Aylesbury Astronomical Society
Registered Charity Number 276313
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AYLESBURY ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
For Heaven’s Sake!
OCT 2011
Aylesbury Astronomical Society Newsletter Issue No. 522
Welcome to the official newsletter of the Aylesbury Astronomical Society. If some of the following is not clear or not to your liking, please contact a member of the committee
See also www.aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk/ if you have access to the web
OBSERVING:
Observing is from 8pm on Friday 7th Oct. 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 (helpers invited!),
30th September: Edgcott & Winslow Young Farmers
14th Oct Single file
28th Oct Pony Club
1st Nov, 1 st Thames cubs
3rd Nov Grange School
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
All at 7.30 pm at the Scout Hut, Oakfield Road, Aylesbury unless otherwise stated
Monday 3rd October: Mike Leggat (Historian RAS) on Exploration of Saturn
Monday 7th November: Mike Beales – Update on his current observing
Monday 5th December: Nigel Mason (OU) on Mars
Monday 9th January: TBC
Monday 6th Feb Lucy Rogers
Monday 5th March Steve Edwards
Saturday 22nd October the Newbury Astronomical Society are having a special open meeting as part of their 30 year anniversary celebration at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory with a whole day programme including speakers from Faulkes telescope project, Intech planetarium, Dark sky discovery, Zooniverse project and Astronomy now. Entrance is free must but you must register in advance to access the site
Please see www.newburyas.org.uk/commastro for details and contact Chris Hooker on commastro@newburyas.org.uk if you have any queries
WHAT’S UP? October Night Sky
The following shows the night sky at 22:00 in the middle of the month
Moon: 4th – First quarter; 12th – Full; 20th – Last quarter; 26th – New
The Moon will be close to: Jupiter on 13th; Pleiades & Hyades on 16th; Mars on 22nd
Mercury will be visible very low down in the south west at sunset by the end of the month. It will require binoculars or a small telescope to see in the bright twilight
Venus stays very close to the horizon very bright at magnitude -3.9, so should be quite easy to find in the darkening sky
Please take care not to observe before the sun has set!
Mars is visible in the eastern morning sky in Cancer starts the month just entering the M44 Beehive Cluster which is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System, and it contains a larger star population than many other nearby clusters. M44 looks like a nebulous object to the naked eye; and it has been known since ancient times. Ptolemy called it "the nebulous mass in the breast of Cancer," It was among the first objects that Galileo studied with his telescope
Jupiter Indian summer or not (which incidentally is a North American term) clear skies in October can make viewing Jupiter very rewarding. Jupiter reaches opposition (same side of the sun as the Earth) on the 29th and is extremely bright at almost - 3 magnitude between Aries and Cetus
Saturn is in conjunction (other side of the Sun to the Earth) on the 13th so will not be seen
Uranus will be visible most of the night in Pisces at magnitude 5.7 requiring binoculars or a small telescope to view it
Neptune is visible in the southern part of Aquarius. At magnitude 7.8 it will require binoculars or a small telescope to view it
Pluto is very low in the southern sky in Sagittarius and at magnitude 14 it will be very difficult to find in the Milky Way
If it remains clear on 8th October, the Decronid meteor shower should be at its peak around 9 pm. Use the pointer stars of Ursa Major to sight Polaris and then pan a little west to Draco the dragon which give the Draconids their name. Alternatively if you know Hercules, pan east to Draco. Just south of Polaris is the W of Cassiopeia and the square of Pegasus. Between these two lies our nearest galaxy Andromeda
You can partake in a special BAA survey counting meteor observations on 7, 8 or 9th Oct, particularly on the 8th when meteors should at their peak. See http://britastro.org/baa/ for details
Dark Snaps
For some brilliant pictures of the night sky, go to http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/astronomy-photographer-year-2011
Especially the Aurora Borealis – my favourite shown below:
Divine Presence
Ole C Salomonsen, Norway
Ole’s equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR
camera with a Nikon 14-24mm lens
Ole Romer and Jupiter – Well I never knew that!
17th century Danish astronomer Ole Romer measured the speed of light using the Jovian system as a cosmic clock; Romer noticed at the times between eclipses of Jupiter’s moon Io were shorter when the Earth approached Jupiter and longer as the Earth moved away. Although the result was about three-quarters of the true value, Romer recognised that Light has a finite speed and was not instantaneous
Not content with measuring light speed, Romer later went on to be assistant Chief of the Copenhagen Police, a position he kept until his death in 1710. As one of his first acts, he fired the entire force, being convinced that the morale was alarmingly low. He was the inventor of the first street lights (oil lamps) in Copenhagen, and worked hard to try to control the beggars, poor people, unemployed, and prostitutes of Copenhagen
In Copenhagen, Rømer made rules for building new houses, got the city's water supply and sewers back in order, ensured that the city's fire department got new and better equipment, and was the moving force behind the planning and making of new pavement in the streets and on the city squares
Newsletter and website
Please forward any newsletter contributions to the Editor (see link at end). An email prompt like “Next month is the anniversary of the first aardvark in space” helps make newsletters more topical.
Newsletters will be forwarded by email to many members saving postage, printing and, you can have this newsletter sooner than by post. Please forward your email address to the Editor (details at end) if not an electronic recipient
Some members still prefer a hard copy which will be available at the monthly meeting or by post. Despite many references to web sites, not everyone has access to a computer which why I would appreciate a review on any book vaguely connected with astronomy you’ve read, even if not very recently
Visit the AAS web site at www.aylesbury-astronomy.org.uk and if you have any comments or suggestions, contact the committee or email the Webmaster
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
