H A M I L T O N A M A T E U R A S T R O N O M E R S Volume 3 Issue 3 January 1996 Editorial making at HAJA (our junior group) or perhaps an observing workshop or two. hroughout this issue you will The best part of this "job" is that find pictures of all the I get to meet so many more of my fellow Hamilton Amateur Junior HAA'ers. I really enjoy hearing from all Astronomers (HAJA) logo of you at our meetings, gatherings or contest entries. On page 2 is the winning Chair's Report over the phone & internet. Don't be shy. entry by Aaron Simpson. If you have any questions, suggestions or appy New Year everyone and even complaints about the club, drop me Starting on page 5 is an article my very best wishes for a a line, give me a call or see me after a from the Murdoch Astronomical Society CLEAR 1996! meeting. I also want to hear about any (MAS) in Australia. A number of observing you've done, whether it's a astrophotos were e-mailed to Charles I can't recall a more miserable photometric study of unusual flare stars Baetsen along with the article and one of fall in all the years we've been or a visual observation of a particularly the images appears on page 6. I had to observing. Let's hope it gets clear soon beautiful grouping of the moon and stars. manipulate the image to get something and stays that way. Especially since that would survive being printed on my 1996 holds the promise of a few celestial The whole idea of an astronomy printer and subsequently be photocopied. goodies: two lunar eclipses; Saturn's club is to share ideas and experiences. This process does n't do justice to the rings edge-on; the Perseid meteor Let's do it! original image. If anyone with internet shower during new moon and Starfest; access would like to see the originals they and what seems to be an unending Ann Tekatch can be found on my web pages: parade of comets. http://www.io.org/~stewart 575-5433 and on the HAA web pages: a7503934@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca http://amateurastronomy.org In the meantime, there's plenty /index.html of activity around the HAA to keep you 19 Pheasant Place, busy. Those of you having withdrawal Hamilton, ON A number of our members now symptoms because of the lack of L9A 4Y4 have their own web pages and I would observing can check out the Cosmology like to publish a list of them in the next Discussion Group, Jim's ongoing ATM issue. So please send your addresses to sessions, the fun, games & telescope ______________________________ me before the January 31 deadline. Also, Grant Dixon will provide links to our member's pages from the HAA pages. If Inside This Issue anyone has found some good astronomy related pages they could also be published q EDITORIAL q POLE TO POLE and have links provided. Finally, I would like to offer my q CHAIR'S REPORT q ROMAN AROUND congratulations to Rob Roy for getting his name into Sky & Telescope ONCE q HAJA CONTEST q ANOTHER BRIGHT COMET! AGAIN. The January 1996 issue has a description of his technique for q GALILEO UPDATE q COSMOLOGY CORNER parfocalizing eyepieces in the "Telescope Making" department by Roger Sinott. q WHAT'S YOUR I.O. q GALILEO MISSION STATUS Stewart Attlesey stewart@io.org q POST 85 IO OCCULTATION q GALILEO PROBE q LUNAR OCCULTATION q DID YOU KNOW THAT Page 2 Event Horizon The purpose of this "dual-spin" system is to carry out observation of Jupiter's A Galileo extraordinary magnetic field, which require sweeping measurements, while Update providing a stable platform for cameras a n d o t h e r s e n s o r y d e v i c e s . don't know about any of you, Although we're not hearing but I've been rather much about Galileo now, it has already The winning logo by: disappointed with the press made some important discoveries. It has Aaron Simpson coverage of Galileo's arrival made numerous flybys of the Earth and at Jupiter on Dec. 7th. After many a Venus (mainly due to changes in it's tantalizing story in the years leading up flight schedule after the Challenger AJA has a Logo to this momentous occasion, there has disaster) and is the first spacecraft to been precious little information now that have made close flybys of two asteroids, The logo contest the spacecraft has actually arrived at its Gaspara and Ida. Among the discoveries was a success! All of the destination and discharged its probe into during these encounters was a small logos were terrific, which made it a the torrid Jovian atmosphere. "moon" (newly dubbed Dactyl) orbiting difficult task to choose one. We had a Ida; the first such object found in our vote at the December council meeting to But I suspect this dearth of news solar system. In addition, Galileo has pick the logo. It was a close vote, but we is due more to the recent shutdown of all given us valuable information about the chose the logo created by Aaron "nonessential" U.S. Government services Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact and new data Simpson. We were so proud of the than to a lack of interest by the media. on interplanetary dust, apparently fantastic logo entries that we had to show For instance, a press conference originating from Jupiter's ring system or them off. Have a look at them and I scheduled for December 19th to v o l c a n o e s o n I o . think you'll agree that we have some very announce the early Galileo probe results creative junior members. I would like to was canceled. The briefing will Its next major encounter is the thank all who entered for the time and apparently be rescheduled once NASA Ganeymede 1 closest approach in slightly effort put into the entries. They are employees are allowed to return to their less than six months. Let's hope we hear great! p o s t s . something about the probe drop and o r b i t e r b e f o r e t h e n . The December HAJA meeting A terrific source for anyone was a funfilled event. Not only did we interested in the progress of this space D e n i s e K a i s l e r reveal the new HAJA logo, but we also probe is NASA's Galileo Home Page kaislerd@impatiens.physics.mcmaster.ca had a great discussion about space flight, handed out Certificates of Astronomical (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/index.html), where one can get up-to-the-hour status Achievement to all the kids, and started reports. As of this writing, the spacecraft grinding the glass for the mirror of the itself is about 11 million km above the telescope. What a night! I hope that the colourful belts of Jupiter's atmosphere (to certificates will inspire the children to give some scale, that's 164 Jovian radii). contribute to the newsletter because we The spacecraft is on an elliptical orbit desperately want them to bring in that compromises between getting close something written, drawn, or whatever to the Jovian system and staying out of for their own newsletter. I also hear that the way of the dangerous radiation and Uncle Grant is looking for contributions magnetic fields of this giant planet. for the HAJA web site. So, parents encourage your children to bring Galileo possesses a total of 10 something for the newsletter and it will instruments on board the orbiter and 6 also go on the home page! more on the probe. The orbiter's complement of devices includes a The next meeting is on January magnetometer, a plasma-wave detector, a 16 and we'll be talking about "Comets: heavy ion counter (to look at the Visitors from the Outer Reaches of the potentially dangerous particles in the Solar System." See you there! orbiter's flight path), a UV spectrometer, and Extreme Ultraviolet detector. The Raechel Carson spacecraft is divided into two sections: 308-8041 one that is stationary with respect to the Earth and another that rotates at 3 RPM. Logo contest entry by: Andrew Cairns and Dustin Pickard Page 3 Event Horizon 3) T/F The average shooting-star and found both my tape recorder and my meteor is about one inch in diameter. shortwave radio. Then I frantically tore 4) T/F A famous Danish astronomer the house apart again and found fresh kept a pet dwarf, had a false nose, batteries for my tape recorder and my and equipped his observatory with a s h o r t w a v e r a d i o . prison. I feverishly printed up finder 5) What is an orbit? charts for SAO111235, took them, my 6) If you go to Australia, will you see excellent illuminated clipboard and my elcome to another of your the same stars as you do from even more excellent observing chair out New Earth Years. Hope all England? to the arctic circle (backyard). While I had a safe and happy was star hopping (someday I'll explain Christmas and New Year I like these hot drinks. We have none this alien term to you), my considerate holiday. I'm still here. I got an ice pack on Io. My favourite is tea with lemon. neighbours threw on their floodlights in my stocking. Hope it will come in See you next month. about 15' away from my vantage point. handy when I go home in the summer. Ah well, better go get an observing Here are the answers for last month: Io, Keeper of the Flame h o o d . . . Jupiter Co-ordinator 1) False. Relativity theory was I returned to my scope, put the developed by Albert Einstein. Jacob hood (well, actually it was a towel) over Epstein was a sculptor. my head and continued my star hopping. 2) False. Conrad was the third. He After 15 minutes of following the wrong was commander of Apollo 12 direction, I cleverly reversed the finder (November 1969). He had been chart so that it presented an ACTUAL preceded by Armstrong and Aldrin view and continued my star hop. in Apollo 11 (July 1969). 3) Because the Earth spins on its axis I nudged the scope higher and from west to east. suddenly the eyepiece was...lower. 4) True. Iceland, on the borders of the Thinking I had encountered one of the Arctic Circle, has a much longer seemingly innumerable space-time daylight period during northern warps experienced by the crews of the summer than Spain. (The Arctic various Enterprises, I said: "What the Circle grazes the northern part of Logo contest entry by: h e l l ? ! " a n d i n v e s t i g a t e d . Iceland, and passes through the Allanah Nagy island of Grimsay.) Do you remember the night my 5) True. The crater will be drawn out 8" reflector's optical tube came loose in into an ellipse because of the effects it's cradle? The tube slid right out of the of foreshortening. Even craters well box that supports it on the mount. Guess Post 85 Io away from the limb are what? Deja vu!! My dearly beloved (and foreshortened; thus Plato, the great soon to be departed) husband had dark -floored walled plain, is almost O c c u l t a t i o n smacked the 12.5" scope down on the perfectly circular, but from Earth living room floor before carrying it out looks elliptical. to the south pole (backyard). In the -17 6) True. M a i l degree temperature (that's on the Kelvin scale), we experienced some tube Well, I said look out for January. shrinkage. This shrinkage, combined Here it is. After you've shoveled your ubject: Your occultation 8-( with the earlier *thump*, dislodged my driveway, relax with a hot drink and optical tube! Every time I tried to lift the answer these teasers. D e a r R o b , 1) What is Black Drop, and when is it seen? Well, it was unexpectedly clear 2) Areagraphy is (a) the study of stony (albeit a bit ***nippy***), so I dragged meteorites, (b) a method of dating hubby off of the couch and got him to rocks by their radioactive content, drag my 12.5" scope out to the backyard. (c) the geography of Mars, (d) a (This "She Who Must Be Obeyed" thing star-catalogue compiled by the is working out well even if I say so Arabian astronomer Al-Sufi in the m y s e l f ! ) year 950, (e) Mesopotamian astrology. I frantically tore the house apart Logo contest entry by: Miranda Botts Page 4 Event Horizon scope up above the horizon (where it would be of most value), the @#$% I started the alignment ^&*! optical tube would slide out and procedure all over again, pausing to bury itself in a snowbank (igloo). adjust my hat to cover my frostbitten right ear. Same thing happened again- Determined NOT to be so different cord. "Better do a 1 star easily thwarted, I dashed (waddled) into alignment- running out of time." Finally the house to retrieve my trusty (now got to ask for SAO 111235. Scope that it's bolted to its cradle) 8" scope rudely responded with, "No matching o n l y t o d i s c o v e r t h a t t h e object." "What?" Maybe, through my aforementioned space-time warp had non-feeling gloves, I had pushed a wrong Logo contest entry by: NOT slowed time and it was now 7:50 button "No matching object", again. David Chin p.m. - the occultation was over. "Running out of time - I'd better find o Tau and star hop." I thought I could hear > s i g h < familiar voices in ghostly gales of laughter- must have been the wind. 1996 Lunar A n n T e . . . . . "She Who Must be Obeyed" "Remember!- finder scope is Occultations upside-down and backwards." "Where's ................................................. the #@%$^&* star chart I printed?" Back lighted clipboard too faint- dying Since the moon moves Subject: "Et tu, AnnTe?" (What do from the cold. Hold chart up in the air, eastward about one of its you mean- MY occultation 8-(?) in the wind, with red flashlight behind. diameters every hour, To the finder- tweak scope back and occultations of stars are D e a r A n n , forth- "There's o Tau, I think." Moved frequent. Occultations can last as long as scope to center where target 'should be'. an hour, but less if they are not central. You think that YOU had "My brain must be freezing, too." "I p r o b l e m s ? could have given the scope coordinates During the first half of the lunar and told it where to go." (Isn't THAT an cycle, when the moon is waxing, stars Leaving myself lots of time, I understatement?) "Too late, now- I'll instantly and dramatically disappear started to load up the car at 18:50. I set m i s s i t . " behind the dark limb and reappear from up over on my country neighbours' behind the bright limb. The opposite is driveway, totally exposed to a howling To the main eyepiece- "Should true during the second half when the wind at 461 on the Rankin scale. be here, somewhere.- Oh, I'll just stare at m o o n i s w a n i n g . Seems plenty "hot" unless you know them all." One hand on the stop watch, what you're doing and realize that this is the other trying to protect my eye from Particularly spectacular are o n l y 2 5 6 K e l v i n s ! frosting over. Wait... An eternity later- grazing occultations which occur right at "I'll just take a quick peek at my watch to the north and south limb of the moon. Unlike SOME city slickers, see how much time I have left." It's now Observers within a few miles of the edge observing in their backyards, protected five minutes AFTER the event! "What of the limit of visibility and on the by nearby houses, I was exposed to a happened?" "Humbug! Phooey! correct side of it can see the star winking wind chill that probably brought the Enough of this nonsense! I'm going off and on as it passes mountains and apparent temperature down to 240K. h o m e ! " valleys near the Moon's poles. Considering the conditions and the fact that my beloved daughter had borrowed Mental note for next star hop- For the remainder of this year, my thin, feel-through astrogloves, I put (ghostly laughter, again) "Only the finder the Hamilton area will be witness to the the scope, battery, numerous cords, i s u p s i d e d o w n ! " total occultation of several bright stars heaters and dew (ha! ha! at 240K!) cap (