moonlight reflecting off Santa’s sleigh


Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation of 22 degrees on the 12th low down in the south eastern twilight before sunrise. You should be able to follow it a week either side of this date but please and I know that this sounds like “Heath & Safety” but do not look for mercury after the sun has risen for any other planet unless the sun is down


Venus is very prominent in the evening sky after sunset and now moving away from the Sun the planet is increasing in height and easier to observe. At magnitude -3.8 it will be unmistakable in the western sky in the twilight


Mars will be visible from late evening just below Leo and viewing will improve over the next few months


Jupiter is now past its best, but is still big and bright in the evening sky. It reaches its highest point around 9pm at the beginning of Dec and is highest around 7pm at the end of Dec. Jupiter is now slowly shrinking and  fading as it moves away from the Earth. Galilean moons can be observed as bright spec with a modest telescope but larger scope will be needed to observe cloud details and the Red Spot at certain times


Saturn will be quite bright at Magnitude +1.3 near the star Spica, bright star in the bottom left of Virgo. It will be slowly losing altitude over the next few years so make the most of any observing opportunities you can. The rings are now wide open so make for great viewing through a small telescope


Uranus & Neptune are too low down to observe easily


Geminid meteor shower rates are predicted to be 50-100 per hour and appear to radiate from the Gemini constellation hence the shower's name. However, they can appear almost anywhere in the night sky, and often appear yellowish in hue. The meteors travel at medium speed in relation to other showers, at about 22 miles per second, making them fairly easy to spot. The Geminids are now considered by many to be the most consistent and active annual shower with the maximum occurring on 14th, viewing will not be helped by a bright waxing gibbous Moon


The Sun has a new (solar) cycle for Christmas and pedalling well with a recent flurry of sunspot activity where some nice large spots groups now appearing regularly. There have also been some large prominences visible from time to time and some quite active flare regions so could be worth look through our solar scope, Contact Ralph Campbell or Steve Edwards to borrow this


Troubled Mars moon probe
The $163 million Phobos-Grunt probe launched 8th Nov on a mission to grab samples of the Martian moon Phobos and return them to Earth in 2014 ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian). The spacecraft reached Earth orbit as planned, but got stranded when its thrusters didn't fire to send it towards the Red Planet. Russia has been trying to establish contact with Phobos-Grunt for the last three weeks in an attempt to salvage the probe's mission. The European Space Agency announced last week that they had managed to pick up signals from the beleaguered spacecraft at its ground station in Perth, Australia. Since then, however, repeated efforts to hail Phobos-Grunt — and get it to fire its thrusters — have failed, including another attempt yesterday. Even if Russian officials manage to regain control of the probe, it may be too little, too late. The window to send Phobos-Grunt on to Mars, which is based on a favorable alignment between the Red Planet and Earth, may already have closed


Coming back to Earth?
If the 14-tonne probe remains incommunicado, it's doomed to a fiery death. Phobos-Grunt's orbit will decay, coming crashing back into Earth's atmosphere. Experts can’t be sure when exactly that might be, but predictions point to mid-January. The prospect of an uncontrolled Phobos-Grunt re-entry makes some observers nervous because the spacecraft is carrying about 8 tonnes of toxic hydrazine fuel. However, Russian officials have said that this fuel shouldn't make it to Earth's surface. Phobos-Grunt is also carrying a small satellite called Yinghuo 1, China's first attempt at a Mars orbiter, and the US-based Planetary Society has an experiment onboard Phobos-Grunt that aims to test how journeys through deep space affect tiny organisms.

Phobos-Grunt is the 19th spacecraft Russia has launched toward Mars since 1960. None has achieved full mission success. Curious


NASA’s MSL Mars Mission

Meanwhile NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory has begun its mission to the Red Planet Saturday, with a launch aboard a lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), 850 kg rover (curiosity) which was launched towards Mars as part of a 3.4 tonne spacecraft, including a protective shell, a heat shield and landing system, and a cruise stage to control its trajectory whilst en route to Mars



Curiosity is about the size of a small car, and carries eleven instrument packages, including cameras, spectrometers, radiation, atmospheric and environmental sensors. You can see Curiosity here on the right with his wife and young children


The main instrument suite aboard MSL is the 38-kg Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) package. Using mass spectrometry and gas chromatography, SAM will measure the abundances of carbon-based compounds in samples of Martian soil, whilst a laser spectrometer will be used to determine how much hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen are present in the atmosphere.


CONTACTS www.aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk

Chairman: Ralph Campbell 81 Narbeth Drive, AYLESBURY, HP20 1NY 01296 421328 Chairman@aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk

Secretary: Sue Macdonald 107 Willis Road, Haddenham, AYLESBURY, HP17 8HG 01844 299031 Secretary@aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk

Editor: Simon Leach 28 Vicarage Road, Winslow, Bucks, MK18 3BE 01296 713061 Editor@aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk



December 2011