NEXT MEETING
THURSDAY, 16th February 2017
THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF HARINGEY
VOLUME 45 : ISSUE 4 : February 2017
www.ashastro.co.uk
SOCIETY NEWS
MEETING VENUE
Music Block, Ashmole School, Southgate, London N14 5RJ.
2B
3B
The day for meetings is usually the third Thursday of each month. The exceptions are
August, when we do not hold a meeting, and this now currently applies to the July and
December meetings, though that may alter in the future.
However, in case of changes it is always advisable to double-check the dates below.
0B
Doors open - 7.30pm : Main speaker - 8.00pm : Finish - 10.00pm sharp!
For more on this, and general meeting information, also check the website page:
www.ashastro.co.uk. Last minute changes will be on the Facebook page
OBSERVING
EVENINGS
Regarding any changes to Observing Evening meetings, this is a continuing message to let
Observing Officers Jim Webb, Alister Innes or Kyri Voskou know your mobile phone
number. And, if not already on the list, your email address - emailed to
[email protected] - reaches all three. The Facebook page will also be used.
th
2017
February 16 : Jim Webb : Cassini : Grand Finale
March 16th : Mat Irvine : “L.A. Confidential”
April 20th : Michael Franks : “News From The Cape”
May 18th: TBA
June 15th: TBA
July & August : no meetings these months
September 21st: TBA
October 5th : AGM & Space Week - BUT this will be rather close to the September date,
as it's the latest it can possibly be in that month. Consequently the September meeting
may move to the week before or become an Observing Evening
November 16th. TBA
December : no meeting this month
REPEAT MESSAGE FROM THE TREASURER
Sorry, those who haven’t renewed their membership will not have received this issue of 2002.
(Although, on that logic, they will not see this!) But if you do read this, and want to renew, we would
be very pleased to have you back.
Many thanks, Kyri Voskou – Treasurer ASH
COVER
After almost 20 years in space, the Cassini mission will end on September 15, 2017 at 5:07 a.m. PDT
(8:07 a.m. EDT). Here's how it will happen. In late 2016, the Cassini spacecraft began a completely
new type of mission at Saturn. During its final months, the intrepid spacecraft's orbit will carry it high
above the planet's north pole and then send it plunging between the planet and the innermost edge of
its dazzling rings. Jim Webb will be charting Cassini’s overall mission and its final months at the next
meeting.
Photo : NASA
2
SOCIETY NEWS
For up-to-date information,
we are using that ‘necessary evil’ - Facebook.
Go to : www.facebook.com/groups/ASHastro/
However although originally you could view ‘Public’
Facebook pages (which ASHastro is), and read posts,
without being a member, it now seems have to be a member of FB to even read them. So,
sorry, you’ll have to join - BUT this does not mean you need to give away information you
don’t want to give.
Although Facebook doesn’t go out of its way to tell you, any individual’s home page can be
blank (as your Editor’s is) it does not have to have any information.
Even your birth date need not be correct.
However, once a member, if you want to ‘interact’ - ie post messages – on the ASH Group
you will need to ask to join, and you will get ‘signed up’ by your Chairman or Editor.
The more the merrier!
MEETING ROOM
We currently meet on the first floor of the Main
Music Block at the School.
This is the two-storey building, (left) with the
entrance marked with the arrow. We hope the
first floor will be suitable for all, as there isn’t a
convenient lift. If anyone feels they will have
difficulty, please let the Chairman know.
Contact details on the back page.
For historical reference the X in the photo on left was our original meeting room, the
original Music Studio. This is now demolished, and the site has been redeveloped with a
new structure.
February 16
th
MEETING PREVIEW
: Jim Webb : “Cassini – Grand Finale”
The highly
successful Saturn
probe, Cassini is
reaching the end of
its life.
It will end on 15th
September 2107
when the probe will
be angled to plunge
into the Saturn
atmosphere and be
destroyed. This will
protect the satellites
- which may harbour life - should the probe impacted any of them.
This will bring to the end of a 20 year life of what has to be one of our
most successful planetary probes ever. Jim will be looking at these
final months, and an overview of what we have learnt.
Mat Irvine
3
MEETING REVIEW
th
January 19
: Dale Baker : “Sign Here Please”
As a Society of eclectic tastes we
often enjoy presentations not only
about astronomy, but covering
technology, science fiction and a
lot more besides.
And so it proved at the January
meeting where our speaker, Dale
Baker, gave a very entertaining
tour through some of the science
fiction autographs he has
accumulated along with the
notable films and programmes
they relate to.
We were also treated to some great
stories he’s collected on the way
including a recount of Dale’s meetings
with Robert Englund (Freddie from
Nightmare on Elm Street) and Adam
West (TV’s Batman, though now of
course currently starring as ‘Mayor
Adam West’ in Family Guy, for those of
us in the know!)
One particularly good tale was that of
Dale’s encounter with Sara Karloff,
daughter of the legendary actor Boris
Karloff. Boris was raised in Enfield as plain old William Henry Pratt and made his
acting debut at St. Mary Magdalene’s Church Hall where he portrayed the
Demon King in a Christmas production of Cinderella.
That was in either December 1896 or 1897 - he wasn’t yet ten years old and
later said, “It launched me on a long and happy life of being a monster”.
Dale met Sara when she
visited St. Mary Magdalene’s
in 2012 and the actual stage
where Boris first performed,
was still there.
The chancel paintings had just
been restored too – paintings
which Boris himself would
have seen being first painted
in 1897 when he was a
regular worshipper at the
church!
Kyri Voskou
4
SPACE NEWS -
compiled by Kyri Voskou
Two New Lunar Theories
Theories of how and when the Moon formed have
been changing for a while now, and thanks to
improvements in analytical techniques these
theories are evolving faster than ever.
Fragments of zircon collected by Apollo 14 over
45 years ago, and no bigger than a grain of salt,
were uranium-lead dated and indicate that our
satellite formed within 60 million years of the
birth of our Solar System – up to 140 million years earlier than existing models
suggest. That would make the Moon just over four and a half billion years old.
Like carbon-dating, uranium-lead dating is a radiometric test which can be used to date
an object. Uranium and lead decay at different rates so by analysing the proportion of
these two elements in a piece of zircon, scientists can date the sample to within 1%
accuracy.
Another study has suggested that might the Moon not have resulted from a planetary
collision but might instead have grown through the natural coagulation of many smaller
moons. Scientists at Technion in Israel believe that large asteroid impacts would have
resulted in ejecta from Earth spinning off into space. Some would have fallen back
onto the planet and some would have formed ‘moonlets’ in orbit. These moonlets
would then have gradually merged together to form the Moon.
One of the main problems with the impact theory of the Moon’s creation is that lunar
rock is virtually identical to what we find on Earth – there is no sign of the other body
which would have had to crash into our planet. This new theory sidesteps that problem
nicely.
Climate Fight Could Mar Observing
The latest plans to fight global warming could well reduce the quality of observations
achievable from ground-based telescopes.
Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) is touted as a possible saviour of the planet and
involves spraying tiny particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight. This is intended
to directly counteract the heat-trapping of carbon dioxide – the main cause of global
warming.
The reduction of viewing quality would be a
double whammy – firstly, the particles would
not only reflect sunlight back into space, they
would also reflect starlight back into space
causing a reduction of up to two in magnitude
of an object being observed. Secondly, the
seeded particles would reflect light pollution
back downwards, increasing the brightness of
urban night skies by a quarter.
Climate change has significantly affected
polar sea-ice and caused a change in the
migratory patterns of birds and the reduction of habitats for many creatures. Animals
are moving to new areas because their own habitat is warming. One recent example is
5
that of common leopards in China migrating upslope and interacting for the first time
with snow leopards. Plant life is also feeling the effects, particularly after the last three
years which have been Earth’s warmest since records began.
These effects could be limited and, in due course, reversed by the use of SAI.
Balloons and aeroplanes would be used to seed the atmosphere with particles –
probably sulphates. A number of simulations are being carried out to see whether the
plan could work and if there might be unintended side-effects.
The reduction in the quality of astronomical observing might be something scientists
are happy to live with while the program is in operation. That could take several
decades but the study author, Charles Zender from the University of California, believes
that it would be an acceptable trade-off if the plan works. Although observations using
optical instruments would suffer, infrared instruments which operate at longer
wavelengths would be unaffected.
NASA Webcasts Gene Cernan’s Funeral
Eugene Cernan, the most recent person to
walk on the Moon, was buried on January
24th with NASA providing live coverage of
the funeral service held at St. Martin's
Episcopal Church in Houston.
Of the twelve men who have walked on the
Moon, six remain alive - all of whom are in
their eighties.
Cernan, who died on January the 16th aged
82, first travelled into space in 1966
aboard Gemini 9A and on that mission took a spacewalk. He orbited the Moon three
years later in Apollo 10 and finally made it onto the lunar surface in December 1972 as
Commander of Apollo 17 – the last Apollo Moon landing. Although he was the first of
the crew to step onto the Moon’s surface he was also the last to climb back onto the
Lunar Module and remains the last human to have walked on the Moon.
New ‘Blue Marble’ Is Even Better Than The Old One
The iconic ‘blue marble’ photo of Earth from space is back thanks to the Advanced
Baseline Imager on board NOAA’s brand new weather satellite.
Four high-spec satellites will produce images four times better than those currently
taken, vastly improving the forecasting capabilities of NOAA (National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration) in the USA.
After launching in mid-November it took a few weeks to
position the satellite and it is now producing some incredible
photos. Called GOES-16, the satellite is the 16th of the GOES
(Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) mission
and will be joined by three more equally advanced brothers.
Severe weather monitoring and forecasting will also be much
improved by what NOAA’s Dr Stephen Volz describes as “The
most sophisticated technology ever flown in space for
predicting weather”.
6
New Star Wars Film Has A Name
Finally we know what the eighth
instalment of the Star Wars series will
be called. The next offering, due for
release in December 2017, will be called
‘The Last Jedi’.
Blogs and chat-rooms are already
bursting with theories as to what the
term ‘Last Jedi’ might mean with the
words and actions of half the Star Wars
characters over the previous films being
analysed to the nth degree for clues.
One thing is for sure though - Princess Leia will make a return despite the unfortunate
death of actress Carrie Fisher at the end of 2016. Filming for the movie was already
complete before then so (spoiler alert) we won’t see an astonishing CGI return like that
of Peter Cushing*, who starred as Grand Moff Tarkin in ‘Star Wars : Rogue One’ despite
having died over twenty years ago. (incidentally, he didn’t get an IMDb credit for the
new movie).
The title ‘The Last Jedi’ has been used previously in Star Wars stories, and the red
colour on the movie title isn’t new either. Although we’re used to the yellow title both
‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ used red colouring.
* Actually based on actor Guy Henry’s performance, who is perhaps best known as playing
Henrik Hanssen in Holby City, but who is a pretty close match to Cushing in build- Ed
Light ‘Sonic Booms’ Captured On Film
It has been thought for some time that light produces compression waves just as sound
does, but how do you go about proving it? A team from Washington University appears
to have done just that thanks to their incredible ultra-fast ‘streak’ camera which can
capture images at 100 billion frames per second.
Light pulses lasting just seven trillionths of a second were fired down a tunnel filled
with dry-ice fog. Light then scattered off the dry-ice towards the silicon rubber and
aluminium oxide plates which sandwiched the tunnel. Thanks to the change in light
speed between the tunnel and plates, cone shaped optic booms were created and
imaged.
These are the light equivalents of sonic booms. Sonic booms are created when sound
pressure waves are overtaken by the object creating them. They are compressed and
left behind as a MACH cone.
The Washington University team was able to capture the same process using light,
which in their case created photonic MACH cones.
The technology involved in capturing and extracting
such an image is completely different to that of a
conventional camera.
The study is led by Jinyang Liang who said "Our
camera is fast enough to watch neurons fire and image
live traffic in the brain. We hope we can use our
system to study neural networks to understand how
the brain works."
Liang’s team produced this image showing the trailing ‘Optic Boom’
7
News from The Cape - Part 2 : Michael Franks
We then went to the Imax theatre to watch a film in 3D about NASA's future. At the back of
the theatre there was a large model of the Space Launch System with its two large solid
fuel booster rockets. It will use four Shuttle main engines which will be discarded as the
rocket reaches orbit. There were also models of the Dreamchaser shuttle vehicle, the
Boeing proposal, and a flown Space X Dragon capsule looking in good shape with a virtually
intact heat-shield. Space X intends to re-use the Dragon
capsules, but must have donated this one for display at KSC.
We walked to the Astronaut Memorial Walk where they was a
display called the Space Mirror which had the names of the
dead astronauts carved into it which reflected the sky. There
were other memorials testifying to the human cost of space
flight, there was a T38 jet trainer which the astronauts used to
keep up their flight hours and a view of a Space Shuttle Full
Stack with the orange-coloured main tank and the two solidfuel boosters standing high in the sky,
As we walked back through the Rocket Garden on our way to he
Astronaut Hall of Fame, large birds flew great circles in the sky
effortlessly soaring on the thermals, as if to mock our clumsy
efforts to flight saying ‘this is how it should be done’. (right)
The Astronaut Hall of Fame had been recently moved from
Titusville to the Kennedy Space Center and contains fascinating
mementos of each astronaut and some of their personal effects.
We then sent off for our tour of the launch pads and the Vehicle
Assembly Building (VAB) which is, by volume, the largest
building in the world. While we were waiting in line for our
buses we passed displays of photographs from the International
Space Station and a window which displayed the view from cupola on the ISS with views of
planet Earth spinning beneath it. There was also a large scale photograph of Mars which
made me wish that my next geological field trip would be to Mars.
We were taken round the launch pads in large buses with a driver who gave us a running
commentary. We passed the VAB which NASA is going to use to assemble the Space
Launch System. One bay of the massive building is currently used by Space X which is
currently assembling the Falcon Heavy which is made up of three Falcon 9 rockets. The
intention is that each of the first stages is to be reusable which will cut the costs of
launching heavy payloads by a hundred fold and effectively give Space X a monopoly of the
heavy launch market.
The driver said that Space X were very secretive about what they were doing but a door to
the Space X bay was open and I thought I could just match out the outline of a vertical
Falcon 9 rocket waiting to be joined to two others to make up the first Falcon Heavy to fly.
As we passed the massive Crawler Transporter (CT), the driver explained that both the SLS
and the Falcon Heavy would be mounted on the CT which took the Saturn rockets and the
Space Shuttle Full Stack to the launch pad. Two launch pads were built for the Saturn
rockets 39A and 39B. The launch towers were then modified for the Shuttle launches, by
being reduced in size to accommodate the different layout. Launch Pad 39A is going to be
used by Space X for the Falcon Heavy and they have had to increase the launch tower to
suit the massive rocket apparently putting back a similar structure to that which NASA
removed for the Shuttle missions. Launch Pad 39B has apparently been reduced in size for
the SLS.
There was a third launch pad, 39C, which was intended for Saturn launches, but it was
never completed. However now such is the interest in commercial spaceflight that several
companies had expressed an interest in using launch pad 39C. We passed a building
8
marked with the Space X logo and we also saw what appeared to be the escape launch
which will sit on top of the Orion rocket when itself sits on top of the SLS.
After our tour of the launch pads we were taken to the massive hall where an entire
surviving Saturn V Moon Rocket is displayed. The rocket is displayed on its side spilt into
the various stages. (lower image) I wandered round it marvelling at its massive size. Above
the rocket is displayed one of the few remaining Lunar Modules. It is very fragile as in order
to save weight it is only strong enough to be boarded by humans in a maximum of the
Lunar one sixth gravity.
There were various objects displayed
around the Saturn 5 including a
Lunar Rover which was never flown. I
enjoyed examining it and its tyres
made of wire, (right) which would
never get a puncture. One display
was a mock-up interior of the Lunar
Module and you could see the large
hatch through which the astronauts
in their bulky spacesuits would
descend down the ladder to the Lunar
surface.
There was then one final treat for us
the Space Shuttle Atlantis. We went
into a hall where we were given an
explanation of the origins of the Space Shuttle. It was originally intended to be two
spacecraft, one a booster and then the actual Orbiter itself. The intention was that both
vehicles would be fully re-useable. However, it was realised that it would be cheaper to
have just a single vehicle which led to the fatal mistake of using solid fuel rockets, built of
bolted together sections which caused the Challenger disaster.
The Shuttle Atlantis was displayed as if it was flying in space giving a view which previously you
would only see if you were on the ISS. I was amazed at the sheer size of the Shuttle Orbiter and
its payload bay which looked as if it could take two London buses.
The large payload bay was the result of a deal made between NASA and the US Air Force. In
order to secure the funding for the Shuttle it had to be large enough to launch US air Force
satellites. This meant it had to have very large wings with long exposed leading edges.
Unfortunately, it was a block of ice falling down onto the Shuttle wing at launch which caused
damage which led to the loss of the Shuttle Columbia and the realisation that the Shuttle was
too dangerous to keep flying.
We visited one final attraction ‘Journey to Mars- Explorers Wanted’, which was a 20 minute
briefing on NASA future plans. As we prepared to leave there was a laser light show projecting
images on the rockets in the Rocket
Garden which made the Saturn 1B
rocket look as if it was flying.
We had spent a whole day at NASA
and if we had more time we could
easily have spent a second day as
there was far more to see including
the early launch sites for the
Mercury and Gemini missions.
Michael will be expanding on his
whole visit at the April meeting,
with a fully-illustrated talk.
9
At NASA AMES
Jim Webb
While staying in Fremont
(just south of San Francisco)
with my friend Eric Brown,
we were looking for
something interesting to do,
apart from enjoying pints of
Sierra Nevada pale ale (a
very creditable American
brew!). Eric reminded me
that Moffett Federal Airfield was nearby so the thought, “Let’s go and visit”,
sprung to mind. I had been past it on other occasions and was told it was a NASA
site but it had never occurred to me that one could actually ‘go and visit’.
Decision made, off we went. All the other times I had gone past, there was a very
large hangar visible in the distance. This time, the outer shell of the hangar was
missing and only an inner metal lattice was left – all the more reason to go there.
Entering the site, we were greeted with the sign NASA AMES. I had often
wondered where this was – now I knew. Subsequent research showed that it was
named after Joseph Sweetman Ames, a physicist who was one of the founding
members of NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), later to
become NASA.
After driving around and getting lost a few times, due to the very clear (or
not) road signage, we found an entrance to the main NASA centre, only to be
told “no Unofficial visitors allowed”; “Try the museum instead” they said. So we
dutifully complied and found the Moffet Field Museum – “From Lighter Than Air…
To Faster Than Sound… To Outer Space”. “This will do”, we thought, so in we
went. The Museum was not quite as large as we had expected but full of
wonderful memorabilia and we were looked after by very helpful and
knowledgeable staff.
One of the major highlights was the display of the USS Macon. This was the
sister ship of the USS Akron. Both airships were slightly smaller than the
German Hindenburg but used helium instead of hydrogen. They both hold the
record for being the largest helium filled airships ever built. These were
primarily used for long range
surveillance off the US coast. The
Macon had eight propellers which
could be rotated through 90
degrees to provide vectored
thrust. Because of this, it was the
largest aircraft that could take off
and land vertically. A remarkable
feature of this craft was the
movable trapeze that hung
underneath it. Sparrowhawk
aircraft, equipped with a large
hook above the wing, could fly
10
underneath the ship and hook onto
the trapeze and then be moved into
the ship for storage, refuelling and
maintenance. This made these ships
flying aircraft carriers with up to five
planes on board. The Sparrowhawk
logo represented the blimp, ‘man on
left’ and the pilots, the ‘men on the
flying trapeze’ on right. Hangar 1
was built to house and moor the
USS Macon. A few years ago it was
found that the outer shell of the hangar contained toxic chemicals so, over the
past year, this was removed, leaving the internal metal frame. It was going to
be completely demolished but Google recently bought it for… well, only Google
knows at present.
The two craft were designed by German engineers and built by GoodyearZeppelin. They used eight German-built petrol engines and incorporated an
ingenious design to compensate for the change in weight as fuel was used up.
The exhaust gasses (water and carbon dioxide) were condensed to liquid water
and stored on board. The net effect was a very slight change in weight. Because
the ships were of a rigid design, they could not rise above 5,000 feet otherwise
the helium balloons would burst because of the lower external air pressure. The
USS Akron was destroyed in 1933 by a thunderstorm off the coast of New
Jersey. 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers were killed due to the lack of
onboard lifeboats and lifejackets, which had been (Titanically!) considered
unnecessary. The Macon was subsequently supplied with lifeboats and
lifejackets. The Macon itself was lost in
1935, due to a storm off Point Sur,
California. The captain managed to
descend slowly into the sea and all, but
two, crew survived due to the onboard
survival kits. Had the airships survived,
their ability to deploy scout planes
more quickly than aircraft carriers
could have proved valuable for coastal
surveillance, but this was not to be.
There were many other memorabilia present – uniforms, equipment, photos
and many models of planes and other craft Among the photos was a section
dedicated to the actor James Stewart. He managed to enlist into the air force in
1941 and flew many missions. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General in 1959
and finally retired from service in 1968. Also among the photos was a set
showing an early vertical take off and landing plane. To test this required very
special pilots, one of whom was Neil Armstrong.
We would have stayed a lot longer but, unbeknown to us, the museum closed
at 3pm so we had to make an earlier than expected exit. Despite the relatively
short stay it was a memorable visit – one I intend to do again for a longer time,
when next I’m in the area, which currently is 2018.
11
QUESTION TIME...
If you correctly insert answers to these questions in the spaces below, the
boxes reading downwards will reveal a US launch site.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Commander of Apollo 13
The ‘W’ constellation
First person to walk in space
Comedic space-travelling hologram
Earth angle-line going from north to south
Space Shuttle which exploded in 1986
NASA’s first space station
First Astronomer Royal
Binary canine star
Elliptical, Spiral or Irregular object
1. _
2. _
3. _
4. _
5. _
6. _
7. _
8. _
9. _
10.
__
__ ___
________
_____
___ __
____
______
_______
_____ ___
____
___
______ __
_ ___
_____
Answers next month
Last month’s answers:
LAIKA, HANS LIPPERSHEY, TUNGUSKA, VALENTINA TERESHKOVA, NEUTRON,
GANYMEDE, GREENWICH, INDIA, SOUTHERN CROSS.
Hidden answer: LIGHT YEAR
12
CHAIRMAN’S
QUARTERS
It was off to California again this year to Photonics West exhibition in San Francisco. As always a
productive trip, interspersed with some wine tasting in the Sonoma Valley wineries, and the source of
several articles – in this and future magazines. There is a lot of interest in materials at these
exhibitions and one of the things I do is look at the Periodic Table of Elements to remind myself of
some of the elements’ properties. So, looking at the latest table, I was surprised that there were no
gaps in elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 – they were filled with names! Could not believe that I had
missed these new ones.
It appears that late November, last year, the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry) ratified and named these four ‘missing’ elements. 113 was named nihonium (symbol Nh)
after Nihon which is Japanese for Japan. A Japanese team at the RIKEN Institute was credited with the
synthesis of this element (longest half life of 20s) and given the honour of choosing the name. 115
has been named moscovium (symbol Mc) after Moscow, where the Dubna laboratories are based.
Dubna was credited with the initial synthesis of the element. Its longest lived isotope has a half life of
0.8 seconds. 117 was named tennessine (symbol Ts) after the US state of Tennessee. Joseph
Hamilton of the Vanderbilt Institute in Nashville, Tennessee led the project and with Russian and
German co-operation achieved the element’s synthesis. The name is derived because its element
family is fluorine, chlorine, bromine, etc, hence tennessine and not tennessium. The longest half life
observed was 0.05 second! 118 was named oganesson (symbol Og) after Yuri Oganessian, a very
significant figure in the creation of synthetic heavy elements. It should be noted that he is the only
other living scientist to have an element named after him, during his lifetime – the other being
seaborgium after Glenn T. Seaborg. Again, this was another American / Russian collaboration with the
US supplying the raw material and the Russians carrying out the synthesis. The name is derived from
the fact that the element is on the last column - the inert gases - which have the names neon, argon,
krypton, etc hence oganesson and not oganessium. As only four atoms (with a half life of less than
1/1000 second) were produced, it is possible the naming was ‘rushed through’ to complete the last
period of the table. Now the hunt is on for element 119 (ununennium or eka-francium) – the start of
the next period.
That was pretty heavy duty! So what is the fascination with these very unstable and very heavy
‘un-natural’ elements? To have made them, in the first place, is quite an achievement. Their study
does also reveal some unexpected phenomena. Chemists work on the way elements react with each
other. Physicists work on the physical properties of the elements. Rarely do they compare notes as
they are different disciplines. Yet the study of these heavy elements explained unusual properties
which had puzzled chemists for a while.
This gets a bit technical – but here goes. Atoms have shells of electrons rotating around the central
nucleus, therefore have measurable diameter. Larger atoms have a larger diameter than smaller ones
(nice and logical). However, larger atoms were found to have smaller diameters than predicted. Why?
Hydrogen is the smallest atom with its electron spinning in a small orbit near the nucleus. This moves
at about 1/140 the speed of light. As the atoms get bigger, the velocity of the electrons increases and
starts approaching the speed of light. The consequence of this is the relativistic phenomenon which
makes these electrons more massive. It also makes the diameter of the atom smaller than it should be
and has an effect on physical properties. Gold has an arrangement of relativistic electrons which has
the consequence of absorbing blue light. It is for this reason that gold is yellow and not silver like its
neighbours which do not have this effect. Mercury has a relativistic arrangement which reduces the
forces between the atoms and renders it liquid. There are other ‘anomalies’ but these are the most
well-known ones. It’s only when physicists started to make measurements of larger synthetic elements
that these phenomena came to light.
See you at the Meeting.
JIM
13
THE NIGHT SKY : THE PLANETS : February - March 2017
MERCURY : In the morning skies, but really lost from view until it reappears in the evening skies in midMarch. Reaches superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on 7th March, and should become visible in the evening
skies around 18th March.
VENUS : Continues to dominate the evening western sky, you really can’t miss it. Mars is close and to the
upper left. Venus will reach its greatest brilliancy on 18th February, when it will be at -4.8 magnitude. Through
small magnification you should be able to make out the crescent, at around 17%. Make the most of this display
as it will be too close to the Sun for observation by the end of March. A three-day old crescent Moon close by
on 1st March
MARS : To the upper left of Venus. The planets were at their closest February 1st, but clouds that night
prevented good viewing. By the end of January, the separation will be around 12 degrees. Mars continues to
move eastwards and Venus begins to fall back towards the western horizon. The brightness falls slightly from
magnitude +1.1 to +1.3 whilst its angular diameter falls from 5.1 to 4.6 arc seconds. No details are really
visible on the surface.
JUPITER : Rising early in the morning skies, at magnitude -2.3 in Virgo. Due south and highest in the sky at
an elevation of 35 degrees around 03.00hrs. The distance between Earth and Jupiter continues to close
throughout the month, is closing and the apparent size of the Gas Giant’s disk increases from 39 to 42 arc
seconds so one should be easily able to see the equatorial bands in the atmosphere. Moon close on 14th and 15th
February and 14th March
SATURN : In the morning skies. Should be able to be seen low in the southeast at dawn rising, as the planet is
rising about three hours before the Sun in February. Saturn lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus but moves in
Sagittarius by 23rd February. With a magnitude of +0.5, with its ring system spanning some 38 arc seconds.
The ring system is open out to ~26.7 degrees – which is about as open as they get as viewed from Earth, and
this should get better as the year progresses. (There’s better viewing in the Southern Hemisphere!) A thin
crescent Moon close on 21st February
URANUS : In Pisces at magnitude +5.9 This is just on the edge of theoretical naked-eye visibility – deemed to
be +6.0! Mars (+1.3) is very close to the north on 27th February, so could be a pointer. Plus a Crescent Moon
joins them on 1st March, making a sighting possibly easier!
NEPTUNE : In Aquarius, magnitude +8.0, but closing on the Sun, and will be lost to view by mid-month.
COMETS
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova (‘45P’ for short) could be visible in the morning skies in Hercules.
It’s about +6.0 magnitude, and predominantly green in colour so should be spotted with small magnification.
THE MOON
Penumbral eclipse very early (00.45hrs UTC) on 11th February – but it won’t be that noticeable
28th January
First 4th February
Full 11th
Last 18th
New 26th
There is an Annular Eclipse of the Sun on 26th February – BUT only visible from southern regions.
14
THE NIGHT SKY : MAP
1st March 2017, 20.00hrs GMT/UTC
Note the very young crescent Moon, very near Mars and Uranus – and close to Venus
KEY
MERCURY
SATURN
VENUS
URANUS
MARS
NEPTUNE
JUPITER
PLUTO
15
Patron: Sir Arthur C. Clarke, C.B.E., B.Sc., F.R.A.S., F.B.I.S.
President : Frederick W. Clarke, F.Ph.S.(Eng), F.B.I.S.
Vice President : Walter T. Baker
www.ashastro.co.uk
ASH COMMITTEE MEMBERS : 2015 – 2016
CHAIRMAN : Jim Webb : email [email protected] [www.glservices.org]
SECRETARY: Charles Towler : email [email protected]
TREASURER : Kyriakos Voskou : email [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Alister Innes : email [email protected]
EDITOR, P.R.O. VICE-CHAIRMAN and WEBMASTER : Mat Irvine
: email [email protected] [www.matirvine.com]
GENERAL MEMBER : Mitchell Sandler
GENERAL MEMBER : Nicholas Lucas
GENERAL MEMBER AT LARGE : Gary Marriott
GENERAL INFORMATION : [email protected]
OBSERVING INFORMATION : [email protected]